What My Clients Say

"I came to see Catriona with my mother who needed advice for care fees planning. This was a very difficult time emotionally for both of us, but Catriona immediately put us at ease. She has great warmth and compassion whilst still retaining professionalism. My mother had never spoken to an adviser before and was very nervous in advance of the meeting. However, within a very short period she was totally relaxed. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Catriona for care fees planning. A number of advisers would no doubt be able to help technically. But for an older, vulnerable client the hand holding approach is of much greater significance than just the technical knowledge. Catriona manages to combine both, which makes her an excellent adviser for the older, vulnerable age group."

"After unsatisfactory experiences with a couple of other financial advisers we are very glad we discovered Catriona in 2014 when we needed to arrange ongoing finance for my very elderly mother's move into a residential care home. After conducting a thorough assessment of my mother's financial position, future needs and, importantly, her wishes, Catriona gave us a clear explanation of what was available, then guided us through the process of buying an annuity which matched our requirements perfectly. Catriona is well versed in financial matters and combines efficiency with great warmth and compassion. She really is a pleasure to deal with and we have no hesitation in recommending her to anyone looking for financial advice in later life."

"You obviously did a lot for us and I guess it boils down to having a sounding board to be able to discuss with an expert all the areas involved in providing security for an elderly relative, both financial and emotional. You are very easy to talk to; you don't use jargon and explain any financial products in easy-to-understand language. You are easy to get hold of and deal with matters promptly without delegating to juniors so in appointing you it was always you we dealt with. You simplified the process of getting the best deal for us by getting us to understand what was important to us and providing us with the options. It became less stressful and we always felt you had our best interests at heart."

"Catriona is without question one of the best care funding advisers in the country. Able to listen and empathise while remaining professional she is compassionate, truly kind and supportive. A pleasure to work with as a professional partner she gives her very best every time and would enhance any service with a dedication to her own professional development which enables her to provide quality assured advice in a personalised way. She is clear, honest and transparent about what she can (and can't) do and how much it will cost which is so important to people who are in the middle of a crisis, being asked to make potentially life changing care decisions with little time or experience of the care and benefit systems."

"I was feeling concerned about making the right decisions about my mother's finances where I had Power of Attorney. My mother had recently gone into nursing care and there felt like a lot to deal with. I felt I did not have sufficient knowledge to make sensible decisions and did not want to take risks. I felt I might be pressured into something and that there was an immense amount of trust required of a financial advisor. I needed to act but did not want to be hasty. You gave me reassurance that I did not need to rush and I would have time to consider the issues. You were up front about risk and how much risk I could tolerate and made it clear you would work within the parameters I set. You gave me different options for providing money to meet my mother's nursing care costs. I believe it was important to choose you as a SOLLA: there can never be any doubt that I have acted prudently with my mother's estate. I know that I have made good decisions within the risk parameters I set. I know that my investments will be monitored and I don't need to watch them all the time. Peace of mind. I know I can ring or email at any time if I have concerns or need information. I was managing someone else's money and I felt that everything needed to be transparent and carefully done. It is important that I can offer emotional care & support & not spend energy worrying about money. My mother needs peace of mind about her future & to know I am doing the best for her."

"There is plenty of information available around regarding finance for aged care, but we found most of it incomplete, contradictory, confusing or even biased. Catriona's guidance was thorough and clear - our first conversation with her was like a breath of fresh air - and she proved to be trustworthy, efficient & considerate. This was particularly important as she had three siblings as her clients, which could have been difficult to navigate. Our options were well laid out and we felt that we had all the information we needed to make a decision on our mother's care quite easily. Not only that, but Catriona is a pleasure to work with and always did what she said she was going to do, when she said she was going to do it. Catriona has made a difficult process very calm and pleasurable - we could not recommend her more highly."

"When you are faced with a situation such as ours of not only losing a parent unexpectedly but also realising that your other parent needs permanent long term care you have to try and deal with the emotional impact that has on you as well as trying to find your way through all the complex things that need to be done in terms of the death and looking after the best interests of the remaining parent. There is no one place that you can go to find out what you need to do about everything and it can be overwhelming. We realised that we needed advice and help dealing with the financial side of things for my father as it is a huge responsibility and I want to ensure that he is well looked after and financially secure in terms of paying for his care. I chose to contact you because you are a dementia champion and my father has dementia so I wanted somebody who understood what we needed to deal with. We have been very happy and impressed by the way you have spent time with us explaining everything and guiding us through the options so that we could make an informed choice about what is best for my father and helping us achieve those options. You have been a reassuring voice on the other end of the phone, happy to explain things we do not understand, which has been very important. We feel that with your help we have done the best we can for my father's interests and it has taken away some of the stress of the situation for which we are grateful. I think you have provided us with an invaluable service."

"When we first sought help from Catriona we were at the stage of selling my parents' house and needed expert advice with investing the money. We had been managing their money for several years, paying for care etc. The lump sum of a house sale we felt was beyond our abilities. Catriona understood and sympathised with our situation. At no time did we feel judged about how we had handled the finances thus far, although we realise there would have been good alternatives. Since then, the support, advice and subsequent action in seeing my parents' financial needs met have been excellent. Catriona puts herself out to be available where and when it suits us. We have no hesitation in recommending her for all aspects of later life financial advice."

"Felt rather daunted and unsure about our finances going into the uncertainties of retirement. We weren't convinced we had sufficient knowledge or funds available to make the decision to stop working. Having known Catriona for a few years previously, we felt 100% confident in seeking her professional assistance with our retirement planning. Professional, approachable and thorough at all times, Catriona gave us sound advice and explained our options in a straightforward plan. Following Catriona's recommendations has enabled me to retire in the confidence that I can afford to do so and my husband has cut his working hours substantially. Most importantly, we have the peace of mind that we have our finances in place and with the knowledge that we are regularly updated with progress, our investments are being monitored. Having had our first-year review, we were positively delighted at how well our investments had done. This is hugely important because financial matters have never been our area of expertise and our finances now need to work for us in the most profitable and effective way."

"Before we contacted you, I was facing a time of uncertainty due to poor health; we had a fair amount of credit commitments which were going to be hard to manage as I was going to have to give up work due to my health issues. With your help we were able to consolidate my pensions, take a lump sum and clear all of our commitments, we have been very impressed with your understanding of our position and the level of advice you have given. All of this and the continued support has made a huge difference to our situation and made a hard time a lot easier to deal with."

"Before we met, I was in an extremely complicated monetary situation due to the loss of a business and a divorce. At this point mentally I was in a very bad place and could not see how I was ever going to get back on my feet again. After an initial meeting with Catriona, I was able to discuss openly my fears and the problems I faced. Catriona was able to reassure me that I was not alone and help would be available as required. All I had to do was provide the monetary information as required so that she could formulate information for the lawyers and pension companies. I left that day feeling less there was light at the end of a very very long tunnel. The help provided by Catriona has enabled me to move forward with my life knowing that I have somebody who I trust that I can contact should I need to. Catriona also is always comparing the safest investment to protect my fund. Now that I am retired and have moved away from Surrey to Suffolk, in order to afford a comfortable home without a mortgage. The pension arranged by Catriona tops up my state pension and with this I live a far more comfortable life."

"I wasn't looking forward to having to draw up a budget and see where I was spending money. It isn't the kind of thing I like to think about! But it was fairly easy once I got down to it, and I found ways to save money, to spend on things that are more important to me. I was a bit worried about what the surveyor would say about my home. He found things that needed fixing, but there was enough money to get the work done and now I'm confident that the place has a clean bill of health and that nothing major is likely to go wrong. Being able to talk to you about my finances and my situation has made a real difference. I've got peace of mind that I'll be able to manage in the years to come as my needs change. And the extra money from my equity release has meant that I can spend on improvements to my home and on travel, so I'm enjoying my retirement even more than I would have done otherwise. You couldn't have been easier to talk to. I felt confident that you knew all about the money side of things, and I also saw that you had a good understanding of the kind of issues people may have to face in later life. So I was sure I could rely on your advice."

"I can highly recommend Catriona to any potential future clients. She has assisted my mother to make important investment decisions following the death of my father. With Catriona’s calm and patient approach, she was able to untangle my mother’s finances, and guide her towards making the necessary decisions to simplify and consolidate her wealth. At the same time she has enabled us to reduce our liability for inheritance tax on my father’s estate, and the grand children have benefited as a result. Catriona always responds to our emails within a day. She gives sound, efficient and professional advice with no hint of irritation, no matter how frequently we have contacted her, or how simple the question. I would not hesitate to recommend her to anyone needing financial advice."

"From the start, and at every point of contact since, Catriona has always been most professional, personable and positive in her approach. She explains complex financial arrangements clearly and concisely and instills confidence in her clients with her knowledge, skills, attitude and integrity. In my case she has helped me tackle the matter of looking at the best options for end-of-life financial support for my mother, 93, for whom I hold power of attorney. This has resulted in an equity release package enabling my mother to remain in her own home supported by live-in care, which is what me and my sister most want. Catriona is friendly, very capable and possesses both patience and composure, always responding very quickly indeed to any queries raised by phone or by email, and always setting out comprehensive, lucid and accurate advice, including in reports. She empowers her clients to make the most appropriate choice to meet their needs. Handling personal finances, especially on behalf of someone else, can sometimes create significant stress, but Catriona's natural style provides reassurance and trust. I am delighted to have such a competent and pleasant person - and ambassador for women - as my independent financial adviser. I wholeheartedly support her nomination for a Women in Finance award."

"We have been working with Catriona for more than a year now as she has been helping us with imminent retirement planning. We have had some difficulties with Independent Financial Advisers in the past and were a little nervous about putting our financial affairs in the hands of another stranger. Catriona’s friendly but professional approach and her endless patience, often explaining things over and over was reassuring to us and as we have progressed with the financial planning, we found we were looking forward to and enjoying our meetings. Her financial advice is boosted by a good dose of common sense and again and again she has proved that she has our bests interests at heart, and is determined that we will enjoy a comfortable retirement. We would certainly recommend her services to anyone who is looking to be guided through complicated financial decisions. We are looking forward to a hopefully long and financially secure retirement and know that Catriona is at the end of an email or a telephone call if we need financial advice."

"We were introduced to Catriona when she joined the company previously giving us financial advice. From our first meeting we felt that her knowledge and experience would be helpful to us. When Catriona set up her own practice we readily agreed to transfer our investment business to her. Every time that she has visited us she put us at ease, which was important to us as our previous experience has left us over anxious. We now have confidence in our future plans!"

"We had a number of properties, pensions and investments which we needed advice on for our retirement planning and we sought Catriona Lumiste’s help with this as we had been let down by previous advisers. Catriona dealt with our affairs in a very professional way giving us various options to consider and the best way forward to manage our money for our retirement. We feel now we are in a much more organised position after receiving financial planning advice. The ongoing management service we receive from Catriona means that our investments are kept under regular review and changes made when appropriate and our money is managed in the most tax efficient way for our retirement plans. We would highly recommend Catriona to anyone who needs retirement planning advice."

"We first met Catriona when she took over from our previous Financial Advisor who moved on to different things. She immediately had a good grasp of our requirements and has always kept in touch with regular reviews (unlike our previous Financial Advisor). When she branched out on her own we wanted to stay with her. Our main needs were with regard to my husband’s pension and he has had excellent advice, which has given us peace of mind, and she recently moved some investments to make our money work better for us. Catriona is a lovely lady who as well as keeping an eye on our financial wellbeing always finds time to ask about the family - and remembers what we have said! We are delighted she has been shortlisted for this award and wish her the very best of luck!"

"Catriona Lumiste was recommended to us by a trusted mortgage consultant. From our first communication Catriona quickly grasped our situation and in a warm professional manner was able to advise and reassure us. She was careful to fully assess our needs and discussed options in an open, comprehensible way. She went above and beyond to ensure that the process was as smooth and speedy as possible, including giving up a Saturday morning for a family briefing. I have absolute confidence in recommending her and I know that she will have a long and successful career because she is a "people-person" who puts in the effort to find the RIGHT solution."