Kari Anne

My name is Kari Anne. I’ve been a client of Charlton House, coming up to two years, and the name of my adviser is David Snelling.

Me and my husband moved to the UK four years ago and at the same time, we started looking at retirement options.

Looking at retirement options living in a new country – we are both from different countries, he’s American, I’m Norwegian – and trying to navigate everything from tax planning, estate planning and retirement planning in a new environment, made us look for financial advice.

We started looking for financial planners. Specifically, we were looking for somebody with a transparent fee structure and we wanted to look for somebody who was very comfortable working with expats like us. I came across Charlton House, looked at the descriptions, looked at the profiles of the people, and it looked like a great fit.

We chose Charlton House for a couple of reasons. Firstly, looking at the profile of their customers and the services they were offering, they seemed very comfortable working with expats and people in our situation. Secondly, when talking to the adviser on the first phone call, I was very comfortable with the approach; it was transparent, they understood what we were looking for and were able to give us concrete suggestions on how they could help.

I find the annual check-ins with Charlton House useful. Every time there are one or two things that have popped up through the year that are not urgent enough to have calls in-between, but they really help us to keep on track and progress towards the plan that we have put in place.

Having Charlton House as a financial planner as we settled into the UK has been very helpful in that it has really accelerated our settling into the UK. While we have been a customer, we have decided to retire here and settle here permanently. So, to go through that transition, figuring out how to make a plan for our retirement in a new country, it’s been very helpful to have somebody that we can rely on for sound advice.

Working with Charlton House has given me clarity about our financial future. We are in a good position, and I feel much more comfortable knowing the timelines and targets that we have set for ourselves for how we can enjoy retirement together.

The three words that I would use to describe Charlton House are approachable, transparent, and reliable.

The best thing about working with Charlton House is having somebody that you can approach for advice when something comes up. I was very comfortable in the US knowing where to go or how to research options. While I can do that in the UK, it is a different system and having outside advice from somebody who can guide us has been really helpful in reducing stress and saving a lot of time and effort.

I would not hesitate to recommend Charlton House to other people. Their advice has been very helpful, transparent, reliable, and it has helped us tremendously with our retirement plan.