(and everything else you owe)
Before we decide where your money should go, we look at what it's already doing.
Most of our clients are debt-free. But before we invest, we always ask — because what you owe, or plan to borrow, affects what you should do with the rest.
What do you owe — and does it matter?
We ask every client about borrowing. Current debt, future plans, money lent to family, commercial ventures. Most of the time it's a short conversation. But when it's relevant, it shapes everything that follows.
Usually it's a short conversation. But when it matters, it really matters.
Not all debt is bad. But all debt needs considering.
High-interest credit cards
Expensive personal loans
These get cleared first.
Mortgages — often the cheapest borrowing you'll access
Commercial or qualifying debt with potential tax advantages
The borrowing itself isn't the issue. Whether it's been considered alongside everything else is.
Should you invest — or reduce the debt?
It's easy to treat borrowing and investing as separate conversations. In practice, they're connected. Sometimes investing makes more sense. Sometimes paying down the debt does.
If you're investing cautiously while paying interest on a loan, there are plenty of situations where your returns — after tax — won't outperform your borrowing cost.
It's not always the case. But it's worth checking — and it's something many firms don't consider at all.
What we look at:
There isn't a default answer — but there is a right answer for you.
Sometimes the simplest changes make the biggest difference.
Refinancing a mortgage. Adjusting a repayment strategy. Restructuring existing borrowing. None of it is glamorous — but reducing what you pay out means increasing what you can put to work.
It's not always about your mortgage.
For many of our clients, borrowing is less about themselves and more about their family. Helping a child buy their first property. Lending to a family member. Supporting a business venture. Planning a commercial mortgage.
If money has moved — or might move — it's part of the plan.
Paying off a mortgage feels incredible.
Ask anyone who's done it. There's a moment — usually a few days after the final payment — where something shifts. Our clients describe it as liberation. A weight you didn't even know you were carrying, gone.
You sleep differently. You make bolder decisions. You stop thinking about what you owe and start thinking about what you want.
Now — was it always the most financially efficient decision? Honestly, not always. Sometimes keeping the mortgage and investing the capital elsewhere would have produced a better return on paper.
But there's no spreadsheet for how it feels to be debt-free.
This is where logic and emotion need to be balanced — not confused. We help with both.
How this fits into your wider plan
Borrowing is considered alongside everything else — not separately. That's why it's step one.
We don't start by asking where to invest your money.
We start by making sure nothing is quietly working against you.
Because once that's sorted… Everything else tends to fall into place.
