Independent Financial
Advice
in Halifax
Many people who get in touch have two or three old pensions and no real idea what they are worth. Joanne Flanagan, DipFA, CeRER and CeMAP, will go through them with you and tell you straight. Your initial consultation is free.
Free initial consultation. Any charges are agreed with you in writing before any work starts.
- DipFADiploma for Financial Advisers
- CeREREquity release qualified
- CeMAPMortgage advice qualified
- FreeInitial consultation, no obligation
- Appointed Representative of New Leaf Distribution Ltd
- Advice from a DipFA, CeRER and CeMAP qualified adviser
- Halifax based, home visits and video calls
- Plain English and a straight answer
What Our Clients Say
Real reviews from people across Calderdale and West Yorkshire who have sat down with us.
Joanne is very thorough and efficient and takes the time to explain all the details of the work she undertakes. I won't be going anywhere else for my financial advice
Spoke with Jo for ten mins, and was told more about withdrawing my pension pot in them minutes than the Provider has told me in the last 7 weeks. Very professional and very helpful, would certainly recommend
Jo was so helpful. After having concerns on some financial queries, Jo was very knowledgeable and reassuring. She helped put my mind at ease and has given me confidence in moving forward.
First time using Every Step Financial Services and they have been brilliant, professional while making you feel comfortable as sometimes talking about things what they deal with are confusing and sometimes hard to understand for me anyway , this company can walk the walk as well as talk the talk thank God!!
Joanne was brilliant. listened to what I needed and then went through my pensions and explained what was going on with them. Would seriously recommend Joanne to all my friends & colleagues.
I am delighted to speak on behalf of JOANNE FLANAGAN of Every Step Financial Services. Joanne has provided financial advice to my wife and I for some time now and she has always offered this advice in a most professional manner. She listens carefully to our views and reflects them in her judgements. For many years Joanne ably monitored our investments and offered us advice on the way forward. Recently however Joanne has gone beyond what we could have expected as she has supported us with help, compassion, and understanding during our daughter's difficult divorce. We have had to loan our daughter much of our savings to fund her legal bills which have come in at irregular and sometimes unexpected moments. Joanne has always been there to with advice and help organising the arrangements and managing our withdrawls. She has proved herself a true friend as well as a financial adviser. When the divorce is settled and the loan repaid I look forward to reinvesting our savings with Joanne and Every Step. Thank you Joanne Frank Jeffs 14/12/24
First class service, with Joanne going above and beyond the call of duty. She is always available for a chat about plans, keeps me informed and quickly actions changes when needed. Can not recommend highly enough
Jo is a an actual lifesaver. I was on the hook for a >£100k inheritance tax bill after an 18 month probate process. My lawyer had tried everything, and we were in dire straits - the bill exceeded what was available in cash to pay it. I got second and third opinions from lawyer friends… No one had any better news for us. In desperation I turned to Jo who immediately spotted that I was entitled to transfer some of my deceased father’s allowance since my parents never divorced. SOMETHING MY LAWYER COMPLETELY MISSED! Unlike Jo, he’d just assumed that because they weren’t together, they were divorced. Jo takes the time to know her customers, assumes nothing, listens to EVERYTHING and that, along with her razor sharp mind and fairly recent training means she is on top of all the most recent legislation and can get the very best outcomes for her clients. My bill dropped to £8.5k thanks to Jo’s knowledge and intelligence and I am forever in her debt. Thank you, Jo. I cannot sing your praises highly enough, and my mum would be so, so grateful to you 🙏🏼
I've worked with Jo for a few years now & she is extremely approachable & friendly. Her advice has helped so much in understanding about my future finances. She actually talks in a language that I understand & makes it easy to get to grasps with financial stuff which is not my forte. I have recommended Jo to friends & family & they have benefitted from her advice too.
Absolutely incredible service! Joanne took the time to sit with us, talk to us (not at us!) and understand our very complex, individual circumstances. Her advice was unbiased, considered and perfectly suited to our needs. Highly recommend!!
Jo has helped my wife and me with our pension planning and given us general financial advice. She is extremely knowledgable and helpful and we can highly recommend her services.
What Can a Financial Adviser
Help You With?
Six areas, one adviser. Pensions are what many people come to us about, but the free initial consultation is the same whichever brought you here.
Retirement & Pensions
The old workplace pension from a job you left in 2009, the one you cannot find the paperwork for, and the question of whether any of it adds up to enough. This is much of what we do.
Pension and retirement advice
Savings & Investments
ISAs, investment portfolios and monthly savings, set up around what the money is actually for and how you would feel if it dropped 10 per cent in a bad month.
Savings and investment advice
Equity Release
Money tied up in the house, released without moving out. It suits some people and is wrong for others. Joanne holds CeRER, one of the qualifications required to advise on it.
Equity release advice
Life & Critical Illness Cover
Cover sized around your mortgage, your income and the people who would struggle without you. Often less expensive than people expect, and usually arranged later than it could have been.
Life and critical illness advice
Financial Planning
Everything in one view: income, tax, what happens to it all eventually, and a cashflow model that shows whether the plan survives contact with real life.
Financial planning advice
Divorce Financial Advice
Pensions are often overlooked in a divorce, and are frequently the largest asset after the family home. We work alongside your solicitor so the numbers are understood before anything is signed.
Divorce financial adviceThe value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you put in. Equity release will reduce the value of your estate and may affect means tested benefits. Check that a lifetime mortgage will meet your needs if you want to move or sell your home or you want your family to inherit it. If you are in any doubt, seek independent advice.
You Deal With Joanne.
Every Time.
Every Step Financial Services works out of Croft Myl on West Parade, in the middle of Halifax. Much of what we do is pensions: working out what people have got, what it will actually pay them, and what to do about it if the answer is not enough. The rest is savings and investments, protection, equity release, and untangling finances during a divorce.
It is a small firm on purpose. Joanne takes your first call and she is still the one sitting opposite you at the annual review three years later. You never have to explain your situation twice, and nobody hands you to a call centre.
The letters after her name are worth explaining. DipFA is a Level 4 qualification used to meet the Financial Conduct Authority's qualification requirements for retail investment advice. CeRER is one of the additional qualifications required before anyone can advise on equity release, which not every adviser holds. CeMAP is the Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice, from her years as a mortgage adviser.
She came into advice through mortgages, which is more relevant than it sounds. A lifetime mortgage is still a mortgage, so the equity release side of the work sits in the discipline she started in.
Nobody arrives wanting a sales pitch. They arrive with a question that has been sitting at the back of their mind for months. Can I afford to stop at 62. What happened to the pension from the mill job. Is it daft to take money out of the house. We answer the question first and worry about whether there is any business in it afterwards. More about Joanne and Every Step.
- Ten years in financial services, first in mortgages, now advising
- Diploma for Financial Advisers (DipFA)
- Certificate in Regulated Equity Release (CeRER)
- Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice (CeMAP)
- Appointed Representative of New Leaf Distribution Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the FCA, FRN 460421
- Meetings at our office, at your home, or by video call
Not sure where to start?
Almost nobody is. Tell us what is on your mind and we will tell you honestly whether advice would help.
No cost, no obligation
From First Chat
to Financial Plan
Four steps. Nothing is charged until you have seen the number and agreed to it in writing.
Free initial consultation
Twenty minutes working out what you have got and what is worrying you. Costs nothing, commits you to nothing.
We gather the facts
Statements, policies, income, outgoings. We chase the providers for the bits you cannot find, which is the part people dread.
Clear recommendations
Written recommendations in plain English, with the costs, the risks, and what happens if you do nothing at all.
Ongoing reviews
We check in once a year, or sooner if something shifts. Jobs, inheritances and divorces all move the numbers.
Do You Know What Your Pensions Are Worth?
Many people do not, and there is no shame in that. Jobs change, providers merge, paperwork goes in a drawer. We have sat with clients who found a pot they had written off entirely, and with others who discovered the plan they were counting on had been quietly eaten by charges.
- We track down old workplace schemes and get current values in writing
- We check for guaranteed annuity rates before anything is moved, because those are easy to lose and impossible to get back
- You get a straight answer on whether you are on course, and what closing the gap would take
The normal minimum pension age rises from 55 to 57 in April 2028. Transferring a pension is not right for everyone. Some older schemes carry guarantees or protected retirement ages that are lost on transfer, which is why each plan is reviewed on its own before any recommendation is made.
Divorce, Later Life &
Local Advice
The situations where the money side is harder than it looks, and where a wrong turn costs real money.
- Pension sharing on divorceHow pensions are split
- The family homeKeeping it, selling it, buying out
- Budgeting after divorceWhat you can afford afterwards
- Working with your solicitorJoined up legal and financial advice
- Equity release in HalifaxLocal advice, local property values
- Equity release in LeedsAdvice across the city
- Equity release in ManchesterAdvice across Greater Manchester
- Divorce questions answeredCommon questions on separating
Leave Them Where They Are,
or Bring Them Together?
There is no universal answer, which is annoying but true. Here is the trade-off in plain terms.
| Leaving them where they are | Combining into one plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Charges | Whatever each scheme charges, which on older plans can be high and hard to find | One charge you can see, though not always the lowest of the ones you had |
| Keeping track | Several providers, several logins, several annual statements to lose | One provider, one value, one place to look |
| Guarantees | Any guaranteed annuity rates or protected retirement ages stay intact | Those guarantees are given up permanently on transfer |
| Investment choice | Limited to whatever each scheme offers, sometimes a single default fund | Usually a wider choice, which matters more the longer you have left |
| At retirement | Each pot taken separately, on each provider's terms | One decision about income rather than four |
| Effort | None now, more later when you come to take the money | Paperwork now, most of which we do for you |
The deciding factor is usually whether any of your existing plans carry guarantees. If one does, that often settles it on its own. Our guide to whether to consolidate your pensions goes through it in more detail.
Prefer to Read
Up First?
Plain English guides to the questions we are asked most, written by Joanne. Guidance only, not personal advice.
- Your retirement numberHow much you need to retire
- Drawdown or annuityTwo ways to take a pension income
- Old employer pensionsCashing in, leaving or moving them
- How pensions are taxedTax free cash and income tax
- What a £300k pot paysIncome from a pension of that size
- Inheritance tax threshold£325k, £500k and £1m explained
- Life interest trustsThe pros, cons and tax
- Fixed and variable expensesBudgeting for both
Advice Across Calderdale
and West Yorkshire
Office, kitchen table or video call. Whichever you would rather.
Halifax and Calderdale
Halifax town centre, Skircoat, King Cross, Boothtown, Illingworth, Ovenden, Northowram, Southowram, Hipperholme, Lightcliffe and Brighouse.
The Calder Valley
Sowerby Bridge, Ripponden, Luddendenfoot, Mytholmroyd, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden, Elland, Greetland and Stainland.
Wider West Yorkshire
Huddersfield, Bradford, Leeds, Wakefield and the surrounding towns, in person or by video call, plus equity release advice across Greater Manchester.
Speak to Joanne
Or send a message
Use the enquiry formTell us a little about your situation and we will call you back
Financial Advice in Halifax:
Your Questions Answered
Book Your Free Initial Consultation
Tell us a little about your situation. You do not need to have made a decision, a question is enough. Joanne will get back to you to arrange a time.