About to retire?
The Decision Stage
A job provides not just money but, for many of us, it defines our place in society and gives our lives meaning. For those who have turned an interest, hobby or passion into a career, a job is a means of personal fulfilment and creative expression. This is a time of great change, time to take your pension benefits and a time when the support we provide through our independent financial advice services can be invaluable. Our well-considered and structured way of working will help you to make the right decisions for you. We do not consider 'repenting at leisure' an option!
Retirement isn't as simple as it used to be
- Your circumstances can change a lot during retirement, perhaps due to ill-health or even divorce, so flexibility is more important now.
- You are likely to be healthy during the early years of retirement but your health may suffer as you get older.
- There is a big rise in the number of people living alone in retirement.
So, as well as adjusting to this change you also have to ask ...
"How do I turn my pension plan into an income?"
You may feel confused and wary, with some justification, at this stage. After all, you will be making decisions that affect the rest of your life.
There is an ever-increasing range of options.
You could ...
- take income directly from your plan under the new pensions freedoms rules
- release a sum larger than the conventional 25% under the new rules (with a tax charge)
- consider taking an annuity - but should it be conventional, asset-backed, temporary or enhanced?
- leave things as they are and obtain your income from other investments.
Finding your way through the maze of options can be bewildering.
You may well ask …“But which is right for me?”
As in all stages of your financial life, we will discuss your current position and your future plans to get as full a picture as possible before making our recommendations.
How much risk is enough?
The relevance of your ability to tolerate investment risk cannot be stressed too highly when discussing the possibility of a new draw-down scheme, or taking benefits under the new pension freedoms. Our recommendations will always follow our normal investment advice process but we will pay particular attention to the risk levels that you will need to take in order to have the opportunity of producing an adequate level of income that will last until you die.
Your biggest risk is longevity!
Annuities cannot run out of money
Despite their bad press, annuities act as insurance policies against us living too long! They may pay less than they did years ago but they will not stop until you have died. If you cannot tolerate investment risk then an annuity of some kind may well be the best option - either alone or perhaps in conjunction with some form of drawdown.