Retirement financial advice

So you’ve come to a retirement website wondering if you need financial advice to help with your planning for retirement. You might think – of course we’ll say ‘yes’, it’s in our interests to do so.

But we’ve got good reasons. We think asking a financial adviser to help with your retirement planning is one of the best things you can do.

• It’s a great investment that could save you money in the long run by:
• helping you choose the best retirement options for you
• recommending products with competitive charges, and
• helping you avoid paying more tax than you need to. 

Read on to find out more!

A personal service

A good financial adviser will offer a personal service. They’ll work with you to understand your situation and what your wants and needs are, and where you want to be once you’ve retired. And they’ll recommend the best way for you to get there.

Help to understand the choices you have

Since 2016, with the introduction of the pension freedoms, there’s been more choice of pension options at retirement – depending on what kind of pension you have. Choice is good, but it can also be confusing, because how do you choose? And the pension freedoms don’t apply to all types of pension, so how do you know?

There will be good and bad points about any pension choices you have. Which are best for you can depend on a lot of things – like how much you have in pension savings, what kind of pensions you’ve got and your family situation. You can’t change some options once you’ve chosen them, so it’s important to make the right choice to start with.

A financial adviser who’s familiar with all the options will be able to look at your situation and recommend which retirement option or options would work best for you.

Get better value from retirement products

Once you’ve decided how to take your money, do you need retirement products? There are lots of different retirement products and none of them are standard.

Take annuities – the policies you buy to pay pensions – for example. There are lots of different kinds of pension annuity. Some increase, others don’t, some pay a pension to your husband or wife after you die, others are guaranteed to pay out for a given number of years even if you die in the meantime. Even for the same type of annuity, some companies offer better deals than others and it’s recommended you shop around to see which provider offers the best deal. Is your head spinning yet?

Pension drawdown products, where you invest your money and take it out a bit at a time, are possibly even more confusing. They come with management charges, and you have to choose investments and pay investment fees.

An independent financial adviser (more about this later) will be familiar with all the providers and what they charge, and will be able to recommend the best-value options for you.

Tax matters

Pension tax at retirement has a number of pitfalls for the unwary. If you’re not careful you could easily end up paying more tax than you need to. A good financial adviser will know how all the tax allowances apply and how to use them to your advantage.

What price peace of mind?

A financial adviser can help you sort out your money and affairs to ensure your family or dependants will be well looked after you’ve gone. For example, they can help you use inheritance tax allowances to pass your estate (all your money and other assets, including your home) to your family or dependants efficiently, so they don’t end up paying more tax than they need to.

Money to enjoy yourself with

What’s the point of having money, after all? It’s an enabler – a means to an end. You want to have enough money to enjoy yourself when you retire. A financial adviser won’t just want to talk about how much your money is worth, but what it can do for you – so you can do all the things you’ve been looking forward to doing.

Five questions to ask a financial adviser

1. How much do they charge and how much will you pay? 

All financial advisers are required to tell you how much they charge. Depending on what kind of advice you want, they may not be able to tell you exactly how much you’ll pay, but they should be able to give you an idea and possibly an upper limit.

2. Are they independent or restricted?

There are two distinct types of financial adviser.
Some are ‘restricted’, which means they can only give advice on a limited range of products.
‘Independent’ financial advisers, on the other hand, can give unbiased advice about all the financial products available.

3. Do they have any clients who are similar to you?

This will give you an idea of how much experience they have of advising people like you.

What are their qualifications?

Financial advice is specialist work. Financial advisers need to be highly qualified and take ongoing training. They’ll need to have achieved at least Level 4 in the national Qualifications and Credit Framework. They must also be able to supply a Statement of Professional Standing saying they’ve signed up to a code of ethics and completed at least 35 hours of professional training – and they have to renew this every year.

Are they authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority?  

You should always check that any financial adviser you’re thinking of using is on the Financial Conduct Authority’s register. This will tell you what kind of advice they’re authorised to give and what protection you have when dealing with them. Scammers often pretend to be legitimate financial advisers, so you should always use the contact details listed on the register to be sure you’re dealing with a genuine firm.

Can we help you?

Baffled about pensions? Not sure what the best thing is to do? Ask us for help. We love helping people get the best out of their money.

Here are a few of the reasons you might want to give us a go.

• The personal touch. We go out of our way to understand you, your life situation, and what you want.
• We really know our stuff. We’ve got over 50 years’ experience of helping people plan and achieve the retirement they want.
• We’re completely independent and unbiased. 
• Your first consultation is on us.

We can help you plan the retirement you want, so you can get on with enjoying life without having to worry about money – now or in the future.