Pensions & Retirement
An extension to a general savings and investment strategy as we focus advice on achieving your lifestyle aspirations in retirement.
There are four stages to retirement planning:
- Making a start!
- Planning for the future.
- Accessing benefits at retirement.
- Preservation of wealth.
Getting started
Get started early! It may seem a long way off however the pension pot we create early in our working life achieves the most in terms of growth and the creation of a retirement fund.
We’ll seek to maximise the benefits of any workplace pension with the combination of your employer’s & personal contributions together with the tax relief available to create a cornerstone of the retirement plan.
For our corporate clients, quite apart from the future potential value of the business, we’ll consider pension contributions as part of your business plan. Working with you and your accountant we’ll ensure all reliefs and allowances are considered to maximise tax efficiency and boost retirement funding.
We’ll help to create an initial plan which includes timescales and an initial, target retirement age with consideration of other key objectives such as the repayment of a mortgage.
Retirement Planning
From the initial creation of a pension, time and continued contributions are key to the progress of your retirement planning.
We focus our advice at this stage on maximising growth potential by investing in competitively charged funds with the potential for performance in line with your needs and expectations.
Wherever appropriate, we’ll look at the consolidation of pension ‘pots’ from previous employment with even the smallest amounts when brought together creating a fund with some real value and relevance when projecting your eventual income in retirement.
The focus becomes so much sharper the closer we get and includes:
- Greater clarity of our lifestyle aspirations and the income required.
- The available options to withdraw monies.
- The rate at which fund values will decumulate as benefits are taken over our lifetime.
- Consideration of death benefits and pensions used in inter-generational estate planning.
For a forward-looking plan, please don’t hesitate to call . . .
Defined Benefits
For our clients with ‘defined benefit’ occupational pensions we do not provide advice in this complex and highly sensitive area of retirement planning.
We are however able to introduce you to firms who hold the necessary specialist authorisation . . .
Financial Planning
When asking the question “Why chose Chester Partnership?” you would, of course expect us to include in our answer – “Because we’re different!” and, as we’ve explained elsewhere on our site, this difference is based on two key elements that underpin how we think and how we act.
Firstly, we understand the difference between financial advice and financial planning.
Financial advice is based on a very narrow view of your circumstances often resulting in the implementation of products (pensions) designed to address a specific need for income in retirement.
Financial planning builds on this approach by taking a much wider view of your overall current circumstances, exploring what you want to achieve in the future and balancing the risks and rewards that could be experienced along the way. We’ll explore every available means to support your lifestyle aspirations in retirement.
Clearly there are occasions when straightforward pensions advice is entirely appropriate and then others when more detailed planning is required. What makes us different is understanding the difference between the two, when each should be applied and making you fully aware of the service on offer. For both approach we will of course remain committed to keep you at the centre of everything we do.
Divorce & Financial Planning
The upheaval that follows a divorce or separation inevitably leads to financial arrangements being broken up. We understand and appreciate the upset and distress experienced at such a time and our advice is based on care and sensitivity as we look to provide for you and your children. Your long term plans to secure an income in retirement may include:
- Retaining (and increasing) benefits in your own pensions.
- Offsetting the value of pensions against other assets.
- Earmarking pension benefits to be received in the future.
- Splitting pension benefits with your ex partner.
Additional general advice is focused on:
- Mortgage arrangements to secure a new family home.
- Protection of maintenance payments in the event of the former partner dying or illness resulting in long term absence from work and loss of income.
- Personal protection needs to replace lost life assurance and critical illness policies.
- Rewriting wills, trusts and the appointment of trustees, executors and guardians.
On-Going Service
Understanding your requirements for ‘on-going service’ is another key element of the retirement planning process and will change as you progress through the different stages of your life.
Our introductory, ‘Creation’ service may be appropriate at the earliest stages of creating a pension and / or investment portfolio. Often your priorities will relate more so on initial career moves, buying a home and having appropriate personal and family protection. Creation involves an annual planning meeting focused on these needs and objectives together with pension portfolio updates and further funding opportunities.
As you continue to build wealth, our ‘Progression’ service may become appropriate when we‘ll focus on the pensions (and other investments) being managed by Chester Partnership. Again this service is based on an annual, forward looking update meeting when we enhance the earlier Creation type service with a greater emphasis on setting objectives together with milestone events and the correction of any identified shortfalls in the plan (whilst there is still time to make a difference!).
The ‘Realisation’ service is appropriate when you’ve created a pension and investment portfolio that can reasonably be considered to be ‘significant’. Such wealth brings greater choice and flexibility. There will be a wider range of tax considerations. And inter-generational planning is often involved. We’ll consider the use of cashflow modelling to create highly developed plans to ensure capital and / or income is available at set milestone events. . We’ll do more work collaboratively with your other professional advisers and where appropriate, with our specialist colleagues.
As ever, our on-going services have been designed with you in mind and we can tailor the level of service to suit your current life stage.
A plan is only a plan when it’s monitored and maintained, call us to discuss your requirements . . .
Please be aware:
The value of pensions and the income they produce can fall as well as rise. You may get back less than you invested.
Transferring out of a Final Salary scheme is unlikely to be in the best interests of most people.
Will writing is not part of the Quilter Financial Planning offering and is offered in our own right. Quilter Financial Planning accept no responsibility for this aspect of our business.
Estate Planning & Inheritance Tax planning is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Will Writing & Trusts are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Our top tip...
Check out the State Pension Calculator on www.gov.uk/calculate-state-pension
In addition to my own pension plans – “What am I entitled to from the Government? Ah so that’s where all that National Insurance goes!”