Background

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Cathy retired three years ago and was previously employed as a marketing manager earning a decent income. Today her income mainly comes from her defined benefit employer’s pension which pays her around £19,200 per year in addition to her state pension. When we met her sadly she had been recently widowed and now that she was on her own she really wanted to “make the most of her retirement” and do some of the things she had always wanted to do. She now has c. £250,000 as a lump sum from her late husband’s various Life Assurance plans which she wants to put toward her retirement provision. Cathy has no mortgage or dependants.

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Key Client Considerations

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Cathy’s recent loss has made her more aware of her own mortality and she wanted to make the most of her current finances. She wanted to know what her options were and whether the new pensions changes affected her in anyway. She wanted to spend more on travel and visit some of her relatives who lived in Australia and New Zealand. As she was now on her own she had some concerns around her own care needs in later life.

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Approach

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To begin with we spent some considerable time in order to really get to know Cathy and understand what she really wanted out of the rest of her life. Following on from this we then took the time to outline some of the recent changes under “Freedom and Choice in Pensions” and how they affected her own retirement. We used a retirement modeller to demonstrate how her £250,000 could be invested to supplement her retirement income and provide flexibility to draw varying degrees of money to fund her trips as well as contributing to future care costs if required. We also provided further reassurance that if required she could access money from her house to further support any care costs she needed.

Outcomes

 

Cathy now has a comprehensive financial plan, incorporating a lifetime financial planning forecast, which has given her the confidence to travel and visit her relatives who emigrated a number of years ago. She has complete peace of mind knowing that she will always have enough money. Cathy meets with us every year to review her progress and to adjust her plan where necessary to ensure she remains on track to achieve what she wants in her retirement.