Planning for retirement
Andy, Stockport
Client since 2017
Our dream now looks like a reality
“I joined Barclays straight from school (back in the 90s!) and the pension at that time was a non-contributory Final Salary scheme. Fast forward fifteen years or so and my company closed that scheme; I was moved to a new one, and any funds I’d built up remained where they were. I eventually got the opportunity to take the pension out of Barclays, so I wanted the help of a financial adviser in terms of how best to do that.
I found Kevin on VouchedFor – I thought he looked like a friendly guy so I got in touch! The first time we met up we had a really good conversation. We spoke about the pension, but it was pretty clear from the start that Kevin wasn’t just about giving advice on one subject, but more about looking at the bigger picture. He wanted to know what our aspirations were, and what we were hoping to do in retirement. So, it quickly went from me thinking I just wanted a quick bit of advice, to actually looking at our finances across the board.
One of the things I’d never really considered is that in your early retirement, you hope to be active and healthy – and likely will be wanting to spend a bit more money as a result. Whereas if you live to the ripe old age of 90, you’re probably not going to need as much money as you won’t really be going anywhere! So, Kevin put the question to us: would you rather have that guaranteed steady income, or would you rather have the flexibility to spend a bit more in your early years of retirement?
And that’s what really swung it for us. Kevin helped get us into a position where we could actually have both! The dream for us in retirement is to have a second home in Spain where we can spend a good part of the year, and that’s looking like a reality now thanks to the work we’ve done. We can genuinely look forward to things as a family now, and for that, I’m really grateful.”