As we head into Autumn, the Budget starts to loom large on the horizon – and with it, the inevitable Budget rumours.
I don’t have a crystal ball so I can’t tell you what the Chancellor will announce on October 28, but I do have one piece of advice right now:
Don’t believe the hype.
Every year, rumours multiply in the media about what the Budget will contain and how it will affect you.
While some rumours may have a grain of truth to them, they rarely turn out to be accurate. They can also cause serious damage to your wealth if you act on them.
In 2024 and 2025, claims that the Government was planning to take away the tax-free lump sum element from private pensions swept the financial press.
Tax-free pension lump sum withdrawals increased by more than 60% from £11.25bn in 2023/24 to £18.08bn in 2024/25.
The acceleration was particularly striking in the six months to March 2025 with £10.43bn withdrawn as tax-free cash. This was 72% more than the £6.07bn withdrawn in the corresponding six months of 2023/24.
That means the UK consumer moved £26bn from a tax-advantaged investment into a taxed environment. This is certainly good for the Chancellor of the Exchequer; maybe not so good for an individual.
Taking tax-free cash out from pensions is like toothpaste: you cannot put it back in the tube if you’ve taken too much out.
While figures are not yet available for the 2025/26 tax year, the indications show similar levels of withdrawals have continued.
In the end, no change was made to tax-free pension lump sums. While many of those who took their lump sums may always have intended to do so, it’s a safe bet that with figures like those above, many were spooked into premature action.
At Fairstone, we warned of the dangers of reacting to speculation around pension lump sums at the time. We also showed how cashing in your lump sum all in one go can mean you miss out on further tax-free money later on.
The tax-free element of the pension is an extremely effective way to manage income and taxation in retirement. You can use it to pay off debts, to finance dream holidays or phase retirement.
Many more favour flexibility to do something they enjoy rather than take a complete hard stop at retirement.
You should never take lightly the decision when and how to access that sum or make a decision on the strength of speculation in the media.
I’m not going to make myself a hostage to fortune by saying the Government will never change the rules on pension lump sums – just look at what changes have been brought in about inheritance tax on pensions.
But what I would say is that it is much better to base your financial planning on facts instead of speculation. Consulting a financial adviser adds an invaluable external expert perspective.
Practising what I preach, here are some important factual events coming up in the next few years. You should take these into consideration when making your financial plans.
The Government is aiming to have all pension schemes connected via its new pension dashboards system by October 2026.
This should enable people to see all their pensions information online, securely and in one place for the first time.
You can find more about the dashboards programme by clicking here.
From April 6 2027, most unused pension funds and death benefits will become part of your estate for Inheritance Tax purposes.
This could mean major changes in how people use their pension and plan their estate.
Find out more by reading our guide to the changes.
From April 2028, for most people the minimum age at which they can access a private pension will rise from 55 to 57.
If you are planning to retire early or take advantage of your pension commencement tax-free lump sum, you will need to check when your pension will become available.
From April 2029, only the first £2,000 of employee pension contributions made through salary sacrifice each year will be exempt from National Insurance contributions.
If you regularly pay in more via salary sacrifice, you may want to review how you fund your pension.
You can find out more about these changes by reading through our guide for employees and employers.
An expert financial adviser will explain these and other changes, how they affect your financial plan and how to navigate them.
Your adviser will also review your pension with you before you make any major decisions about it.
To ensure you can separate fact from rumour and act accordingly, get in touch with one of our advisers.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is also not a reliable indicator of future performance. Always seek professional advice before making financial decisions.
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There is currently no confirmed change that abolishes the tax-free pension lump sum. Pension rules can change, however, so it is important to distinguish confirmed Government policy from Budget speculation before making decisions about accessing your pension.
The Budget may result in changes to pensions and taxation, but until announcements are made, it is important not to treat media speculation or rumours as confirmed policy. Any proposed changes should be assessed in the context of your individual financial circumstances.
The tax-free lump sum remains an important part of pension planning under the current rules. Whether and how much you can take depends on your circumstances and pension arrangements, so you should check the rules applying to you before accessing your pension.
For most people, the normal minimum pension age is due to increase from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028. Some people may have a protected pension age, so the change will not necessarily apply to everyone in the same way.
From 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and certain death benefits are due to be brought within the scope of Inheritance Tax. This could make pensions and estate planning more closely connected than they have been historically.
The pensions dashboards programme is intended to enable people to access information about their different pensions digitally in one place. The Government is aiming for pension schemes to connect to the system by October 2026.
Yes. From April 2029, only the first £2,000 of employee pension contributions made through salary sacrifice each year will be exempt from National Insurance contributions under the announced changes. The impact will depend on your circumstances and how much you contribute through salary sacrifice.
You should not take a pension lump sum simply because of an unconfirmed Budget rumour. The decision should be based on your retirement objectives, tax position, income needs and wider financial plan, rather than speculation about what the Government might announce.
For most of our working lives, we are encouraged to save, invest and build financial security for the future.
Then retirement arrives, and the focus changes completely.
After years of building wealth, the challenge is no longer just accumulating money. It is knowing how to use it well.
I see this often. Clients spend decades carefully building pensions, ISAs and investments, only to find that drawing on those savings feels uncomfortable.
It can feel far easier to preserve wealth than to spend it, even when the money is there to support the lifestyle they have worked hard for.
That is the idea behind the “Die With Zero” philosophy, popularised by author Bill Perkins.
In simple terms, the argument is that money should be used to create experiences, memories and impact during your lifetime, rather than being left untouched until it is too late to benefit from it.
I think there is a lot of value in that message.
But, as with most areas of financial planning, the right answer is rarely at either extreme.
Money is not the end goal. It is a tool that should help you live the life you want, look after the people you care about and make choices with confidence.
For some retirees, that might mean travelling more while they are still fit and active.
For others, it might mean helping children onto the property ladder, supporting grandchildren with education, or simply saying “yes” to the experiences they have delayed for years.
There is also a practical point here. The early years of retirement are often when people are healthiest, most active and best able to enjoy their money.
Waiting too long can mean missing opportunities that cannot always be recreated later.
That does not mean spending recklessly.
It means recognising that there can be a cost to being too cautious as well as a cost to spending too much.
The difficulty is that deliberately aiming to run your wealth down too aggressively carries real risks.
The biggest unknown is longevity: none of us knows how long we are going to live.
A retirement lasting 30 years or more is now a realistic possibility for many people.
That creates a genuine risk of spending too much too soon and having fewer options later in life.
Care costs are another important unknown.
The UK does benefit from the NHS and some social care support, but later-life care, property adaptations and additional support can still create significant costs.
Investment markets also need to be factored in. Retirement plans are built using assumptions about growth, inflation and withdrawals, but markets do not move in straight lines.
A difficult period early in retirement can have a lasting impact on how sustainable withdrawals are.
This is known as ‘sequence of returns risk’, where poor investment returns early in retirement will cause a portfolio to run out of money much faster. That is why many people still want a sensible financial cushion.
It is not about hoarding money for the sake of it. It is about keeping enough flexibility to deal with the unknowns.
In my view, good retirement planning is not about choosing between spending everything and preserving everything.
It is about deciding what level of spending, security and legacy feels right for you.
Most retirement plans need to balance three things:
For some people, the right answer is to spend more in the earlier years of retirement, when they are more likely to enjoy it.
For others, leaving an inheritance is a core part of their values and financial planning.
Neither approach is automatically right or wrong.
The important thing is that the decisions are intentional, affordable and linked to what actually matters to you.
This is where estate planning becomes part of the same conversation.
Spending, gifting and leaving money behind are not separate decisions.
They all sit within the wider question of how your wealth should support you and the people who matter to you.
Effective estate planning is about making sure assets pass to the right people, at the right time, in a tax-efficient way that remains consistent with your wishes.
That might include:
For many families, having these conversations earlier can be extremely valuable. A gift made at the right time can have a far greater impact than a larger inheritance received much later.
However, you need to do this carefully.
You should not compromise your own financial security to make gifts or reduce a potential inheritance tax bill.
This is where proper financial planning adds real value.
A good plan does not just show what you have today. It helps you understand what your money may allow you to do over the rest of your life.
Through cashflow modelling, you can test different scenarios before making big decisions.
For example:
Can you afford to retire earlier?
Could you gift money to your children now without putting your own future at risk?
Can you take the holiday you have always talked about?
What happens if markets fall, inflation is higher than expected, or care costs arise later in life?
These are not questions that can be answered properly by looking at a pension balance or investment statement in isolation.
They need context. They need assumptions. And they need a plan that can be reviewed as life changes.
That, for me, is the real point of financial planning.
It is not about encouraging people to spend everything. It is about helping them make informed decisions with confidence.
Not necessarily.
The better aim is to avoid reaching later life with unnecessary regret: regret that you spent too much too soon, or regret that you were so cautious you never enjoyed what you had built.
The goal should be to live with confidence, enjoy the wealth you have worked hard to build, support the people who matter to you where appropriate, and keep enough flexibility for whatever life brings next.
A financial adviser can help you to navigate your way through the different pitfalls of spending too little or too much and help you plan your financial future with confidence – whichever way you see it.
An adviser can:
Get in touch with an adviser today to start your plan – or check on its progress so far.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is also not a reliable indicator of future performance. Always seek professional advice before making financial decisions.
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The “Die With Zero” philosophy argues that people should aim to use their wealth during their lifetime to maximise experiences, fulfilment and impact, rather than accumulating substantially more wealth than they need and leaving it unused.
It can be a useful way of thinking about retirement spending, but deliberately trying to reduce your wealth to zero carries risks. Longevity, investment returns, inflation, care costs and unexpected expenses can all affect how much money you need later in life.
Not necessarily. A more realistic goal may be to spend and enjoy your wealth while maintaining enough financial security to support you throughout retirement and deal with unexpected costs.
There is no universal amount that everyone should spend. The appropriate level depends on your income, pension and other assets, lifestyle, health, housing costs, expected longevity and whether you want to leave an inheritance.
The main risks include living longer than expected, experiencing poor investment returns, higher-than-expected inflation, unexpected expenditure and later-life care costs. Spending too aggressively early in retirement can leave you with fewer financial options later.
Giving money during your lifetime can allow family members to benefit from it when they may need it most. However, gifts should be considered alongside your own financial security, tax implications and wider estate-planning objectives.
Cashflow modelling is a financial planning tool that projects your income, expenditure, assets and liabilities over time. It can be used to test different retirement and spending scenarios and assess how sustainable a financial plan may be.
Yes. Cashflow modelling can help illustrate how different levels of spending, investment returns, inflation and unexpected costs could affect your finances over time. It can therefore provide useful context when deciding whether you can afford to spend or gift more.
That depends on your personal priorities. Some people place a high value on leaving money to their family, while others prefer to use more of their wealth during their lifetime. Financial planning can help you balance both objectives.
A combination of appropriate retirement income planning, sensible investment management, realistic spending assumptions and regular reviews can help. Cashflow modelling can also be used to test how your finances might cope with different scenarios.
Building a pension can take 30 or 40 years. It is surprisingly easy to undo some of that good work in an afternoon.
After more than a decade helping people plan for retirement, I tend to see the same mistakes cropping up.
Some are technical. Others are behavioural.
And quite a few look completely harmless until you discover the tax bill or valuable benefit hiding underneath.
So what are the five biggest pension traps I regularly come across when people are planning for retirement?
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One thing comes up time and time again when I talk to people about their retirement.
They look at their current salary and assume they need to replace it and they usually don’t.
If you’re earning £100,000 today, that doesn’t necessarily mean you need £100,000 a year in retirement.
On a £100,000 gross salary in the UK (for the 2026/27 tax year) with a 5% pension contribution (£5,000), your annual take-home pay is approximately £64,807 (about £5,400 per month).
When you switch to pension income it isn’t subject to National Insurance, although taxable pension withdrawals may still be subject to Income Tax but, NI is a big tax that many don’t consider.
You are also no longer making pension contributions and, depending on your circumstances, the mortgage may have been repaid.
Your salary and the amount you actually live on are two very different numbers.
Retirement income can also often come from several places. Pensions, ISAs, cash and other investments can all play a part.
I’ve seen situations where careful use of pensions, tax-free cash, ISAs and other savings has meant the overall tax paid on retirement withdrawals was surprisingly low.
Not because of some clever tax avoidance scheme, but because income was taken from the right places at the right time, in the right order.
I often ask clients a very simple question: if there was a cash machine in your life, how much would it need to print every month for you to feel financially free?
Ignore tax for a moment. What actually needs to land in your bank account?
Once we know that figure, we can work backwards and look at how it might be produced.
Because every pound unnecessarily lost to tax is a pound that cannot be spent enjoying retirement, gifted to your family or left invested for later.
Lesson 1: Don’t start with your gross salary. Start with how much you actually need to land in your bank account each month. They are two very different numbers. Retirement may be be closer than you think, since you base it on your current gross earnings.
New clients often come to me assuming retirement starts when their State Pension starts. But those are two very different things.
The State Pension provides a valuable foundation to someone’s retirement income.
But if you have built pensions, savings and investments alongside it, you may have options long before State Pension age.
And this is where I think people can make quite a sad mistake.
They spend decades building wealth but never quite give themselves permission to use it. If you want to stop working at 60, travel more, spend time with your grandchildren or simply stop setting the alarm clock every morning, why automatically wait?
Quite often, the barrier isn’t money, it is confidence.
People don’t know whether they can afford to stop, so the default becomes carrying on working. This is where cashflow planning can be incredibly powerful.
We can model, for example, someone taking £6,000 a month from age 60 and then reducing withdrawals later when State Pension income begins. We can look at different retirement dates, spending levels, market falls and life expectancies.
Suddenly retirement stops being a guess, it becomes a plan.
For me, that is one of the most valuable parts of financial planning. In retirement, peace of mind and clarity becomes a currency in its own right.
Nobody wants to reach 85 with a huge pension pot and realise they could have retired five years earlier.
That being said, work gives us much more than a salary. For many people it provides purpose, routine and friendships too. Retirement is never one size fits all.
But neither should your retirement date automatically be dictated by when the State Pension happens to arrive.
Lesson 2: Clarity is often the key that unlocks financial independence. Don’t automatically assume State Pension age is your retirement age.
People love tidying things up and with consolidation, three pensions become one pension.
One login. One statement. And quite often, consolidation does make sense.
But doing it purely for administrative convenience can be an extremely expensive tidy-up.
I once came across a client with an old pension containing a guaranteed annuity rate of around 10%.
In simple terms, a £100,000 pension could potentially provide roughly £10,000 a year of guaranteed income for life under the terms of that particular guarantee.
Finding an old pension capable of producing that level of guaranteed income can look almost suspiciously generous by modern standards. But valuable guarantees can still be buried inside old pension contracts.
Other plans may contain protected tax-free cash (above 25%) or other benefits that could potentially be lost if the pension is transferred.
It is important to note that, at current rates, the standard tax-free lump sum allowance is £268,275, with higher amounts possible for people with certain protections.
That is why you need to understand what is under the bonnet before deciding an old pension should be consolidated.
A pension statement might look dull enough to cure insomnia, but occasionally there is something extremely valuable hiding in the small print.
That’s why before transferring an old pension, you should check for the following:
Lesson 3: Don’t consolidate simply because it looks tidier. Understand exactly what you may be giving up before transferring an old pension
Another common misconception is that retirement means everything suddenly needs to become “safe”.
You retire on Friday, by Monday morning, apparently the entire investment strategy needs changing.
If you retire at 60, you could have another 30 years ahead of you. That is nearly as long as many people spent building their pension in the first place.
Retirement isn’t a single event. It could be a three-decade investment journey. That doesn’t mean taking unnecessary risk, far from it.
It means understanding all the risks, people naturally worry about their pension falling during a market correction and that is understandable.
But there is another risk at the opposite end of the spectrum: becoming too cautious, not achieving enough growth and gradually watching inflation and withdrawals eat away at your spending power.
The more important question is how much short-term volatility you can financially and emotionally tolerate, this is why some clients like to have what I call an “ammunition fund”.
For some people, that might mean keeping one or two years of expected withdrawals in cash or lower-risk assets.
If markets fall, they aren’t automatically forced to sell investments at exactly the wrong moment.
Cashflow planning can then look at both sides of the equation: what happens if markets fall sharply, but also what happens if the portfolio grows too slowly over a retirement that could last 30 years.
Most people spend far more time worrying about the first risk than the second.
Lesson 4: Retirement doesn’t mean investment risk disappears. Understand the risk of markets falling, but also the risk of becoming too cautious for a retirement that could last decades.
I sometimes say to clients: don’t let Donald Trump be in charge of your retirement, or the Prime Minister, or the Chancellor.
Markets will always give you a reason to worry. Clients understandably want to sell before the market falls, buy back at the bottom and neatly sidestep all the difficult bits.
There is just one small problem: you have to be right twice. You need to know when to get out and, crucially, when to get back in.
If you can consistently do that, you don’t need a financial adviser. You need the DeLorean from Back to the Future.
Good retirement planning should instead accept that difficult markets will happen.
The question shouldn’t be: “How do we make sure markets never fall?”
It should be: “What have we put in place so that when they do, I don’t have to panic?”
That may mean holding an ammunition fund. It might mean understanding how much of your essential expenditure is already covered by guaranteed income such as the State Pension or a defined benefit pension.
If your normal expenditure is covered, it becomes much easier to ride out the waves.
This is also where having a financial plan really earns its keep. Clarity is the goal, not trying to predict.
When markets fall, you aren’t making decisions from scratch while surrounded by alarming headlines. You can go back to the assumptions you made when everybody was calmer.
In our planning, we stress-test retirement plans against some horrible periods for investors, including the dot-com crash and the global financial crisis.
They aren’t particularly pleasant scenarios to look at. But that’s the point.
I’d rather discuss the storm while the sun is shining. Then, if markets fall and somebody starts worrying, we can go back to the plan and say: we planned for this.
Sometimes financial planning is spreadsheets and tax allowances. Sometimes it is a good dose of market therapy.
Lesson 5: Don’t let emotions take control of your retirement plan. They have a habit of becoming very expensive.
Expert advice from a professional financial adviser can help you avoid these common pension traps – and quite a few more besides.
Fairstone has expert advisers across everything from how to plan your retirement to passing on wealth to the next generation.
With offices across the UK and Ireland, we combine local knowledge with national scale and global investment options.
Find an adviser near you to start planning confidently for your retirement today.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is also not a reliable indicator of future performance. Always seek professional advice before making financial decisions.
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The biggest pension traps include assuming you need to replace your gross salary in retirement, automatically waiting until State Pension age to consider retirement, consolidating pensions without checking their benefits, becoming too cautious with investments and allowing emotions to drive investment decisions.
The amount you need depends on your lifestyle, housing costs, debts, tax position and other sources of income. Rather than simply trying to replace your salary, it can be more useful to calculate how much you actually need to spend each month and then work out how pensions, savings, investments and the State Pension could provide it.
No. You can choose to retire before State Pension age if your financial circumstances allow it. Your private or workplace pensions and other assets can potentially provide income before your State Pension begins. Cashflow planning can help you assess whether retiring earlier is sustainable.
Not necessarily. Consolidating pensions can make them easier to manage and may have other advantages, but transferring an old pension could mean giving up valuable guarantees or protections. You should check the benefits and terms of each pension before transferring it.
Yes. Some older pension schemes can contain valuable benefits such as guaranteed annuity rates, protected tax-free cash or a protected pension age. These benefits may be lost when a pension is transferred, so it is important to understand what you have before consolidating pensions.
A guaranteed annuity rate is a feature of some older pension policies that can provide an annuity at a predetermined rate, potentially producing a significantly higher income than rates available on the open market. Because these guarantees can be valuable, transferring a pension that contains one should be considered carefully.
Retirement does not necessarily mean you should move your pension entirely into cash. If retirement lasts 20 or 30 years, your investments may still need to grow to keep pace with inflation and withdrawals. The appropriate level of investment risk depends on your circumstances, income needs, time horizon and ability to tolerate market falls.
Sequence of returns risk is the risk that poor investment returns early in retirement, combined with withdrawals, can have a significant impact on how long your pension savings last. This is one reason why retirement planning needs to consider not just average investment returns but also the timing of market falls.
Cashflow planning uses assumptions about income, spending, investments, inflation, tax and life expectancy to model how your finances could develop over time. It can help you assess different retirement dates and spending levels and test how your plan might cope with events such as market falls.
Having a clear financial plan can help you avoid making decisions based on short-term market movements or alarming headlines. Building appropriate cash reserves, understanding your investment strategy and stress-testing your plan can give you greater confidence when markets fall.
Yes. Taking too little investment risk can reduce the potential for your pension and other investments to grow over a long retirement. While protecting your income from market falls is important, being overly cautious can also expose you to inflation and the risk of your money not lasting as long as you need it to.
You need to consider your expected spending, guaranteed income, pensions, savings, investments, tax position and how long your money may need to last. A cashflow plan can model different retirement dates, spending levels, investment returns and market conditions to help determine whether your retirement plans are sustainable.
There are many reasons why people choose to consult a financial adviser.
To help plan for their retirement; to see how they can maximise the money they put aside; to secure their legacy and pass on wealth to the next generation.
But there’s one reason that’s not talked about enough.
And that’s to feel better about themselves and their life.
The very best financial advice doesn’t just give you a pounds and pence output – it can genuinely transform your life.
You may think I’m exaggerating for effect, but I have seen it happen with my own eyes, as have many of our advisers at Fairstone.
To take an example, one client came in to see one of our advisers in a state of great anxiety.
Their workplace was undergoing a major restructure and their job was under threat of redundancy.
Naturally, the client was worried about how they would cope financially if they were to lose their job.
However, after the adviser sat down with the client and went through their finances and the plans they had put in place over the years, it was clear that not only could the client cope if they lost their job, they could actually afford to stop work altogether.
The sheer relief on the client’s face at the burden and worry that had been taken off their shoulders was quite something to behold, our adviser told me.
In another case, one of our advisers took a client on quite a retirement journey.
Before he’d first talked to our adviser, the client had assumed he’d have to work till State Pension age – 67 for him – before he could afford to retire.
With the benefit of some initial advice, 67 turned to potentially 65 – two years of additional time in retirement.
The client continued to take our advice, adjusting his plan in accordance with changes in his working life, to the point where, following some cashflow modelling exercises, it turned out that he could retire as early as 59.
The client had been handed potentially up to eight extra years choosing how he wanted to spend his time rather than having to do what his employer wanted. Add it up and that’s over 2,000 extra days of freedom to enjoy.
While it is sensible to caveat these examples by saying that investment values can go down as well as up and a model is not a guaranteed outcome, they are nevertheless life-changing conversations for the people involved.
Every adviser I’ve ever met since I started working in the industry in 1993 has got similar real-life examples of the positive impact they have on their clients.
It’s one of the main reasons why they do their job and it shows that financial advice is about so much more than figures on a spreadsheet: it’s about people’s everyday lives and how they can be changed for the better.
Done well, financial advice can turn a dream into reality and give you peace of mind and a feeling of genuine freedom.
Even the process of sitting down with an expert adviser, talking through your hopes and fears and looking clearly and closely at your finances, can make you feel better.
In fact, financial advice in many ways is financial therapy.
When you build a bond of trust with your adviser, you can tell them things which you might not tell anyone else – maybe not even yourself – and you get to share your dreams and unburden some of your worries.
Good advisers offer valuable unbiased external perspectives – they often see things about your life which you may be too busy or too involved to see and are often the catalyst for the changes that are needed.
Because the advice is personalised rather than off the shelf, you get to have a one-off plan which is unique to you and which has the flexibility to change as you do.
This means that you can take control of your life rather than just going along with things. Advice enables you to make positive choices about you and your loved ones’ lives instead of just accepting whatever comes to you.
You may have a burning desire to learn scuba diving in Bali or just want to spend more time at home spoiling your grandchildren – or maybe you want to do both.
What you need is to get advice to turn that dream into a plan and then make that plan a reality.
For expert professional advice on how to turn your life dreams into a practical plan, get in touch with one of our advisers.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is also not a reliable indicator of future performance. Always seek professional advice before making financial decisions.
Many people spend years preparing for retirement, carefully building pension savings and investments with the goal of achieving financial freedom.
However, retirement is not the end of the planning journey. In reality, some of the most important financial decisions are often made after retirement.
Whether it is managing income sustainably, navigating tax rules, dealing with an inheritance, reviewing investment strategy or considering the impact of inheritance tax, ongoing financial planning can help ensure your money continues to work effectively for you and your family.
One of the most significant changes to pension planning in recent years will take effect from 6 April 2027.
From this date, unused pension funds are due to be included within an individual’s estate for inheritance tax (IHT) purposes.
Historically, pensions have been an effective estate planning tool because pension savings could often be passed to beneficiaries outside of the estate for IHT purposes.
Following the proposed changes, pension funds may become subject to IHT where an estate exceeds the available allowances and, depending on the circumstances, beneficiaries could also face income tax when accessing inherited pension benefits.
As a result, many existing estate plans may need reviewing.
This does not necessarily mean pension savings should be spent first or that pensions are no longer valuable planning tools.
Instead, retirement planning will need to balance several competing factors, including:
There is no one-size-fits-all solution.
The most appropriate strategy will depend on your personal circumstances, objectives and family situation.
Since the introduction of Pension Freedoms in 2015, many retirees have chosen flexi-access drawdown rather than purchasing an annuity.
Flexi-access drawdown provides flexibility and control, allowing you to choose when and how much income to take from your pension.
However, careful planning is essential to ensure your pension savings remain sustainable throughout retirement.
One of the key risks faced by retirees is known as sequencing risk.
Sequencing risk occurs when withdrawals are taken during periods of poor investment performance. When markets fall, more units of an investment need to be sold to generate the same level of income.
This can have a lasting impact because when markets subsequently recover, there is less capital remaining to benefit from growth.
The risk can be particularly significant during the early years of retirement or when large lump sums are withdrawn at a single point in time.
Many retirees naturally focus on the amount of income they require, but the timing of withdrawals can also be important.
Taking a regular monthly income can help smooth the impact of market fluctuations compared with taking a large annual withdrawal.
By spreading withdrawals throughout the year, different amounts are sold at different market levels, reducing reliance on market conditions at a single point in time.
For many people, monthly withdrawals also mirror their previous salary pattern, making budgeting and cashflow management easier.
Whilst this does not remove investment risk, it can help make retirement income planning more predictable.
One of the less frequently discussed challenges of retirement is not financial, but behavioural.
The move from guaranteed pension incomes towards flexi-access drawdown has given retirees greater flexibility and control over their finances.
However, it has also introduced a new concern commonly referred to as Fear Of Running Out (FORO) – the worry that pension savings may be depleted too early, leaving insufficient income later in life.
Many retirees find themselves asking questions such as:
As a result, some individuals become overly cautious and spend significantly less than they could comfortably afford, despite having accumulated substantial retirement savings.
Financial planning can play an important role in addressing these concerns.
Through detailed reviews of expenditure, assets and future objectives, alongside the use of cashflow modelling, it is possible to assess whether existing resources are likely to support a desired lifestyle throughout retirement.
This can provide reassurance that spending plans remain sustainable, including allowances for larger one-off expenses such as holidays, home improvements or replacing a car.
In some cases, it may also demonstrate that retirement is achievable earlier than originally anticipated, helping people make informed decisions about when they wish to stop working.
Perhaps most importantly, effective planning can provide reassurance that it is acceptable to spend the money that has been accumulated for retirement, whilst remaining confident that future needs can still be met.
Whilst running out of money is a common concern, the reality is often more complex than many people assume.
Retirement income is rarely reliant upon a single source.
In addition to pension savings, many retirees may have other assets available, such as ISAs, investment portfolios, property or cash savings.
Over time, guaranteed income sources such as the State Pension may also form an increasingly important part of retirement income.
The purpose of ongoing financial planning is to identify potential shortfalls before they become a problem.
Cashflow modelling can help highlight whether future spending plans appear sustainable and, if not, provide an opportunity to consider alternative strategies at an early stage.
These strategies might include adjusting expenditure, reviewing withdrawal levels, changing investment strategy, utilising other assets more effectively or, where appropriate, considering the role of equity within your home within a broader retirement plan.
By regularly reviewing plans and adapting them as circumstances change, retirees can gain greater confidence that their resources remain aligned with both their current needs and their longer-term objectives.
A common misconception is that investment risk should automatically reduce once retirement begins.
For some individuals this may be appropriate, but retirement does not necessarily mean investments should become overly cautious.
Many retirees may spend 25 to 30 years or more in retirement. In fact, for a couple retiring today there is a realistic possibility that one partner could live well into their 90s.
As a result, retirement planning often needs to consider investment growth over several decades rather than just capital preservation.
The key question is not simply “How much risk do I want to take?” but “How much risk do I need to take to achieve my objectives?”
When reviewing investment strategy in retirement, factors that should be considered include:
Every retiree’s situation is different, which is why tailored investment advice remains an important part of retirement planning.
Tax efficiency can have a significant impact on how long retirement assets last.
A common misunderstanding is that the State Pension is tax-free.
In reality, the State Pension is taxable income. However, tax is not usually deducted before it is paid.
Where additional taxable income exists, HMRC will typically collect any tax due through other sources of income or through a self-assessment tax return.
Most defined contribution pensions allow up to 25% of the fund to be accessed tax-free, subject to current legislation and available allowances.
Many people assume this must be taken as a lump sum. However, it can also be phased alongside taxable withdrawals to create a more tax-efficient income strategy.
This can help:
For those retiring before State Pension age, there may also be valuable opportunities to utilise otherwise unused personal allowance before State Pension income commences.
Careful planning can help maximise these opportunities while ensuring the strategy remains appropriate over the long term.
As life expectancy increases, it is becoming more common for people to receive inheritances later in life, often when they have already retired.
Receiving a significant inheritance can create opportunities, but it can also raise new questions.
For some retirees, an inheritance may strengthen long-term financial security, allowing additional funds to support future spending needs, healthcare costs or family assistance.
The funds could potentially be invested through a combination of:
These can provide additional flexibility and help create a diversified and tax-efficient retirement income strategy.
For others, the inheritance may not be required to support their own lifestyle and could instead increase an existing inheritance tax liability.
In these situations, options such as gifting strategies, trusts or, in some circumstances, a Deed of Variation may be worth considering as part of wider estate planning discussions.
The best course of action will depend on individual circumstances, objectives and family arrangements.
Retirement can last for several decades, during which time legislation, tax rules, investment markets and personal circumstances are likely to change.
Regular financial planning can help ensure your strategy remains aligned with your objectives throughout these changes.
The decisions made after retirement can be just as important as those made beforehand.
From managing retirement income and investment risk to planning for inheritance tax and considering how best to use inherited wealth, ongoing financial advice can help ensure your financial plan continues to meet your needs as circumstances evolve.
With increasing complexity and changing legislation, regular reviews can provide reassurance that your retirement strategy remains aligned with your goals, helping you make informed decisions for both yourself and future generations.
Here are some of the key questions you should ask yourself when reviewing your finances in retirement:
Talking to an expert financial adviser can help you navigate through retirement and create a personal financial plan to ensure you’re making the most of your time.
Get in touch with one of our advisers today to start your post-retirement journey.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is also not a reliable indicator of future performance. Always seek professional advice before making financial decisions.
Post-retirement financial planning is the process of managing your income, investments, taxes and estate after you stop working to ensure your money lasts throughout retirement.
Most advisers recommend reviewing your retirement plan at least annually or whenever there is a significant change in your finances, health or legislation.
Sequencing risk is the danger that poor investment returns early in retirement reduce the long-term sustainability of your pension because withdrawals are made while markets are falling.
Yes. The UK State Pension counts as taxable income, although tax is usually collected through your other income rather than deducted before payment.
Not necessarily. Many people spend 25–30 years or more in retirement, so maintaining some investment growth may be necessary to keep pace with inflation.
Fear of Running Out (FORO) describes the anxiety many retirees feel about spending their pension savings, even when they have enough money to support their lifestyle.
From April 2027, unused pension funds are expected to be included within a person’s estate for inheritance tax purposes, making estate planning even more important.
Yes. Cashflow modelling can show how your income, investments and spending may evolve over time, helping you make informed decisions and gain confidence in your retirement plans.
I recently read a BBC article about a couple who retired at the ages of 35 and 40 and who were part of the so-called ‘FIRE’ movement – Financially Independent, Retire Early – and it got me thinking about what financial independence really is.
The concept is straightforward. Save and invest aggressively while you’re young, keep spending to an absolute minimum, and build enough wealth to become financially independent decades before the traditional retirement age.
It is undoubtedly an impressive achievement.
However, it prompted an important question.
Is financial independence really the end goal for people, or is it simply a means to something greater?
For many people, work provides far more than an income. It gives us:
There is, of course, no right or wrong answer.
Some people dream of retiring early, while others cannot imagine ever stopping work.
The key is understanding what you want your future to look like, rather than pursuing someone else’s definition of success.
I firmly believe in helping people achieve financial independence as early as possible.
However, I don’t believe it should come at the expense of living life today.
When we are young, we are often at our wealthiest in terms of health, energy and opportunity.
Whilst saving for the future is incredibly important, there is a balance to be struck between preparing for tomorrow and making the most of today.
After all, life is uncertain.
There is also the reality that retirement itself is changing.
The age at which we can access pensions continues to rise, life expectancy has increased significantly over the last century, and many question what the future of the State Pension will look like over the coming decades.
Whilst nobody knows exactly what lies ahead, one thing is clear: relying on a traditional view of retirement is becoming increasingly uncertain.
So rather than spending 20years counting down the days until you can stop working, why not spend those 20 years building a career, a business or a life that you genuinely can’t wait to wake up for?
To me, that’s a far richer definition of financial freedom.
This is why financial planning should never be solely about reaching a particular figure.
Whether that number is £500,000, £1 million or £5 million, it is simply a milestone.
Without direction, even substantial wealth can leave people feeling uncertain.
Conversely, someone with clear goals, meaningful hobbies, strong family relationships, travel plans and projects often enjoys retirement far more because they are retiring to something, rather than simply from something.
Ultimately, financial planning is not about stopping work.
It is about creating the freedom to choose how you spend your time.
One of the most rewarding aspects of my role as a financial planner is helping clients gain clarity.
We cannot – and will not – promise extraordinary investment returns or create wealth overnight.
What we can do is build a financial roadmap.
Through detailed cashflow modelling, we stress test different scenarios, explore future possibilities and answer the questions that naturally keep people awake at night:
More often than not, clients leave those meetings with exactly the same amount of money they arrived with.
What changes is how they feel.
They leave with greater confidence, greater clarity and significantly more peace of mind.
I always say that a cashflow plan is the trailer of your life: you write the story, we help produce it and show you a snippet of what the movie could look like.
Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions about financial planning is that it is entirely focused on the future.
In reality, it often helps people enjoy the present more.
When a robust financial plan demonstrates that someone is comfortably on track, it can give them permission to spend that annual bonus, take the holiday they’ve been postponing, reduce their working hours or even pursue a career that offers greater fulfilment, despite paying less.
Knowing that your future is secure allows you to make better decisions today.
That, to me, is genuine financial independence and is really fun.
Not necessarily retiring early, but having the freedom to live life on your own terms, with confidence that your future has been carefully planned and forecasted.
Because, ultimately, the most valuable currency we transact in is not money.
It is peace of mind and that only comes once you have clarity.
An expert financial adviser can help you to map out how your financial future could look – and how you can get there.
Get in touch with an adviser today to find out more.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is also not a reliable indicator of future performance. Always seek professional advice before making financial decisions.
The FIRE movement stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. It focuses on saving and investing aggressively so that people can become financially independent and potentially retire much earlier than the traditional retirement age.
No. Financial independence means having enough financial security to choose how you spend your time. Early retirement is one possible outcome, but many financially independent people continue working because they enjoy it.
Cashflow planning uses financial modelling to forecast your future income, spending, savings and investments under different scenarios. It helps you understand whether you’re on track to achieve your goals.
A financial adviser can assess your finances, model different retirement dates and help you understand whether retiring early is achievable based on your goals and circumstances.
Good financial planning connects your finances with your lifestyle goals. It helps you make informed decisions about work, retirement, family, travel and spending so your money supports the life you want.
Not necessarily. While some people value retiring early, others prefer a balance between saving for the future and enjoying life today. Financial planning should reflect your own priorities and circumstances.
For many people, retirement planning raises an important question: can the State Pension alone provide enough income to live on?
While the State Pension forms a valuable foundation, for most people it is unlikely to fully fund the lifestyle they want in retirement.
Private pensions, workplace pensions and other savings are often needed to bridge the gap.
Understanding how these income sources work together is key to building a sustainable retirement plan.
The State Pension is a regular payment from the Government that you may be entitled to when you reach State Pension age.
For the 2026/27 tax year, the full new State Pension is £241.30 per week (around £12,547 per year), as set out on the official New State Pension GOV.UK page.
Most people need 35 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions or credits to receive the full amount, as explained in the State Pension eligibility guidance.
Overall, the State Pension is designed to provide a basic level of income in retirement rather than replace earnings entirely, as outlined in the UK Government State Pension overview.
A private pension is a long-term savings arrangement designed to support you in retirement, usually built through a workplace scheme or personal pension.
It grows through a combination of:
The final value depends on how much is paid in, how long it is invested, and how investments perform.
As highlighted in Fairstone’s retirement planning across life stages guide, starting early and contributing consistently can significantly improve long-term retirement outcomes.
To understand its real-world impact, it helps to compare the State Pension with typical retirement income needs.
The Retirement Living Standards provide a useful benchmark:
With the full State Pension at around £12,547 per year, it is clear it generally covers only a basic level of living costs rather than a moderate or comfortable lifestyle.
Several long-term trends are increasing reliance on private pension savings.
People are living longer, meaning retirement savings need to last more years.
At the same time, the cost of living has increased, and fewer people now benefit from generous defined benefit pension schemes.
As highlighted in Fairstone’s early retirement planning guide, this shift means individuals are taking on more responsibility for funding their own retirement than previous generations.
For some people with low living costs, the State Pension may provide a basic income in retirement. However, for most, it is unlikely to be enough on its own.
Typical shortfalls include:
As highlighted in Fairstone’s financial planning in later life guide, understanding both income and expenditure is essential when planning for retirement.
Private pensions are designed to sit alongside the State Pension and provide additional income in retirement.
They typically work through workplace contributions, employer payments, and tax relief, all of which help boost savings over time. Investment growth can further increase the value of a pension pot over the long term.
In short, they are designed to bridge the gap between the State Pension and the income needed for a comfortable retirement.
Good retirement planning is about steady progress rather than last-minute decisions.
Fairstone’s retirement planning considerations guide highlights the importance of reviewing pensions regularly and making the most of tax-efficient saving opportunities.
Small actions such as increasing contributions or consolidating old pension pots can make a meaningful difference over time.
The State Pension and private pensions are not competing systems — they are designed to work together.
The State Pension provides a foundation level of income, while private pensions build on top of this to support lifestyle choices and financial flexibility in retirement.
Together, they form the basis of most retirement income strategies in the UK.
A financial adviser can help you understand whether you are on track for retirement, how much income you may need, and how to structure your pensions efficiently.
Fairstone’s retirement planning service supports individuals in building tailored strategies based on income needs, goals and long-term financial planning.
Get in touch with an adviser today to find out more.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is also not a reliable indicator of future performance. Always seek professional advice before making financial decisions
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The State Pension is a regular payment from the UK Government that you may be entitled to once you reach State Pension age. For the 2026/27 tax year, the full State pension is £241.30 per week (around £12,547 per year), although the amount you receive depends on your National Insurance record.
Most people need 35 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions or credits to receive the full new State Pension. If you have fewer qualifying years, you may receive a reduced amount.
The State Pension provides a valuable foundation for retirement income, but for most people it is unlikely to cover the lifestyle they want. It is designed to provide a basic level of income rather than replace your earnings.
A private pension is a long-term retirement savings plan that is usually built through a workplace pension or a personal pension. Your pension grows through your own contributions, employer contributions (where applicable), tax relief from the Government, and investment growth over time.
Private pensions help bridge the gap between the State Pension and the income many people need for a comfortable retirement. They can provide greater financial flexibility and help cover everyday expenses, leisure activities and unexpected costs.
According to the Retirement Living Standards, a single person typically needs around:
For couples, the estimated annual income is:
These figures illustrate that the full State Pension alone is unlikely to provide a moderate or comfortable standard of living.
Several factors mean people are relying more on private pension savings than previous generations, including:
While some people with low living costs may be able to live on the State Pension, most retirees will need additional income.
Common expenses that the State Pension may not fully cover include:
The State Pension and private pensions are designed to work together. The State Pension provides a basic level of income, while private pensions supplement this through additional retirement savings built up during your working life.
Small, consistent actions can make a significant difference over time. These include:
The earlier you begin saving, the more time your investments have to grow. However, it’s never too late to review your retirement plans and make positive changes that could improve your future financial security.
A financial adviser can help you understand whether you’re on track for retirement, estimate how much income you may need, review your pension arrangements and develop a retirement strategy tailored to your financial goals and circumstances.
One question I’ve been asked repeatedly by friends, family and people outside the industry is: “How do I choose the right financial adviser?”
The more time I’ve spent in the industry, the more I’ve understood why people ask this question.
Choosing a financial adviser isn’t like buying a television or switching utility providers. You’re selecting someone who may play an important role in your financial life for many years, so trust matters enormously.
If you choose the right adviser, it’s often a relationship that lasts. The best advisers get to know you, your family and your long-term ambitions, providing support and guidance as your circumstances evolve over time.
While I’m not an adviser myself, I’ve spent many years working closely with professionals across the industry and seeing first-hand the qualities that clients value most. I’ve also seen how the best outcomes are often achieved when different specialists work together to support a client’s wider financial goals.
With that in mind, I wanted to share some of the key things I’ve learned and the questions I believe everyone should ask before choosing a financial adviser.
Whether you’re planning for retirement, investing for the future, buying a home, protecting your family, managing an inheritance or preparing to pass on wealth to the next generation, the right adviser can help you make informed decisions with confidence.
However, not all financial advice firms operate in the same way.
One thing I’ve noticed from speaking to clients and advisers over the years is that many people initially focus on investments.
However, advisers often tell me that the most important conversations tend to be about retirement goals, family priorities and long-term planning rather than investment products themselves.
A financial adviser helps individuals and families make informed decisions about their finances.
Depending on your circumstances, advice may cover:
Many people assume financial advice is only about investments. In reality, the most valuable advice often takes a broader view, bringing together all aspects of your financial life into a coordinated plan.
Before choosing an adviser, think about what you’re trying to achieve.
You may be:
The best advisers focus on understanding your goals before discussing products or solutions.
Good financial planning starts with understanding where you want to get to and creating a roadmap to help you get there.
Any firm or individual providing regulated financial advice in the UK should be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or act as a representative of an authorised firm.
Before engaging an adviser, check the FCA Register and ensure you understand the services they are authorised to provide.
This simple step can help provide confidence that you’re dealing with a regulated professional operating within UK standards and requirements.
One of the most important questions consumers can ask is whether an adviser is independent or restricted.
Both types of adviser are regulated by the FCA, but the range of solutions they can consider may differ.
| Question to ask | Why it matters | What a strong answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Are you independent or restricted? | Independent advisers can consider products and providers from across the market, while restricted advisers may be limited to specific providers, products or advice areas. | The adviser clearly explains their status and how recommendations are made. Independent advice allows recommendations to be selected from a broader range of providers and solutions. |
Understanding this distinction helps you determine whether the adviser can access the breadth of solutions you may require, particularly if your financial needs become more complex over time.
All practising financial advisers must meet minimum qualification standards.
However, some advisers and firms achieve Chartered status, which demonstrates a commitment to higher professional standards, ethical conduct and ongoing professional development.
| Question to ask | Why it matters | What a strong answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Are you a Chartered Financial Planner or Chartered Firm? | Chartered status demonstrates a commitment to professional excellence, ethics and technical expertise. | The adviser can explain their Chartered status, qualifications and commitment to maintaining professional standards. |
| What qualifications do you hold? | Qualifications help demonstrate expertise and commitment to ongoing learning. | The adviser can clearly explain their qualifications, experience and areas of specialism. |
While qualifications alone do not determine the quality of advice, many consumers view Chartered status as an additional indicator of professionalism and expertise.
Many people focus solely on the adviser sitting across the table from them.
One of the most common themes I’ve seen is that clients rarely have just one financial objective.
Someone might be planning for retirement while helping children onto the property ladder and reviewing inheritance plans for their own parents. This is often where access to different specialists can become particularly valuable.
Your financial life rarely exists in separate boxes.
A mortgage decision may affect your retirement plans. Protection arrangements may influence your wider financial strategy. Tax planning may impact investment decisions. Estate planning may shape how wealth is managed and passed on.
For this reason, it’s worth understanding not only the adviser you’re working with, but also the expertise available around them.
If you’d like to discuss your circumstances, request a call back and one of our advisers will be in touch at a time that suits you.
Financial planning often involves multiple disciplines.
A financial planner may help create your long-term strategy.
A mortgage adviser may help structure borrowing effectively.
A protection adviser may help safeguard your income, family or business.
An investment manager oversees and manages investment portfolios in line with your goals and attitude to risk.
Together, these specialists can help create a more comprehensive financial plan that considers all aspects of your financial life.
When specialists work together, clients can benefit from:
This can be particularly valuable for families, business owners, professionals and retirees with multiple financial priorities.
For most people, a mortgage will be one of the largest financial commitments they ever make.
Mortgage advice can help clients:
Mortgage decisions shouldn’t be made in isolation.
The amount you borrow, the term you select and the structure of your repayments can all affect:
This is why mortgage advice can be most effective when considered alongside broader financial planning.
| Question to ask | Why it matters | What a strong answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Do you provide mortgage advice or have access to mortgage specialists? | Mortgage decisions often form part of a wider financial plan. | The adviser can access mortgage expertise where required and ensure borrowing decisions are considered alongside broader financial objectives. |
Many people spend years building wealth but overlook the importance of protecting it.
Protection planning helps create financial resilience when life doesn’t go according to plan.
Protection advice may include:
Without appropriate protection in place, unexpected events can significantly affect financial plans.
Protection advice helps ensure that wealth-building strategies are supported by appropriate safeguards.
| Question to ask | Why it matters | What a strong answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| How do you assess protection needs? | Financial plans should consider both growth and protection. | Protection needs are reviewed as part of a wider financial planning process rather than treated as a standalone product recommendation. |
Investments are important, but they are only one component of financial planning.
| Question to ask | Why it matters | What a strong answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| What services do you provide beyond investment management? | Effective financial planning often extends beyond investments. | Advice encompasses retirement planning, tax planning, pensions, estate planning, protection and broader financial goals. |
| How do you tailor advice to individual clients? | Advice should reflect individual circumstances rather than follow a generic process. | Recommendations are built around goals, family circumstances, financial position and long-term objectives. |
The most effective advisers focus on helping clients achieve life goals rather than simply selecting investment products.
Transparency is essential.
| Question to ask | Why it matters | What a strong answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| How do you get paid? | Understanding fees helps clients assess value and transparency. | Clear explanations of fees, services provided and ongoing support arrangements. |
You should always understand what you’re paying for and what services are included.
Trust is one of the most important factors when choosing a financial adviser.
In my experience, the advisers who build the strongest client relationships aren’t necessarily the ones who talk most about investments.
They’re usually the ones who listen carefully, explain things clearly and take time to understand what matters most to their clients.
Alongside FCA authorisation and qualifications, it’s worth understanding how existing clients view the adviser or firm.
Independent reviews can provide useful insight into service quality, responsiveness and client experience.
Consider reviewing:
| Question to ask | Why it matters | What a strong answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| What do existing clients say about working with you? | Independent feedback can provide useful insight into service quality and client experience. | Advisers should be comfortable directing prospective clients to independent review platforms and publicly available feedback. |
Reviews should not be the sole basis for your decision, but they can provide valuable context when assessing trust and service quality.
Before making a decision, consider asking:
1. Are you independent or restricted?
2. Are you a Chartered Financial Planner or Chartered Firm?
3. What qualifications do you hold?
4. Do you provide access to mortgage advice?
5. How do you assess protection needs?
6. What services do you provide beyond investment management?
7. How do you tailor advice to individual clients?
8. How do you get paid?
9. What do existing clients say about working with you?
10. How do the different specialists within your business work together?
The right adviser should help you feel informed, understood and confident about your financial future.
Many people find value in firms that:
Ultimately, the best financial advice is rarely about a single product or recommendation.
It’s about having the right people working together to help you achieve your goals.
Before working in financial services, I assumed financial advice was primarily about choosing investments.
What has surprised me most is how much time advisers spend helping clients think through major life decisions, retirement plans, family priorities and long-term goals.
Choosing a financial adviser isn’t simply about finding someone to manage investments.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from working in the industry, it’s that the best financial advice relationships are rarely built around products.
They’re built around trust, communication and a shared understanding of what success looks like for the client.
By understanding the difference between independent and restricted advice, considering Chartered status, reviewing client feedback and evaluating the breadth of expertise available, you can make a more informed decision about who is best placed to help you achieve your financial goals.
The most effective financial plans are often built when financial planning, mortgage advice and protection expertise work together towards a common objective: helping you achieve the future you want.
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An independent adviser can consider products and providers from across the market. A restricted adviser may be limited to specific providers, products or areas of advice. Both should be regulated by the FCA.
Many people value financial advice because it can help them create a structured plan, avoid costly mistakes and make informed decisions aligned to their goals.
All regulated advisers must meet minimum qualification requirements. Some advisers and firms also hold Chartered status, which demonstrates a commitment to higher professional standards and ongoing development.
A Chartered financial planner has achieved a recognised professional designation that reflects advanced qualifications, ethical standards and ongoing professional development.
You can search for advisers and firms using the FCA Register to confirm their regulatory status.
Costs vary depending on the services provided, complexity of advice and ongoing support requirements. Advisers should clearly explain all charges before you proceed.
Not always, but many people benefit from advice that considers both mortgage decisions and wider financial planning objectives together. Some financial advisers also have permission to advise on mortgages.
Protection planning can help safeguard your income, family and financial plans should unexpected events occur.
Chris Coulson is Marketing Director at Fairstone. Chris works closely with financial planners, mortgage advisers and protection specialists across the UK and regularly produces consumer education content on financial planning, retirement, wealth management and personal finance.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change.
The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested.
Past performance is also not a reliable indicator of future performance. Always seek professional advice before making financial decisions.
Where are you going on holiday this year?
As peak holiday season hoves into view, many of us will be thinking of distant shores, sun-drenched beaches and relaxing by the pool with a cool drink in hand.
The chances are that capital gains tax considerations or mulling over the relative benefits of active versus passive investing may be rather further from your mind.
But should they be?
In my experience, holidays aren’t just about taking it easy and sampling the delights of the local cuisine – although I have to confess that I do enjoy both of those.
Being on holiday also allows you to free yourself of your day to day work and home concerns and give you the time to think about other things.
In my case, I find holidays are about the only time I get to think about life in a wider context – where I want to go, what I want to do and how I can go about achieving that.
It is actually a great time to consider your life plan – and a big part of that is your financial plan.
For example, you might be sat in your sun lounger thinking “I could get used to this a bit more often”.
If that’s the case, maybe it’s time to consider whether you’re putting away enough money for a retirement which allows for plenty of foreign travel.
Perhaps you’re loving life so much that you may even be thinking about retiring abroad – in which case, what do you need to do to put that idea into motion and how early can you stop work to make your dream come true?
If you’re in the middle of a fun-filled family holiday, that might make you think a bit more about how you can help your children or grandchildren get a great start to their grown-up lives with savings put aside, or further down the road, begin their own pensions so they have financial security later in life.
Holidays also give you time to be nice to yourself and to spend money on doing things which you enjoy.
This should act as a reminder to you that saving money for retirement and accumulating wealth is a means to an end, not an end in itself.
The phrase “don’t be too busy making a living to make a life” is very apt here.
It is not uncommon in our profession to see clients who have built up retirement income comfortably into seven figures yet who still feel stressed and anxious about their finances.
They have enough assets to live a very comfortable and enjoyable retirement, but they are so used to saving money that they can’t permit themselves to spend it – they have built a fortress of wealth but somehow can’t bring themselves to live in it.
That’s another reason why talking to a financial adviser can be so beneficial.
As well as putting into action those plans you’ve mapped out while enjoying your sunshine break, a financial adviser can also act as an impartial expert observer of where your wealth actually stands.
Using impactful tools such as cashflow modelling and their own experienced insight, they can show you what’s possible with the money you’ve put aside.
So if you’re still wondering whether you can really afford that holiday of a lifetime you’ve always promised yourself, if the circumstances are right and the numbers add up, your adviser can give you the good news.
That could be something to really think about as you sip your sangria this summer.
For expert professional help on putting your financial goals into practice, get in touch with one of our advisers.
Up to 15 million people in the UK may not be saving enough for retirement, according to recent findings from the Pension Commission.
The Commission’s report led to alarming headlines across the media about the pensions savings crisis and its effect on the country.
So how much money will you need when you retire – and how can you go about making up a shortfall if you haven’t got enough at the moment?
A lot of people don’t realise how much income they may actually need once they stop working.
The independent Retirement Living Standards guide estimates that a single person now needs around £13,900 a year as a minimum, around £32,700 a year for a “moderate” retirement lifestyle, and approximately £45,400 a year for a “comfortable” retirement.
For couples, those figures rise to £22,500, £45,400 and £62,700 respectively:
There are several reasons why people in the UK are not saving enough to enjoy the retirement they want.
Many younger workers understandably prioritise more immediate financial goals e.g. buying a house, car or going on holiday, because retirement can feel like something that’s years away.
Periods out of work due to caring responsibilities, illness, self-employment or career changes can all reduce pension contributions.
These gaps can mean fewer years of pension contributions and less time for investments to grow, particularly earlier in someone’s career.
Many women have career breaks for childcare or looking after parents, work part time or earn less than men, which can affect their pension contributions.
Women aged 55 to 59 have median private pension wealth of around £81,000, compared with £156,000 for men of the same age, showing how large the gap can become over time.
Pensions can feel complicated, especially for people who have built up several workplace pensions over their career. As a result, many people lose track of older pensions or simply avoid reviewing them altogether.
Many individuals underestimate how much they will need in retirement or are unaware of the tax advantages available when contributing to a pension.
Over recent years, rising household bills, mortgage costs and inflation have left many people focusing on short-term financial priorities.
When household budgets are stretched, pension saving is often reduced because people naturally prioritise money they can access immediately.
If you are amongst the 15 million people who haven’t saved enough for retirement, don’t panic. There are several ways in which you can help make up the shortfall.
Even increasing pension contributions by 1% or 2% can still have a noticeable impact over the long term.
Many people choose to increase contributions after a pay rise, allowing them to save more without noticing a difference in their income.
Some people can also choose to pay bonuses or extra savings into pensions to help boost retirement savings faster.
Employers are required to automatically enrol qualifying employees into a workplace pension. Employers also contribute into the pension, helping boost employees’ retirement savings.
Some employers also offer contribution matching schemes, where they will increase their own contributions if employees contribute more themselves.
Some workplaces offer salary sacrifice pension schemes. Under salary sacrifice, employees agree to exchange part of their salary for increased pension contributions.
This can reduce both Income Tax and National Insurance contributions, which can make pension contributions more tax-efficient for both employees and employers.
In some cases, employers may also pass on part of their National Insurance savings into the employee’s pension.
Most basic-rate taxpayers currently receive 20% tax relief on pension contributions. In practical terms, for every £80 contributed into a pension, the Government adds £20, meaning £100 is invested overall.
Higher-rate and additional-rate taxpayers may be able to claim back even more through their tax return or through the Government website, depending on individual circumstances.
Tax relief can significantly boost long-term returns.
Depending on your circumstances, it may be possible to make larger contributions by utilising unused allowances from the previous three tax years.
This is often useful for people trying to catch up on retirement savings later in life.
Many people accumulate multiple pensions throughout their working lives as they move between employers.
Reviewing older pensions can provide a clearer picture of overall retirement savings and whether existing arrangements are still suitable.
A financial adviser can also assess whether pension consolidation may be appropriate.
While concerns around pension adequacy and the future of the State Pension are growing, there are still opportunities for people to improve their personal financial position before retirement.
Reviewing pensions early and making small changes consistently can make a meaningful difference later in life.
A financial adviser can help individuals understand whether they are on track for retirement, identify gaps in their retirement planning and explain ways to improve pension savings in a tax-efficient way.
To check on how your pension savings are adding up – and for what to do if they’re not – get in touch with one of our advisers today.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is also not a reliable indicator of future performance. Always seek professional advice before making financial decisions.
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According to the Retirement Living Standards, a single person may need around £45,300 per year for a comfortable retirement lifestyle, while couples may require approximately £62,700 annually.
You may be able to catch up by increasing pension contributions, using unused pension allowances, consolidating pension pots and making use of pension tax relief.
Pension tax relief is a Government incentive that boosts pension contributions. For example, basic-rate taxpayers contributing £80 will receive an additional £20 from the Government.
Salary sacrifice allows employees to exchange part of their salary for increased pension contributions, potentially reducing Income Tax and National Insurance costs.
Career breaks, part-time working and lower average earnings can reduce pension contributions over time, contributing to the gender pension gap.
Yes, pension consolidation may help simplify retirement planning and provide a clearer picture of your overall pension savings. Professional financial advice may help determine whether consolidation is suitable.
Starting as early as possible gives investments more time to grow. However, even increasing contributions later in life can still improve retirement outcomes.
