A client contacted us recently to find out if she could afford to retire. Her situation was as follows:

 

• She did not understand her various pension plans or what her options were with the recent changes in pension rules

• Her health had not been too good and she was finding work stressful so wanted to see if she could afford to reduce her hours with a view to retiring fully in a couple of year’s time

• Cash in the bank was very low and she had a mortgage which was expensive to pay each month and was using up a lot of her spare income which meant she did not feel able to get out and about and enjoy life outside of work as much as she would have liked to

 

How we helped:

 

• After we looked closely at her pension plans and discussed her choices, we recommended that she took her pension benefits as an annuity as the security of a fixed income for life was important to her. She was pleasantly surprised with the amount of pension income which we were able to obtain even though her pension pot was relatively modest in value. This was because we were able to secure higher rates of pension income for her by shopping around a number of pension companies for the best income available and because she took medication for raised blood pressure. We made all the arrangements so she did not have to be too involved and to make matters simple and straightforward

• With her extra pension income in place she was able to speak to her employer and arrange to reduce her hours further giving her more time for activities outside of work

• She used the tax free lump sum to repay her mortgage so she now has more income available to her each month without this expense and felt that it was a big relief.

• Her bank account was topped up allowing her to start some home improvements she had been holding off on and to allow her to have a few more holidays over the coming years

• Overall she is now able to enjoy life more than before and has since thanked us for helping her to make it possible