Retirement planning has two distinct stages: the accumulation phase in which you build and grow your assets during your working life and the decumulation phase when you use those assets to provide capital and income in retirement, whether that be full or semi-retirement.
There are many different ways of funding retirement from traditional private and workplace pension plans to building an investment property portfolio. Whether or not you use one or all of the strategies available to you, professional planning is essential to ensure you have a sufficient level of income after taxes to provide for your essential and non-essential expenses.
During your working life we help you plan and build funds for when you retire. We assess the amount of income you will require and the various ways of providing it and recommend an appropriate solution for you. Our regular reviews ensure you remain on target.
When you decide to stop work or reduce your working hours and want to draw benefits from your plans, we consider all of your options to structure your assets in the most appropriate and tax efficient way to provide your required income. We generally recommend that you structure your assets to provide a secure and increasing level of income sufficient to cover your day-to-day living costs with the remainder of your assets being used to cover non-essential flexible expenditure with any remainder passing to your spouse and/or wider family.
It is not uncommon for a person stopping work now to expect to live for another thirty years. It is important therefore that careful planning and advice are received, and regular reviews take place to ensure that a person’s assets will provide for them over an extended period.
The value of pensions and investment and the income they produce can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount that you originally invested.