Retirement: looking at what is best for you

Retirement is something that works differently for everybody. Here, one of our Chartered Financial Planners Peter Butcher explains how he works with his clients to allow them to make the most out of theirs.

Peter said: “Retirement is a funny thing for people to get their head around and if they can try and prepare for it then this will help them in the future.

“Throughout their working life, they will be used to having the objective of building up their retirement fund, through their pension for example, because that is a really common tool that people use.

“They will want to see the amount of money that they have in their pension rising year on year. Once they get to retirement, it’s a difficult shift for them to make mentally, to become comfortable with the fact that their pension value is going to decrease. It’s not what they’re used to.

“Even though that’s exactly what the money is there for, and that’s why they have been saving, it can be tricky. It’s common to hear that clients want that figure to stay the same, not wanting the capital value to erode.

“The way that the financial planning landscape has changed over the last few years is that more people are choosing to access their pension by what is called drawdown, which is drawing money out of a pot that you have built up.

“That money will usually be invested for the rest of that person’s life and that is an important thing to remember when determining the investments inside the pensions because the timeframe is important. We have to assess how much risk a client is prepared to take and is comfortable with. If the timeframe is too short, you don’t want to be investing in risky strategies.

“The key is to remember that you’ve done all this work to get the money there, so enjoy it.

“My aim is that I don’t want clients to get to an age where they have so much money that they are regretting not spending it when they were able to enjoy it. That’s a key balance to get right.”

Experience true financial planning at our cost: contact Peter Butcher to book a free initial consultation meeting at pbutcher@clarionwealth.co.uk which is backed by our Clarion Guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied with the value of the service you have received after the fourth meeting, when you receive your written financial plan, we will waive all fees.