01
Retirement and pensions
Working out what your pensions will actually pay you, and shaping the income you draw once you stop working.
Most people arrive with pensions collected across several employers and very little idea of what they add up to. The first job is always the same: find everything, value it, understand what each pot promises, then build a single picture of the income it can support. From there we can talk about when you stop, how much you can safely take, and how to sequence withdrawals so the tax bill stays sensible.
- Tracing and valuing workplace and personal pensions
- Reviewing defined benefit promises before anything is moved
- Drawdown, annuity and phased retirement options compared
- Tax efficient withdrawal sequencing across pensions, ISAs and savings
02
Investments and ISAs
Portfolios built around your timescale and your tolerance for a bumpy ride, not around whatever is currently fashionable.
Independence means the whole of the market is available, so the portfolio can be assembled from whatever genuinely suits you. Cost matters, because charges compound just as returns do. Risk matters more, because a portfolio you abandon in a bad year has failed regardless of how clever it looked on paper. We agree a level of volatility you can genuinely live with, then hold to it.
- Whole of market fund and platform selection
- ISA, general investment account and bond wrappers
- Ongoing rebalancing and annual review
- Clear reporting on charges, in pounds as well as percentages
03
Protection and family cover
Life cover, critical illness and income protection sized against real commitments rather than round numbers.
Protection is the least interesting part of a financial plan right up until the moment it matters. The work is unglamorous: calculating what a household actually needs if one income disappears, checking what employer cover already provides, and writing policies into trust so money reaches the right people quickly.
- Life cover and family income benefit
- Critical illness and income protection
- Business protection for directors and partners
- Trusts so benefits sit outside the estate
04
Estate and inheritance planning
Passing wealth on with the tax bill understood in advance rather than discovered by your executors.
Inheritance tax is largely a planning problem, and planning takes time. Gifts need seven years to fall fully outside the estate. Pension rules are changing from April 2027. Trusts, whole of life cover and simple use of allowances all have a place, and the right combination depends entirely on what you own and who you want to benefit.
- Estate valuation and inheritance tax projection
- Use of nil rate bands and the residence allowance
- Lifetime gifting strategies and gift records
- Trust based planning alongside your solicitor
Not sure where to start?
Most people arrive with a vague sense that something needs sorting out rather than a specific question. That is a perfectly good place to begin. The first conversation is at our expense and carries no obligation.
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