Looking for financial advice? We offer all clients a no-cost and no obligation review at our office, your home or using video conferencing technology!
At Financial Fortress, we maintain the highest levels of service and guarantee no jargon! No long wait times on the phone and easy to reach named & dedicated advisers!
A review with us will ensure you fully understand your plans, maximise your savings & the investments. We are obsessed with ensuring you a successful & secure future.
Why should you review your pension & retirement plans?
By checking and making any necessary changes to your pensions sooner, this will have a powerful impact on how financially secure you will be.
Financial Fortress advisers will answer all your questions like:
- Can you afford to retire?
- Could you retire early?
- What income or lump sums will you get?
- How long will your money last?
In other words, what does retirement look like and when can it start?
Remember, all experts working at Financial Fortress offer a FREE and no obligation 1st meeting. Get in touch now!
Start planning your retirement for a better future TODAY!
At Financial Fortress, your named and dedicated adviser will explain any question your have and will investigate and confirm:
- What your pensions are worth?
- What drawdown options you could have?
- Whether pensions are right for you?
- What your pensions are invested in?
- How your investments are performing?
- What risks you are experiencing?
- What are the charges you are paying?
- What are any tax implications?
Remember, the sooner you make changes, the sooner your money works harder for you!
With average life expectancy increasing all the time (currently around 84 for men and 87 for women), we need our money to last for longer. State pensions are a good start but with the current (full) basic pension coming in at just £221 per week (2024/25 tax year), relying on just this will mean a basic lifestyle with few luxuries or holidays. Understanding and reviewing your pensions is vital to a stress-free, comfortable and secure financial future.
Think about it, what type of lifestyle would you have on just a basic state pension of around £11,500 per year?
Remember, our experts have decades of experience & everyone can have a FREE and no obligation chat. Get in touch today!
Are you thinking about transferring your pension?
Before transferring any pension (workplace or personal) you should use an expert to identify and consider:
- Charges you may incur from your old and new schemes.
- Any unique benefits/guarantees/enhanced tax-free cash you could lose by transferring.
- What the transfer values are of your pensions.
- Any risks involved and how this will meet your ongoing needs.
- How your plans have performed in the past (and possible expectations of the future). Remember, past performance is no guarantee of future returns.
- The different ways of generating income and the best option for you.
- Tax planning and any tax implication of any income and withdrawals.
Remember, all our experts are jargon free experts. We have dealt with hundreds of “normal clients” and offer a FREE and no obligation 1st meeting.
If you have multiple Defined Contribution (DC) pensions (aka money purchase pensions), you may simply want to combine them for ease of understanding and simplicity. You may need more flexibility and your existing policies (especially older ones) may not allow you to make withdrawals in a flexible way, for example.
Some of the reasons people transfer their pensions:
· Combine multiple pension pots into one, making them easier to manage and understand.
· To reduce ongoing fees and charges. All pensions charge you money, they sometimes can be good at hiding them!
· Some pension schemes offer “large fund discounts” meaning lower ongoing charges for larger, combined pots.
· Increased flexibility & drawdown options not currently available from their current scheme.
· Gain immediate access and make withdrawals – ie: enter flexible drawdown.
· Unlock tax-free cash and/or income – perhaps to repay debts or a mortgage for example.
· Receive more income from your new scheme, perhaps allowing you to draw more from your pension in the earlier years whilst in better health.
· Better fund choice and ultimately, better performance.
· Ensure the risks being taken are appropriate to you and understood.
· Make managing any tax liability easier, depending on your circumstances.
· Improve death benefits (including to partners or children for example).
Pension Review & Transfer – FAQ’s
What are the tax advantages of my pensions?
Simply put, when you contribute to a pension the tax-man tops you up with a further contribution equal to 25% of your premium (or 20% of the total “gross” amount). If you are a higher rate taxpayer you can then reclaim a further25% of your net premium via self-assessment! Don’t forget, your pension also grows tax-free and therefore will grow faster than a similarly invested taxable investment! Taxation depends on your circumstances so personalised advice is key to make the most of your money! An expert financial adviser is expert in taxation, withdrawal strategies, risk and investment management providing total peace of mind. After all, its not very often you can claim some “free” money back from the government!
Are my pensions performing well?
All pensions have an underlying investment strategy and these could be anything from a cash based account paying very little interest through to an investment that could have a low risk, medium risk or high risk strategy. What return or loss you may get is linked to your investments and it is vital to ensure these are reviewed regularly to make the most of your money. There are thousands of investments and some will always do better than others so you need to choose very carefully! An expert financial adviser will ensure your investments are both suitable and the best available for your risk appetite.
How much am I paying in charges?
All pensions will have charges and some are “transparent” or “explicit” meaning you can ask your pension provider what they are whereas others are “opaque” or “implicit” meaning they are hidden within your investment strategy. Charges are not the be all and end all however, paying high charges for a poorly performing pension is definitely NOT be a good idea. Cost simplicity and reduction is usually a very good thing, there are some very expensive pensions out there that have performed badly for many years! An expert financial adviser will ensure complete value for money in a transparent way.
Who is managing my pension plan?
There are usually different people involved with running your pension plans and these can include, 1. The pension provider themselves, 2. The fund managers within your pension plan and 3. External experts such as a financial adviser or discretionary fund manager. Between them, they are responsible for the actual investment of your money and hopefully generating higher returns along the way. It is important you check your investments regularly as fund managers often change and some will “drop the ball” so making sure you have the best experts in your corner is vital! What performs well today may not perform so well tomorrow! An expert financial adviser will constantly ensure those managing your pension are the best available, suitable for you and recommend changes if necessary.
What are the risks?
All investments have risks and strategies can include low, medium or high risk funds. The higher the risk selected, the more fluctuations and volatility would be experienced along the way. Obviously the more risk you accept, the more the returns may be and the more losses may be experienced so a longer term view (of say at least 5+ years) is vital. Your risk appetite can change, for example as you approach retirement you may become more risk averse (as you will be needing the money soon) whereas if you are 30 years away from retirement you may not be so bothered about fluctuations in the shorter term. An expert financial adviser will help you understand risk and recommend a tailored solution for you.
Should I put more money in?
Basically, YES! A pension is a “finite” pot of money. The more you put in, the more money you will have – pretty simple really. The more money you have means the more you can withdraw and the longer it may last. Don’t forget you get free government money along the way (tax relief) so get a 25% boost on day 1! An expert financial adviser will explain the tax advantages, maximise your individual position and explain it in jargon free language.
How and when can I withdraw my money?
Usually this is governed by UK legislation and currently the minimum age for pension withdrawal is from age 55. However in 2028, this will increase to 57 and could rise further in the future. Some older pensions also have what we call “protected retirement ages” and therefore could allow even earlier withdrawal, perhaps at age 50 for example. If you transfer a pension you usually lose any protected retirement ages and therefore care should be taken before. An expert adviser will check your plans and help you understand whether the benefits are worth giving up.
Do I get ongoing advice?
We offer an ongoing service proposition but it is not compulsory so if you don’t want it that’s fine too. Obviously we charge for the service and if you do take it, ongoing costs will usually increase. If you need this peace of mind and require structured ongoing advice of your plans we are happy to help.
What will my pensions be worth?
The more money you, HMRC or your employer put in will grow or fall according to the investments you have chosen along the way. What you end up with will depend on all these factors and a larger lump sum will then last longer when you come to make withdrawals. You also need to take account of inflation along the way but basically all these things are extremely difficult to predict over the long term. An expert adviser will make and explain their assumptions to help you understand as accurately as possible what your strategy may look like both in the “accumulation” phase and ultimately the “deaccumulation” phase of retirement also.
What you get with Financial Fortress
Professional and qualified advisers
No cost or obligation initial review meeting.
A personal named and dedicated expert dedicated to you!
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If you wish to get in touch you can do by selecting an option below or for some further information you can download our FREE pension guide!
