Background: Mrs M came to us as she was approaching her 65^th birthday and had to make a decision about how to take the benefits from her Employer’s pension scheme.

This was the catalyst that made her realise that she could not longer put off sorting out her financial affairs.  Her husband had died a year earlier and she had not been able to face dealing with Probate.  She had no idea what savings or investments her husband had arranged – all she had was a pile of files that he had carefully put together.

Mrs M was overwhelmed with the task that was facing her and needed someone to help her.

Mrs M’s Assets

Homes £300,000

Various Savings and Investments £400,000

Challenges

1. Mrs M’s husband died the previous year, but she had not felt up to sorting out Probate.
2. She did not know what savings and investments had been left to her by her husband.  She had a folder full of paperwork, but as she had never dealt with this whilst her husband was alive she needed help in understanding her financial situation.
3. Mrs M wanted to know if she could afford to gift some money to her adult children now.
4. Mrs M’s priorities and objectives were to

• simplify her financial affairs
• obtain an income from her assets throughout retirement
• ensure her financial affairs are managed on a proactive basis and reviewed on an ongoing basis

What We did

1. We scheduled out all the savings, pensions and investment providers from the mass of paperwork and obtained letters of authority for each of the providers.
2. We obtained the up to date values of each of the plans and prepared an easy to understand schedule of the assets.
3. We provided the necessary information to her Solicitor so that Probate could be dealt with.
4. We recommended that £100,000 be kept in easy access deposit accounts to cover the cost of some home refurbishment and for emergency expenditure.
5. We consolidated the balance of her various savings and investments into one modern and flexible, tax efficient investment from which she could take a regular income.

The Results

1. Mrs M’s priority of simplifying her financial affairs has been achieved. No more reams of paperwork – just one Statement to cover all the variety of investments.
2. She now knows exactly how well her husband had provided for her and although she would rather have him back, she is able to face the future confidently.
3.  Her investments will provide a regular income throughout retirement and will be actively managed in line with her risk profile.
4.  Mrs M is able to gift money to her children whilst she is still alive and when they need it the most.
5. We have agreed a programme of regular reviews with Mrs M so that we can adapt her financial situation to meet with any changing needs in the future.

The case study illustrated above is based on one of our clients and its aim is to give you an idea of the type of work and planning we undertake for our clients.

Changes in legislation and tax can impact on the advice that we give to our clients. This case study is not guaranteed to work in all circumstances and is intended to be a guide.

Please remember that the value of investments can fall as well as rise.