About Georgina
As a successful business owner now in her fifties, Georgina had been contributing to several pensions but was confused about what she was likely to receive once she retired. Having paid into pension schemes offered by previous employers, Georgina wasn’t sure how they’d fared since she started working for herself. With a number of ISAs, she was also in the dark about how well these investments were doing.
Bringing simplicity, order and understanding to Gina’s investments
Start at the beginning
Georgina came armed with two carrier bags of papers relating to her pensions and investments. It was evident from this first meeting that we needed to help Georgina bring clear and concise order to her retirement plans.
Georgina was clear about when she planned to stop working so using Cashflow Modelling we were able to assist her in understanding what she would need to do to maintain her lifestyle.
Having reviewed all investments and other future income streams, it became quickly apparent that there would be a shortfall in her retirement savings. In order to bridge the gap, we need to help Georgina to consider her future savings strategy, which had, in recent years, favoured ISAs.
Georgina’s income
Georgina’s annual income was £115,000 but she was paying a lot of tax on her earnings above £100,000 due to the progressive loss of the Personal Allowance.
By diverting savings away from the ISAs that Georgina had originally favoured ensured that we would be able to restore the lost Personal Allowance. This also meant that Georgina would also receive an effective rate of income tax relief on contributions of around 60%. These additional payments would close the gap and give her the required retirement income. Georgina’s pension funds could also be accessed from age 55, something that Georgina was unaware of.
Georgina was paying the bulk of her pension contributions from her personal income rather than through her company. As such, we helped Georgina to set up a salary sacrifice pension arrangement which would direct future contributions through her company to her pension. This simple but valuable step gave both Georgina and the company National Insurance (NI) savings. And as if that wasn’t enough, Georgina would also receive tax relief on the payments immediately, rather than having to wait for her self-assessment submission.
Existing investments
Having discussed the level of investment risk that Georgina was comfortable with, we started looking at the existing pension arrangements and investments.
Georgina’s pensions were not being actively managed and as such it was no surprise that they were not performing as well as they could be. With several pension pots, many not matching Georgina’s approach to financial risk, we helped her to merge all of the pensions in one modern arrangement. This offered an investment strategy that would help Georgina to achieve her retirement plans and which matched her attitude to risk.
When we turned our attention to Georgina’s other investments in stocks and share ISAs we found a similar situation so we unified them into one place where they could be managed and monitored properly.
How it’s going
Having got all of her ducks in a row, Georgina can now use our secure client system to view her pensions and ISA holdings 24/7. Georgina is often travelling for work so we use Zoom to stay in touch and keep her up to date with her investments, whilst ensuring that Georgina’s retirement plans stay on track.
Do you understand your current pensions and what you are going to get in retirement?
If not, let’s speak. Use the link below to book a free consultation at a time to suit you.
Book an appointmentIf you prefer contact us on 0118 9469717 or ion@assets.ltd.uk