Tag Archives for " financial planning "

Everyone has heard horror stories about people who’ve lost their life savings after falling for the advice of some investment 'expert’ promising fantastic returns.

These are not urban myths, but real life stories which appear in the news on a weekly basis. At Reeves, we’ve a number of clients who, before they came to us, had fallen victim to scams or to plain old-fashioned bad advice.

There’s one golden rule which applies in all cases and that’s to ensure that your adviser is reputable, qualified and properly authorised. There’s nothing wrong with an adviser contacting you offering their services – we do that – but make sure that before you engage with them, you check them out thoroughly.

At Reeves, for example, we’re authorised and regulated by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and that can be confirmed by looking at the FCA register, available online. We’ve been established for over 20 years and have numerous third-party references which can be viewed on Linked In. We only invest in regulated products, which are thoroughly researched by our team of research assistants, all of whom are graduates, and we never put all your money into one investment but always into a diversified portfolio.

The costs of not using a reputable and accredited adviser can be severe.

Too often, when it comes to retirement planning, one spouse tends to get forgotten if he or she hasn't been the main earner. 

One of the great strengths of phased drawdown is the flexibility it can give to you in retirement planning, as we've pointed out before. This can be particularly important in an emergency, as Jill Smith discovered. 

Our client Mike went through a divorce which left him saddled with a lot of debt. Currently, aged 51, he aims to retire at 65, but wants to drawdown a tax free lump sum from his pension when he's 55 to pay off that debt, and in order to achieve this, he needs to grow his fund from £270,000 to £300,000 by then. 

When I met Jim 25 years ago, his ambition was to buy a camper van when he retired at 65 and to enjoy himself on touring holidays with his wife, Pauline. He spent his working life in the automotive component manufacturing industry and earned a modest, but by no means spectacular income. 

Retirement and pension planning aren't just a matter of finance and saving, you must also be clear what you want to do with your retirement and take all factors into account.