The Seven Steps Of Wealth Coaching - Step 6

Step Six – Access Your Plans

If you have followed our advice in this series of blogs about wealth planning, preferably with the help of a wealth coach to make sure you have maximised your opportunities, you should find yourself in an ideal position for when you retire. Now that you have done all the hard work -both literally and figuratively- it should be time to relax and enjoy. Different elements of your wealth will be accessible at different stages, and it is important to know what your options are and to make sure that you have them set up to work in the way you want them to.

As your circumstances change you may need to revisit your plan and alter various aspects to reflect this. You may have planned to retire at a certain age but when the time comes you may discover you’re not ready to. Alternatively, illness, changes at work, or family commitments may mean that you choose to retire earlier than anticipated. Make sure that your plan is still doing what you want it to do.

Accessing your pension pot

Currently, over the age of 55 you should be able to access your pensions. This will be changing to age 57 in 2028. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Taking your pension early may trigger restrictions and ideally it should be used to fund your retirement. Don’t be tempted to unlock, or release, your pension before 55 (or 57) unless you find yourself in very specific circumstances that would make it preferable. Avoid scams offering to do this for you! Always seek advice from a qualified wealth coach before making any drastic changes.

You may have state, workplace, and/or personal pensions, depending on your circumstances. You will be entitled to up to 25% tax-free and the rest is subject to income tax. You can take the balance as an annuity (a guaranteed income for life), via a drawdown scheme, as one or more taxable lump sums, or in combination. Your Financial Adviser will be able to help you work out what is likely to work best for you.

Accessing your investments

Depending on when you started your wealth-planning journey you will probably have made investments to be accessed in the long term. Long-term investments often require you to give an extensive notice period to access your funds. You may need to arrange to sell shares or liquidate positions. This may take some thought and planning.

Make sure you have a good idea of what you are going to need and at what point so you don’t suddenly find you’ve run out of funds. It may then cost you more to access the next pot than it needs to. If you are unsure about how or when you can access your funds, please speak to your wealth coach. And, of course, we will come to passing on wealth to future generations in our next blog post.

Getting the right advice

If you need any assistance with your wealth planning an expert wealth coach can give you advice. Paula Bicknell Wealth Management can help you make the right decisions to grow your money and live your life well now, secure in the knowledge that you are on the right track to live your life well later. Please get in touch as we would love to help.

The value of an investment with St. James's Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds selected and may fall as well as rise. You may get back less than the amount invested.

The levels and bases of taxation, and reliefs from taxation, can change at any time and are generally dependent on individual circumstances.