Retirement Planning Advice

Our retirement planning advice helps you prepare for the future and make informed decisions about your pensions, savings and retirement income.

Whether retirement is approaching or still several years away, careful planning can help you understand your options. In addition, it can show whether your existing arrangements are likely to support the lifestyle you want.

The nine-stage LFP Financial Planning Service provides a clear and structured path from your initial discussion through to implementation and ongoing reviews.

Creating Your Personal Retirement Plan

Retirement planning is about more than choosing a pension product. It involves understanding the life you would like to lead and the income you may need to support it.

We will consider your:

Preferred retirement age
Expected expenditure
Existing pensions and investments
State Pension and other income
Tax-free cash requirements
Plans to reduce your working hours
Attitude to investment risk
Capacity to withstand potential losses
Needs of your spouse, partner or family

As a result, we can develop a retirement strategy based on your individual circumstances and objectives.

The Nine-Stage LFP Financial Planning Service

Our retirement planning advice follows the structured nine-stage LFP Financial Planning Service.

Stage 1 – Initial Exploratory Discussion

We begin with an initial exploratory discussion about your current position and future plans.

This helps us understand what retirement means to you. For example, you may want to retire completely, reduce your working hours or move gradually into retirement over several years.

Furthermore, the discussion gives you an opportunity to learn more about our service and decide whether you would like to proceed.

Stage 2 – Financial Planning Questionnaire

You will complete our Financial Planning Questionnaire, which gathers important information about your personal and financial circumstances.

This may include details of your:

Income and expenditure
Existing pensions
Savings and investments
Assets and liabilities
State Pension entitlement
Current and future income requirements
Retirement objectives

This information forms the foundation of your retirement plan.

Stage 3 – Risk, Capacity for Loss and ESG Assessments

Where investment recommendations are required, we will assess your attitude to investment risk and capacity for loss.

Your attitude to risk reflects how comfortable you are with fluctuations in the value of your investments. Capacity for loss considers the financial effect that a reduction in value could have on your retirement plans and standard of living.

Therefore, these assessments are particularly important when pension withdrawals will depend on continued investment performance.

We will also consider your environmental, social and governance preferences where these are relevant to your investment decisions.

Stage 4 – Provider Information

With your authority, we may obtain information directly from your existing pension and investment providers.

This enables us to examine matters such as:

Current pension values
Existing investment funds
Product and fund charges
Retirement options
Tax-free cash entitlement
Guarantees or valuable benefits
Transfer values and conditions
Any penalties or restrictions

Consequently, we need this information before deciding whether your existing arrangements remain suitable.

Stage 5 – Research and Technical Analysis

We will research and analyse your existing arrangements, retirement objectives and potential options.

Depending on your circumstances, this may include considering:

Continuing to build your pension savings
Consolidating suitable pension arrangements
Taking tax-free cash
Phased or flexible retirement
Pension drawdown
Purchasing an annuity
Using savings and investments to supplement income
The sustainability of proposed withdrawals
The taxation of pension benefits and other income

Our analysis will reflect the agreed scope of our advice and your individual circumstances.

Stage 6 – Pre-Report Meeting

Before preparing our final report, we will normally meet with you to discuss our findings and outline recommendations.

Importantly, this meeting forms a key part of the process. It allows us to explain the available options, discuss their advantages and disadvantages and answer your questions.

We can then confirm that the proposed strategy remains consistent with your needs before completing the formal report.

Stage 7 – Suitability Report and Recommendation

You will receive a personalised Suitability Report explaining our recommendations and why we consider them appropriate.

The report will normally cover:

Your circumstances and retirement objectives
Your expected income requirements
Your agreed attitude to investment risk
Your capacity for loss
Your existing pension arrangements
The recommended retirement strategy
Product and investment fund recommendations
Relevant charges, risks and disadvantages
Tax considerations
Any alternatives considered

Supporting pension, product and investment information will also be provided where appropriate.

Stage 8 – Implementation

If you decide to proceed, we will arrange the recommended pension or investment transactions and manage the implementation process.

This may include preparing applications, arranging pension transfers, establishing retirement income and liaising with providers. We will keep you informed throughout the process and confirm when the new arrangements have been completed.

You are under no obligation to proceed with our recommendations.

Stage 9 – Ongoing Review Service

Retirement planning does not end when your pension or income arrangements are established.

For example, your expenditure may change, investment markets will fluctuate and pension or tax rules may evolve. Therefore, regular reviews can help ensure that your retirement strategy remains suitable.

Our ongoing review service may include:

Reviewing your personal and financial circumstances
Updating your retirement objectives
Reassessing your attitude to risk and capacity for loss
Reviewing pension and investment performance
Monitoring pension withdrawals
Considering the sustainability of your income
Recommending changes where appropriate
Agreeing the timescale for your next review

The precise nature and frequency of the service will be agreed with you.

Understanding Your Retirement Income Options

Defined contribution pensions can usually provide several retirement options. However, the most appropriate solution will depend on your individual needs.

Pension Drawdown

Pension drawdown allows pension funds to remain invested while you take income or withdrawals.

Although drawdown can provide flexibility, the value of the pension will fluctuate. There is also a risk that withdrawals and poor investment performance could reduce the fund too quickly.

Annuity Purchase

An annuity converts some or all of a pension fund into a guaranteed income.

Different options may be available, including an income that increases, continues to a spouse or partner, or is protected for a minimum period. These options will usually affect the initial level of income offered.

Health and lifestyle information may also result in a higher income from an enhanced annuity.

Phased Retirement

You may not want to stop working and take all your pension benefits at the same time.

Therefore, phased retirement can allow you to reduce your working hours gradually and use part of your pension or savings to supplement your earnings. It may also provide opportunities to manage pension withdrawals and taxation over several years.

Using Other Savings and Investments

Pensions are not the only potential source of retirement income.

Cash savings, ISAs and other investments may also form part of your retirement strategy. Using different assets in a planned way can provide flexibility and may help manage the amount of taxable income you receive.

Retirement Cashflow Planning

Cashflow planning can help illustrate how your income, expenditure, pensions and investments may interact over time.

It can explore questions such as:

When might I be able to retire?
Could I afford to reduce my working hours?
How much income might I need?
How long could my pension and investments last?
What might happen if investment returns are lower than expected?
Could I afford a large one-off expense?

Cashflow projections are illustrations rather than guarantees. Nevertheless, they can help you understand the possible effect of different decisions and assumptions.

Clear Advice and Transparent Fees

Before you agree to proceed, we will explain the scope of our retirement planning advice and the fees that may apply.

You will receive an Outline Proposal setting out our initial thoughts, the work we propose to undertake and the relevant costs. This allows you to make an informed decision before committing to the full advice process.

Please see our Transparent Financial Advice Fees page for further information.

About LFP Asset Management

LFP Asset Management was founded in 2003 and is privately owned. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Our adviser is a Chartered Financial Planner and a Fellow of both the Chartered Insurance Institute and the Personal Finance Society. With more than 30 years’ experience, we provide clear, client-focused financial planning, pension and investment advice to individuals and small businesses.

Arrange an Initial Discussion

If you would like to understand your pension options or discuss your plans for retirement, please contact us to arrange an initial exploratory discussion.

Important Pension and Investment Information

The value of investments can fall as well as rise, and you may not get back the amount originally invested.
Past performance is not a reliable guide to future returns.
Pension and tax rules may change in the future.
Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances.
Taking pension benefits may affect the amount available to provide income later.
Income from pension drawdown is not guaranteed and the fund could be exhausted.
Transferring a pension may result in the loss of valuable guarantees or benefits.
An annuity may have limited flexibility once it has been established.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does retirement planning involve?

Retirement planning involves assessing your pensions, savings, investments, expenditure and future objectives. It helps establish when you may be able to retire and how your preferred lifestyle might be funded.

When should I start planning for retirement?

It is never too early to begin. Starting earlier generally provides more time to build your retirement savings and respond to any potential shortfall. However, retirement planning advice can still be valuable when retirement is close or has already begun.

Can I combine several pensions into one plan?

It may be possible to consolidate suitable pensions into one arrangement. This can sometimes make them easier to manage. However, transferring may result in the loss of guarantees or valuable benefits, so each pension should be carefully assessed first.
We do not provide advice on transferring defined benefit or final salary pensions.

Can I take tax-free cash from my pension?

You can usually take up to 25% of a defined contribution pension as tax-free cash, subject to your available lump sum allowance. The amount available can be affected by benefits taken previously, pension protections and the rules of the particular scheme.
You do not normally have to take all your available tax-free cash at once. Taking it will reduce the amount remaining to provide future retirement income. Current details of the rules are available from GOV.UK.