Keep Your Powder Dry and Drawdown

Amid the uncertainty of Brexit, some might argue that the one positive the Osborne / Cameron axis did for the UK economy was introducing the Pensions Freedoms Act in 2015.

While here at The Orchard Practice we are not here aligning ourselves with that particular view, we do agree that the latter is a gift to both savers and their advisers.

Take Drawdown. Although most of us do our best to guard against the future, it is impossible to protect yourself entirely. And what good is growing your wealth if you cannot call upon it in unforeseen times of need? The emergence of Drawdown has addressed this, and I believe both products and prices will only improve.

This is not to say that you should not be vigilant with your pension, even if your adviser has earned unwavering trust. But the flexible access to your money brought in by the introduction of Drawdown means you have one less headache to deal with.

What comes next is managing your own expectations: is that holiday really worth eating into your retirement fund, or is that prospective Buy-to-Let a realistic long-term prospect as opposed to a short-term money-spinner? Perhaps it is, but making sure you are fully aware of the consequences is where we come in.

Having once been quasi-sales people, as savers enjoy unprecedented freedom – supplemented by progressively lower prices across the board – the position of financial adviser is, finally, advice-orientated. Information, rather than product pushing, is now the order of the day.

The choice is yours – our job is to ensure you make the right one.