My retirement planning journey with my partner
Mr Ford shares how talking with an adviser about your retirement plans will help both you and your partner take stock of what you’ve got, what you need to do between now and retirement and what that means for both your futures in work.
Last Updated: 13 February 2025
When it came to planning for retirement, my wife and I were in a good position – we knew enough about pensions and investments but we simply didn't have the time to stay on top of things. Life had gotten busy, and as the years went by, questions about when we could retire, what to do with our pensions and how much more we could contribute started to pile up.
I made a New Year’s resolution to get back in touch with our retirement plans as a couple and felt I needed some help with some of the more complex decisions relating to my pensions and investments.
- Mr Ford
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If you find similarities to your own situation in this case study, there are still likely
to be some differences which mean you’d need to make different decisions. This case study is an illustration.
Please don’t use it to make personal decisions. Always seek financial advice if you’re unsure.
Investments go up and down in value and you could get back less than you invest.
Our different paths: a change in direction
When we met with our HL adviser, Steve, I was looking to take a break from full-time work soon, while my wife, who had been working part-time, was interested in increasing her hours to open up more career opportunities.
We started thinking about what this meant for our retirement. If we were down to one income, how would we handle our pensions? For my wife, this also raised the question of how to best manage her pensions to meet her retirement goals while still living comfortably now.
A key priority for both of us was making everything easier to manage going forward. We wanted to feel confident that we could handle our retirement planning ourselves, with less stress and more control.
Rebalancing our investments and streamlining our pensions
One of the first things Steve did was review our investments, which hadn't been touched in years. It was clear there were some adjustments to be made, and Steve took a holistic view of our pensions, including both the HL Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) and our various workplace pensions. From there, he recommended rebalancing our portfolios and adjusting the mix of equities and markets we were invested in.
To simplify things, Steve suggested my wife transfer part of her pension into her HL SIPP, making sure she wouldn’t incur high exit fees or lose any valuable guarantees. This consolidation allowed us to manage more of our savings in one place, reducing overall costs – thanks in part to the Loyalty Bonus on many funds on the HL Wealth Shortlist.
Steve then built a portfolio for us based on our risk profile, drawing on HL’s investment expertise to make managing our pensions easier in the long run.
Leveraging workplace contributions for greater impact
Another huge win for us came from my wife’s workplace pension. Her employer offers very generous contributions, which gave us an easy opportunity to increase her contributions without having much of an impact on our take-home pay. Thanks to tax relief and the employer adding the National Insurance savings, this move significantly boosted her retirement plans.
Please bear in mind that you’ll usually need to be at least 55 (rising to 57 from 2028) before you can access the money in your pension. Pension and tax rules can change and any benefits will depend on your circumstances.
Paying off our mortgage: a big step toward freedom
One of the most satisfying things we did was use some of the money from our Stocks and Shares ISAs to pay off our mortgage. Not only did it remove a significant debt, but because we took the money from our Stocks and Shares ISA, we didn’t incur any capital gains tax. This helped free up more money for us to live comfortably now while also contributing more toward our future retirement savings.
How financial advice paid for itself
I knew financial advice was important for our pensions, but I didn’t realise how much Steve could help us understand our tax allowances and optimise them. He was incredibly knowledgeable, and his advice saved us both time and money. In fact, the tax savings alone covered the cost of the advice, which felt like a real win for us.
For example, by making a one-off payment into her HL SIPP, my wife was able to reclaim her personal income tax allowance, which, along with the tax relief, saved us over £20,000 in taxes. Steve also explained how we could roll over any unused annual pension allowance, which meant we could take full advantage of the higher contribution limits available to us.
I knew a financial adviser would be able to help with our pensions and retirement planning but I didn’t consider that Steve would also help me understand our tax allowances and how we could use them effectively. I was very impressed by Steve’s up-to-date knowledge. It saved me a lot of time, it helped our plans feel robust and perhaps best of all, the tax saving alone more than paid the advice fee.
- Mr Ford
Thinking about the future beyond ourselves
Another consideration that came up was the impact of our new setup on our children’s future and helping reduce potential inheritance tax liability.
We also made sure our children had Junior ISAs set up. We’re already contributing to them, and even with the increased pension contributions, we can continue to do so without issue.
This experience has been a game-changer for us. With Steve’s advice, we feel far more confident about our retirement future – and we’re excited about how much smoother the next few years will be as we continue to plan ahead, both for ourselves and for our family.
Could our advisers help you?
If you’re unsure about your financial future or whether you’ve got the right financial strategy in place, our advisers can help. Like Steve helped Mr and Mrs Ford, any of our advisers can assist you in making complicated decisions and give you confidence you’re on the right path.
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