Meet Maggie & Andy
Meet Maggie & Andy
Retirement Planning Clients
Maggie and Andy have been clients of Steve Braidford for more than 20 years. In the early years of their careers Steve advised them on building up their pensions and investments, and more recently this has turned to financial planning as they approach retirement age. The couple are keen sailors and Steve has got to know them and their lifestyle well. He has done comprehensive scenario modelling for them and thanks to his advice, they have been able to buy a bigger boat and will be retiring at the end of the year, sooner than they thought possible, to enjoy a life of sailing while they are still young enough to make the most of it.
Here’s their story:
What made you seek advice?
“Steve has been our financial adviser for well over 20 years now! We first got in touch when Andy changed jobs way back and went into consultancy. With that came good bonuses and an increase in his income, which made us think about what we should do about our pension. We realised that we needed some good financial advice, so one night over supper we asked friends of ours if they could recommend someone who could help us. Steve was their adviser, so they introduced him, and it went from there”.
What’s been the biggest benefit of working with Steve?
“Over the years Steve has taken the time to get to know us and what we like in life, and then translates that into a plan you can understand. Steve’s got a really good common-sense approach, he’s always drawing pictures to explain things, so we’ve got good clarity about our financial situation. We’re not unintelligent, but sometimes the financial options and terminology can be confusing, and Steve’s very good at clarifying things for us. We’re reassured about where we stand financially and have the confidence that we’ve got enough to be comfortable and take care of all the important things.
Steve always thinks about things that we’d never even consider. He asks what we want and how we want to live our lives, and then he figures out a plan to achieve it. It’s all because of him that we are where we are today and can now live the life we really want”.
How has Steve made a difference to your lives?
“Andy changed jobs 2 years ago and thought that he’d stay with it for some years to come. But Covid has influenced how we think about things and we’ve realised that life’s too short not to make the most of it.
We had been thinking about our pensions in the traditional way. Andy had been paying into various pension pots over the years, but Steve has helped us to see it differently – by putting it all together and looking at our whole financial ‘big picture’ which has made us aware that we’ve actually got more options than we realised.
We’ve always had a long-term ambition to get a larger boat and Steve has helped us to achieve that now whilst we’re young enough to make the most of it. He’s modelled various scenarios and shown us what’s possible and made it very clear what the risks are with the different options. He’s given us the massive reassurance and confidence that our funds will last. Andy is a bit more risk-averse; he is earning a good salary and it’s a big decision to stop working, so it’s reassuring to have someone like Steve saying you can do it.
Thanks to Steve and his advice over the years that’s enabled us to build our pension, we can now look forward to enjoying a new phase of our lives whilst still young enough to make the most of it.
The realisation of the possible makes us smile all of the time – the number of times we’ve spoken over the years about getting a bigger boat to anyone who’d listen, and now we’ve actually gone and done it! It’s going to be a big adventure and we can’t wait to start this next chapter of our lives”.
The value of pensions and investments and the income they produce can fall as well as rise. You may get back less than you invested.
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