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Turning Dreams into Reality
"Adam advised me accordingly and arranged for me to start receiving some of my pensions. By doing this it helped me to follow a long-term desire to set up my own cake business and leave my full-time job."
Jan's story
Meet Jan
Jan is 58 and married with two children who have flown the nest and lives in York.
What did Jan need help with?
Jan originally became a client of PenLife at the age of 49 when she required advice regarding her pensions. She wanted to make sure that her hard-earned money was working as hard as it could be to enable a comfortable retirement, later down the line.
Fast forward nine years and Jan was no longer enjoying her job. In fact, it had got to the point where the prospect of facing work every day had actually become daunting, and as a result, she felt totally drained. Jan had been offered voluntary redundancy and wanted to leave her job but wasn’t sure whether this would be financially viable at the time. It was during her Annual Review meeting with Adam, her Financial Planner, that she shared her dream of setting up a cake business. Baking cakes was something that Jan was really passionate about and really great at!
What did we do?
Adam reviewed all Jan’s pensions, establishing what income they were due to provide and then asked Jan to complete an income and expenditure form. This then enabled Adam to create a cashflow model to establish the level of income Jan would need to be able to both retire and set up her cake making business. Cashflow planning is a complex tool used to look at your current wealth along with your income and expected outgoings. It allows us to analyse what potential your wealth and income might have to support you in the future.
Adam concluded that the following actions should be taken:
- Jan should start to drawdown from her Aviva pension and supplement this income with her redundancy pay.
This income would fully cover Jan’s household expenditure and would bridge the gap until Jan reaches 67 when she will receive her state pension and also the guaranteed income from her final salary pension scheme. - From the age of 67, Jan’s Aviva pension can then be used for flexible spending.
- Once the cake company becomes established, the plan is to use the additional money she receives from the business as additional spending money.
The Result
Jan took voluntary redundancy, left her job and is currently running her own cake business!
The business is doing really well. Jan is currently unsure of what income she will receive from the business as this is her first year trading but she is finally loving her work.
Adam will continually review Jan’s pension income, as it may be more beneficial to reduce this in order to decrease the tax being paid, if the business is doing really well.
Relieved? Yes. Delighted? Yes. But most of all, Jan is excited, knowing that the next chapter of her life has begun.
Now if this doesn’t explain the value of financial planning, this certainly will – here is a snippet of a review Jan kindly left on VouchedFor:
What were the circumstances that caused you to look for a Financial Planner?
“I was looking to retire early and asked Adam for advice regarding my pensions.”
How has Adam Dent helped you?
“Adam advised me accordingly and arranged for me to start receiving some of my pensions. By doing this it helped me to follow a long-term desire to set up my own cake business and leave my full-time job.”
Have you seen the outcome you were hoping for?
“Yes, I am now running my own cake business and life is a lot less stressful now I’m not working full time in a job I didn’t enjoy.”
If you are seriously thinking about retiring but you haven’t actually thought about how you are going to achieve this, why not give us a call on 01904 661140. We’ll pop your through to one of our Financial Planners and they can a chat to see how they may be able to help you. The call is held at our expense, so there’s nothing to lose. Or if you prefer, email us at enquiries@pen-life.co.uk or head to www.pen-life.co.uk/contact. You never know, you may just find retirement is closer than you think!
Please note: The contents of this case study are for informational purposes only and do not constitute individual advice. The information contained within this is for guidance only and does not constitute advice which should be sought before taking any action or inaction. The FCA does not regulate cashflow planning.
The information in this case study was correct at the time of writing.