Mrs Corbett was recently widowed, and returned to the UK with her four (still dependent) children.  She was in receipt of a Spouse’s pension but also received a substantial sum of Life Assurance which she had invested in a variety of bank accounts to try and reduce the risk of losing any of it if one of the banks collapsed.

Her concern was making sure that her children could all be supported until they were financially independent, helping pay for education and housing costs, whilst leaving her enough to live off for the rest of her life.

She didn’t have much experience in investing, and was cautious by nature, not wanting to risk her, or her children’s financial future.  The problem was that the money in the bank was losing value every year compared to the cost of living (as inflation was higher than the bank interest she was receiving).

There were two main issues to be addressed, how to invest the money and then how to spend it, i.e. how much could she afford to spend?   The two were interrelated.  By helping Mrs Corbett understand how to invest the money wisely, taking into account how much investment risk she was willing, able and needed to take, we could then ensure it was able to meet her financial needs both now and in the future.  Her lifetime cash flow model demonstrated that she could indeed afford to maintain the children’s education costs, and be able to make gifts to them as and when the time was right to help them get onto the property ladder.  She would still have enough left over to fund her own retirement and hopefully leave a legacy of both property and money.

The main outcome for Mrs Corbett was the peace of mind that comes with knowing the money is being well looked after, and will be there to look after her in the future.