The Munros were in a bit of a quandary.  Having recently finished working for a large national firm, and wanting to plan for a comfortable retirement they had two issues; Pensions and Property.

Mr Munro was a member of a Final Salary Pension scheme, and he wanted to know whether he should start to take benefits from the scheme or transfer out to a personal pension arrangement.  He had heard about some of the benefits of doing so and wanted to find out more before he made a decision either way.

They also wanted to move out of their rural cottage, which was picturesque, but not conveniently situated for a comfortable retirement.  They wanted to move whilst they were fit and healthy enough to do so and to have time to build a new community around them for their later years.  The problem was that they didn’t have the money to move without selling their house first, and the housing market was not in the healthiest place.

And in the midst of all this, Mr Munro was looking after his Mother’s financial affairs and using her savings to pay for Care Home costs.

We built their financial model and used this to answer their two predicaments.  The lifetime cash flow analysis showed that their future lifestyle goals and objectives could be met by remaining in the final salary pension scheme.  They didn’t need to take on the added investment risk of a personal pension to achieve all they wanted to.  We also worked out a way for them to buy a house before having to sell.  As Trustee of his Mother’s financial affairs, and also Executor and sole Beneficiary of her estate, we advised him to lend himself some of her money, use it to buy a new house, sell their old home, and then pay it back.  We sought both legal and ethical counsel to satisfy ourselves that this was both possible and appropriate.

The result is that the Munros are now building a comfortable retirement as part of a new community, close to all the facilities and amenities they anticipate needing over the coming decades.