What it’s like to plan your retirement online

This is our client, Kate’s story

I first came into contact with Alasdair through my husband, Richard. His mother is a longstanding client and has always talked highly of Alasdair. Richard’s investments are with him aswell.

The reason I needed help was that I had a civil service job for 16 years, with all the pension benefits that entails. However, when I reached my mid-40s, I switched jobs; my new job only provided a basic-level pension. I wasn’t sure what that would mean for my financial future, and how I’d be able to save enough for my retirement.

I didn’t consider consulting anyone else – I knew Alasdair was a trusted source of information and guidance – so I contacted him. 

The process

It was great to share my concerns with and start going through everything with someone who understood and could help.

All this took place during the lockdown, so I’ve never actually met Alasdair face-to-face! But meeting through video hasn’t altered his standard of service in any way. The communication was great throughout. It was good not just from a Covid perspective, but because we live miles away from each other too – it shows you don’t have to live in the same area to work with him. 

Alasdair started by asking me what I was interested in. This was surprising – rather than talking about the money side of things straight away, he tries to find out motivation behind you wanting to invest. I wanted to make sure that I could retire comfortably.

He also looks at your current financial position; he’d already done research for me before the meeting, which was great as I’d explained that I was looking to invest in a way that would supplement my pension.

He gave me two really great pieces of advice. Firstly he suggested I could look at a stocks and shares Isa. This could be a one-off lump sum, and I could continue to add to it every month. 

Secondly he suggested I ask my employer about salary exchange / sacrifice into my work pension. I’d already been auto-enrolled into my employer’s pension scheme, but a ‘salary sacrifice’ would enable me to contribute more, and benefit from that money being applied before tax and National Insurance.

However, I work for quite a small company and they hadn’t considered this before. They had to look into the options themselves and this took quite a while, but now that it’s all set up, everyone benefits from it since my employer now saves money on the National Insurance contributions too.

Time to think

Alasdair allowed me plenty of time to go away and think about if I wanted to go ahead with what he’d suggested. 

We had a long chat through investment options, he talked through the various different performances of funds and positioned it for a layman – it was really well explained.

He also talked about which risk approach to take. I completed a questionnaire which quantifies potential losses as well as gains. I came out as having a ‘moderate’ attitude to risk and Alasdair applied this information to the investment approach.

He was totally honest with me and told me that the stock markets go up and down, but in the long term, they go up. He told us that if I could afford to put our money in for at least 15 years, which I was intending to do anyway, the stock market was a good place for it. 

I felt really comfortable with all this so decided to put a lump sum into my Isa and £250 every month. It probably won’t add up to the amazing deal I had with my previous employer, but it will definitely help me to achieve my financial goals.

Sustainable investing

Alasdair mentioned that it’s now possible to put your money into environmentally responsible funds. I hadn’t really thought of it before, but it is such a great idea and one which we are proud to get behind.

Environmentally responsible funds eschew investments in non-ethical industries. Using them is also known as ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) investing.

It seems like an approach that has more longevity; if you think about the trajectory of what’s happening in the world, and challenges inherent in that, it’s a sound idea that also ties in with my own environmental approach.

Clear and simple

At the beginning, I was worried about going to talk to Alasdair, because I thought he might bombard me with financial jargon.

I could not have been more wrong. He surpassed my expectations because he explained everything so clearly – the paperwork was easy to understand, there’s lots of info but it was never overwhelming.

He also always got back to me really quickly whenever I contacted him. 

I wouldn’t have felt confident doing this on my own. I can do most things online – for example I arranged my mortgage without a broker. But I lacked confidence with this, and wanted to make sure I was making the most of my money. 

It was important for me to work with an independent adviser who wasn’t tied to particular solutions, but who had my best interests at heart.

Alasdair sussed out my financial position quickly, so we knew where we were starting from. No website is going to ask you those questions and get to understand you so deeply.

Always moving forward

Alasdair has also taken on board new technologies that make interacting with him even easier, such as being able to scan your passport online. He is always moving forward.

If I had to choose a few words to describe him, they would be: simple, comprehensive, responsive and trusted. 

After working with him, I feel more ‘financially confident’. I don’t have that feeling in the back of my mind that I really should be doing something about it all because he’s taken all that away.

My generation are probably going to retire at 70 so we have to think about things in light of that – how and when care you going to get to enjoy your money and what do you want to do with it when that time comes? The sooner we consider these things the better.