Why retirement is where this really matters
The five years either side of retirement involve a stack of decisions you can't easily undo: when to stop working, how to take your pension, whether to consolidate, whether to annuitise, how to draw an income tax-efficiently, what to do if you live longer than expected. Getting any of these meaningfully wrong can cost six figures over a retirement.
The good news: this is exactly where a decent adviser earns their fee - mainly through tax-efficient sequencing and keeping you steady when markets aren't.
What a retirement adviser actually does
- Working out whether you can afford to retire. Cashflow modelling against the lifestyle you actually want
- Consolidating pensions. Combining multiple workplace pensions into a SIPP, where it makes sense
- Drawdown vs annuity. Including hybrid approaches that mix the two
- Defined benefit transfer advice. Legally required for any transfer above £30k
- Tax-efficient withdrawal sequencing. Across pensions, ISAs, and general investment accounts
- Lifetime allowance and tapered annual allowance. Particularly if you've been a higher earner
- Inheritance and estate planning. Pensions play a bigger role in passing wealth than most people realise
How to tell a good retirement adviser
If you're shortlisting, these questions tell you fast who's actually good at retirement work:
- "What proportion of your clients are within five years of retirement?" - 30%+ is what you want to hear
- "Do you do cashflow modelling as part of your service?" - the answer should be yes
- "What's your view on the sustainable withdrawal rate for a UK retiree today?" - listen for nuance, not a flat "4%"
- "How do you handle defined benefit transfer cases?" - if you have a DB pension, they'll need PTS status
Our full guide on questions to ask a financial adviser goes deeper.
How we match for retirement
Tell us where you are - pre-retirement, just about to retire, or already retired - and we'll match you with advisers who do this work day in, day out. Every adviser is FCA authorised. If fee-only matters to you, you can tell us and we'll prioritise it.