Start your retirement plan
Retiring with a £500k pension, or more, puts you in a strong position and a complicated one. Drawdown or annuity, when to take the tax-free lump sum, which accounts to spend first, how much you can safely draw each year: each answer changes the others, and the tax system does not make the order obvious.
This is the decision set independent advisers deal with every week. Because the advisers we introduce are whole of market and work for you rather than a provider, the plan is built around your retirement, not around keeping your money on any particular platform. Introductions are free and without obligation.
How an independent adviser helps at retirement
A drawdown strategy, not just a product
The real question is rarely drawdown versus annuity; it is how much secure income you need, how much flexibility you want, and how the pot supports both. Many good plans blend the two over time.
Taking income tax-efficiently
With pensions, ISAs and other savings in play, the order you draw from them changes the tax you pay across retirement. An adviser sequences withdrawals so more of the same pot ends up as income in your hands.
Making it last
Sustainable withdrawal rates, investment risk that matches the drawdown plan, and regular reviews as markets and spending change: this is the ongoing discipline that separates a plan from a hope.
Thinking past your own retirement
Pensions, inheritance and gifting interact, especially with pension funds due to enter the inheritance tax net from 2027. An adviser helps you decide which assets to spend and which to preserve for family.