Tom really listens and asks the right questions to understand what you want in life. He’s a great listener.
Phil: We first made contact with Tom as Di had received notification from a pension provider that she needed to make a decision on a small value pension she had. So, we decided to get some advice. Tom was recommended to us by Di’s accountant.
It was initially quite a simple query about the best way to move forward with this pension fund but very quickly our discussions with Tom became about more than just that. I worked at GSK and I was told I was facing the threat of redundancy in the not-too-distant future. So, our discussions expanded and started to incorporate what we wanted from our future.
Tom clarified what Di’s options were and gave her the news that she could, in fact, retire straight away. It was a pleasant surprise, put it that way! That really opened our eyes and made us see things differently. Especially given that I was about to be made redundant at the time. I was 53 and Di was 55.
Di: When I first started at my job my plan was to retire at 55 but then we discovered I’d lose some of my NHS pension if I did. Speaking to Tom, he showed us there was a way around that and that it was actually still possible. I retired at the end of March this year. [2020]
Phil: I was made redundant April 2019. I’d been with the company 22 years. With the redundancy I received, and with my pension fund, I was able to not work for a year and everything has fallen into place since then allowing me to retire now too.
Tom massively opened our eyes. I had a rough idea about my own pension and shares position but we didn’t know what the case was with Di. What Tom has done is combine both of our positions together and show us what our income could be if we retired. And, importantly, he’s also shown us what it will be for the rest of our lives. He drew a very clear picture of that would look like.
Neither of us miss work. We’re both enjoying retirement! We’re both fit and healthy and in a position to be able to enjoy our lives without having to go to work thankfully.
Tom really listens and asks the right questions to understand what you want in life. He’s a great listener. And he’s helped us very clearly understand what our financial picture will look like going forward. His advice is always very measured and clear. He helps us evaluate decisions in a really helpful way and then supports us when we’ve made them.
I’ve been really pleasantly surprised on the fees side of things too. Rather than having to pay a lump sum to him, we’ve been able to incorporate the cost of the advice into our pension fund. Finding a lump sum is hard to do for many people. He’s made it very manageable for us.