Finding a fee-based IFA

Albermarle

BarbaraG2000 said:

@Albermarle to put it another way - are there any providers who actively embrace working directly with customers?

If you are looking at traditional providers, then Standard Life are definitely active in the consumer market and have a good personal pension, website and customer service.
Otherwise you are mainly looking at the ones linked in the post above. 
A whole of market SIPP, like Fidelity for example, has a very large range of different investments on offer, including funds, Investment Trusts , shares, ETF's etc 
A traditional provider like Standard Life will have about 250 funds to choose from.
Then Robo providers, or providers like Pension Bee, have a much more restricted range, but that suits many people.

leosayer

BarbaraG2000 said:

leosayer said:

Hi Barbara, the only thing I would add to your plan is to create a spreadsheet with a year-by-year plan of your income needs and how they will be fulfilled (or not) based on what you learn from your statements.

When I did the same, it became clear to me that starting my DB scheme early was the prudent thing to do even though I had enough DC/SIPP and ISA savings to 'bridge the gap'. Of course, you may arrive at a different conclusion.

I did do this about 3 years ago, would need to update with current estimates. I only used NRA for each scheme, though - using different ages is a tweak I had not previously considered, but now will.

What made it clear that taking your DB’s early was the prudent thing to do?

A few reasons...

The main one is that we want more income from ages 55 to 70 when we expect to spend more. Based on the experience of my parents, their spending dropped massively once they hit their early 70s due to various health issues and much less adventurous travel plans. 

Of course, my wife and I may be different in our 70s but with our 2 x final salary and 2 x state pensions from age 67, we expect we'll be able to live comfortably on those even if after a reduction in my DB from taking it 5 years early. Those extra 5 years mean that we will be well into our 70s before we will be 'worse off' having deferred it.

The other reason for taking the DB early is so we avoid depleting our ISA and SIPP investments and keeping them invested in a higher proportion of riskier funds (ie. equity index funds). Whilst inheritance isn't a strong driver for us, we have a son who will benefit from those assets if we die before they get spent. Having those assets on hand means that we can call on them if a big expense arises.

Having said all that, there are some factors that might make us change our mind and mind are as follows:
- If inflation continues to be high then it might make more sense for us to avoid commencing my DB pension due to the way that inflation increases are calculated in deferrement rather than in payment. I can elaborate if that helps.
- If the ISA and SIPP investments have a very good couple of years then I might feel that taking profits is preferable to starting my DB

Hope that helps.