As chartered accountants in Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwickshire, we understand that our clients’ business and private financial lives are closely interlinked, so we are ideally placed to help them prepare for a financially comfortable future.

A significant part of planning for retirement is to ensure that you have put arrangements in place to give you a comfortable lifestyle in your later years.

Therefore it is wise to seek expert advice to maximise income from new and existing pension arrangements. Options you may not have previously considered include:

• income drawdown – where retirement savings remain invested and an income is taken from the pension fund each year rather than buying an annuity
• phased retirement – where a personal pension plan is arranged so that the policy holder can take a pension in stages
• SIPPs and SSASs – ways to manage individual pension investments, either through a Self-Invested Pension Plan (SIPP) or a Small Self-Administered Scheme (SSAS)

Alongside your pension, it is wise to review your savings and other investments, to ensure that they will deliver value for money in the future. You may also wish to consider issues such as making provision for long-term care and arranging to pass on your estate to your dependants in the most financially beneficial way, through tools including a tax-efficient will, inheritance tax planning and trusts.

Our expert team will consider your financial circumstances, and your goals for the future, in advising you on the tax implications of your arrangements, to achieve maximum tax efficiency.

We also work closely with an experienced independent financial adviser (IFA), who has access to wide-ranging insurance, saving and pension products, to create a portfolio tailored to your individual requirements.