Richard's story - Well Paid & Ambitious
Posted on 1st May 2021 at 11:05
“Initially our investments dropped because of the Coronavirus pandemic, but over the course of twelve months, we’ve made a lot more money.”
I was approaching 40 and was wondering whether I could organise my finances in a way that would enable me to retire at 55.
I considered that I probably wouldn’t be able to make the same decision in 10 years’ time, or if I did, I’d have to make bigger sacrifices to get to there, so I need to speak to a financial planner. I was introduced to New Vision by a colleague and went to see Carol to find out if it was at all possible.
We had an initial chat where I explained what I wanted to achieve, and I completed a detailed questionnaire which would enable Carol to advise me comprehensively.
The questions would help her determine how much risk I wanted to take with our investments, and therefore how close I could get to achieving my goal.
The interesting thing was that my wife did the same questionnaire to make sure we weren’t going to be pulling in different directions, but we both came out with the same answer.
That enabled Carol to give us recommendations that we were both comfortable with.
The process
I’m lucky in that I work in the rail industry which means I’m eligible for a generous Final Salary pension, so these means I’m off to a good start.
Firstly Carol advised us to protect our existing position before investing more money and she helped to arrange the appropriate life insurance policies for us. I’ve got a young child and I’m the main breadwinner, so that made perfect sense.
On top of that we decided to make a small investment per month into a stocks and shares ISA, which is both comfortable for us and a sufficient stretch to mean we’re on track for me to retire at 55. Carol (and her team) researched and implemented it on our behalf.
Carol puts you at ease instantly
She takes time to explain things and answer everything you want to know. We felt a lot more comfortable with her than with someone in a flash suit asking you to sign ‘here’ and ‘here’ without explaining what it was for.
She’s able to combine the perfect level of professionalism and friendliness, which means that you feel reassured and confident throughout.
There’s no such thing as a stupid question – sometimes you think ‘Well I could just Google that” but it’s much better to be able to talk to someone about these things!
Initially our investments dropped because of the Coronavirus pandemic, but over the course of twelve months, we’ve made a lot more money. We’re very happy with that, with knowing we’re on track and we take much more interest in our financial future now!
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