Article last updated 22 July 2025.
Emma was referred to us by a senior partner in a leading management consultancy firm. Aged 59 and thinking about retiring, Emma wanted to know whether she could afford to retire completely in 12 months or if she would need to do some consultancy work or take up one or two non-executive directorships (NEDs) to supplement her retirement income.
Emma owns her own home that is mortgage free and is divorced with two adult (non-dependent) children and three grandchildren, who live in New Zealand. When she divorced eight years ago, she shared a significant portion of her pension and investment assets with her ex-husband as part of the settlement so that she could continue to live in the family home.
Review assets and objectives
Emma worked with one of our financial planners to review her pensions, ISAs and cash savings. They had been cautiously invested, in part because she wasn’t able to devote any time to financial planning, as well as due to some compliance and investment restrictions within her firm.
Using a cash flow model, we explored several potential expenditure plans (limited, standard and stretch) to determine the appropriate level of risk she would need to introduce to each part of her portfolio to meet these objectives.
We established that while Emma could afford to fully retire, she wanted to take on a couple of NED roles to complement her pension and investment income, while not tying her down to full-time work. We worked with a solicitor to set up a new will and lasting powers of attorney, which had not been updated since her divorce. As part of this process, we ensured Emma’s pension and life cover expression of wishes did not conflict with instructions in her will.
Design and implement a plan
After agreeing the objectives and risk profiles with Emma’s investment manager at Rathbones, we set out a strategy to top up pension contributions before she retired from her consultancy firm. We recommended phasing the cash out of deposit accounts into portfolios, which were risk rated and invested according to the timeframe in the plan when Emma would need the assets.
Emma was especially delighted that she could keep her mind busy through part-time roles to supplement her investment income, and have both the freedom and money to spend six weeks each year visiting her grandchildren in New Zealand.
