Preparing for retirement

Prepare for your retirement with confidence

As you prepare for retirement, it’s important to plan how you are going to generate an income for the years ahead. With careful planning and advice, you can reduce the amount of tax you pay to make your money go further, help to protect your wealth and lifestyle in retirement.

Tips to reduce tax on your retirement income

Use taxable withdrawals

Start with taxable withdrawals to make use of all your available allowances. From there, a financial planner can tailor the next steps to your priorities, keeping you tax-efficient and focused on your long-term goals.

Consider spreading pension withdrawals

By phasing withdrawals from your pension pot over time, you can keep your taxable income under control, helping to avoid higher tax bands and preserve pension growth.

Optimise all allowances

Structuring your income and assets more strategically helps to reduce your overall tax exposure and preserve more of your wealth in retirement. This may involve maximising your annual ISA contributions, making full use of your spouse or partner’s allowances, or investing in higher risk investments if appropriate to do so.

Review your plan

It’s important to regularly review your plan to make sure it is working as hard as it can and keeping pace with life’s changes. Reviewing your plan with a financial planner can bring clarity and help you make confident decisions.

Frequently asked questions

Here are some of the most common questions we hear from clients who are preparing for retirement.

How much money will I need to retire?

Your retirement plans are as individual as you are. The amount you will need and when you can retire depends on the lifestyle you aspire to have, your age now and at retirement and your life expectancy. As we are all living longer and healthier lives, you’ll want to ensure you have sufficient wealth to fund a comfortable and enjoyable retirement.

Our experienced retirement planners can review your current savings and investments, model your likely expenditure and let you know if you are on track to achieve the retirement that you desire.

How can I retire early?

Deciding when to retire is personal to you and depends on a multitude of factors. Your personal finances, lifestyle and future goals can influence your retirement date as much as external factors like inflation, interest rates and tax and pension changes.

That’s why our financial planners take the time to understand your ambitions and create a tailored, flexible plan to help make your retirement goals a reality.

Should I consolidate my pensions?

Many people have multiple pensions, especially if they’ve changed jobs several times during their careers. There can be advantages to bringing all your pensions together in one place, such as ease of management and fewer charges. However, that’s not always the case, as some pension transfers can incur penalties, and you may lose valuable guarantees when moving your money. It’s important to seek financial advice before taking action.

If you have multiple pensions, we can advise on how best to manage them to ensure that you get the maximum benefit in the context of your wider financial situation.

What is the best way to benefit from my pension?

If you have multiple pensions, we can advise on how best to manage them to ensure that you get the maximum benefit in the context of your wider financial situation.

What clients say about our service

Your retirement planning journey starts today

Current Your details
Your enquiry
Protecting your data

I am a/an

Individual

Charity Trustee/ Member

Financial Adviser

Title

First name

Last name

Phone number

Postcode

Preferred office

Investment amount

Reason for enquiry

Title

First name

Last name

Phone number

Postcode

Preferred office

Investment amount

If you need immediate assistance, please don't hesitate to call our Helpdesk at 0800 151 3355. We're available Monday to Friday, from 8am to 6pm (excluding bank holidays), and we're here to help with any questions or issues you may have.

If you're interested in registering for MyRathbones, please reach out to your investment manager directly or read more about the platform here.

If you are an existing client, please contact your investment manager or financial planner directly to address your query or visit ⁠our people page to find their details.

Title

First name

Last name

Phone number

Postcode

Preferred office