Ted’s story

When the government changed the ruling around when you could access your pension, I began to think about my options at retirement. With my pension being in a company scheme, I thought about investing it, rather than waiting until retirement and risking not being able to hand it down to my children. 

A few of my colleagues at work went through a similar thing and used big companies, but I wanted to use financial planning services that were local. I knew of Oakworth Financial Planning because my wife used to work at the school near their office. I went to meet Richard and liked their approach. 

Oakworth Financial Planning doesn’t carry out pension transfers themselves – they appoint a third party to do this on their behalf. But they’ll advise you on your options at retirement and your finances as a whole.

I worked in electrical engineering for 40 years and always imagined I’d retire at 65, but at 60 I was ready. I’d contributed a lot to the company already, and by that point, I felt like there was a lot of changes going on, and I was under too much pressure. Not only that, but I had seen other people wait until 65 to retire, only to then find they had health problems or had died soon after, and never got to enjoy it. 

I didn’t want to be like everyone else who’d waited until 65 to retire. But, when you finally come to think about a retirement plan, you’ve got so much to weigh up. How do you know you’re doing the right thing? You want to know the different options at retirement that will work for yourself and your family.

At Oakworth, Richard went through everything in detail first – he asked what my outgoings were and what I wanted to do in retirement. I mentioned that I wanted to buy a new caravan and be able to take a few holidays each a  year.

I was used to getting a yearly pension statement which told me the value of the fund as it went along, but I had no idea if it would be enough to enable me to retire early and enjoy it. So it came as a big relief when Richard explained that we’d have enough for all that. We decided to go for it.

We paid everything off – the house, everything – and had some extra to buy the caravan. This means that we have complete peace of mind now, thanks to Oakworth’s financial planning services. 

Working with Oakworth Financial Planning wasn’t as complicated as I thought it might be. Some companies out there are too distant, they’re big conglomerates, whereas Oakworth Financial Planning is very approachable.

What I like most about Oakworth Financial Planning, is that they’re clearly a family business. They’re not pushy, they give you time to go away and think about what they’ve said, to read up on it, and come back to them in your own time.

They seem to work as part of a team – all their staff are friendly and approachable, and if I have an issue, Richard’s always available and comes back quickly with an answer.

They also go the extra mile for you. At one stage I was having issues with Inland Revenue, so Richard looked into it for me and worked out that the tax code they’d given me didn’t tie up.

He told me what the code should have been and advised me to explain things in an email, giving me a few pointers. Instead of getting from pillar to post, which was what had been happening, I got an answer in two weeks. Now I’m much better off.

Oakworth Financial Planning is a friendly, approachable business, but professional too. My cousin now uses them, and I’ve recommended them to a couple of work colleagues and will continue to recommend them to others.