Peter & Pauline O’Halloran
Case study: In retirement
Peter & Pauline O’Halloran, South East London
Client since: 2013
Adviser name: Robert Young
Peter and Pauline are in their mid-60s and live in South East London. Peter worked in the haulage industry, having started his own freight company in 1982. Apart from a career-break to raise their two daughters, Pauline had worked for most of her life in the retail industry.
Peter’s business merged with a larger company in 2004, and he continued to work there until the sale of the business in 2017 led to him being made redundant. Although he was at retirement age, Peter was unwilling to go into retirement straight away, so he continued to work on a part-time basis.
Peter and Pauline enjoy their static caravan which they’ve had since 1998, and they go away every two weeks for at least nine months of the year.
Why did Peter and Pauline decide to take financial advice?
Peter and Pauline had always had a financial adviser and were happy to transfer their business to Black Swan Financial Planning when their adviser retired. They first met Rob Young in 2014 and at that meeting, described their circumstances and explained that they wanted to get things into place, ready for their retirement.
How did Black Swan Financial Planning help?
Having understood what Peter and Pauline wanted to achieve, Rob identified an opportunity for them to use their endowment policies to pay off their mortgage two years earlier than planned.
This was something that they hadn’t even considered before. What’s more, the money that they had been paying to their mortgage lender, and into the endowment policy, was then redirected into their pensions.
Rob was also able to advise Pauline on a Defined Benefit work pension which was being closed down. In this instance, it was more beneficial for her to take the pension, rather than transfer out of it.
How have Peter and Pauline benefited from the advice?
Not only have Peter and Pauline been able to pay off their mortgage earlier than planned and build up their pension pots, they have also been able to replace their static caravan. By using their pensions, they’ve been able to buy it outright without incurring any debt.
However, the main benefit of the advice they have received is the peace of mind that comes with knowing that Black Swan Financial Planning is looking after their interests.
Peter says: “We have always found Rob to be very approachable and knowledgeable. We have every confidence in the advice given and feel comfortable with the decisions we’ve made. There are certain opportunities that we wouldn’t have known about if Rob hadn’t brought them to light, which makes the advice good value for money as far as we’re concerned.”
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