The Retirement Café Podcast

Financial advisers are now incredibly well qualified, but exams don't test how good they are at explaining complex later life advice in a way clients understand. This insight, coupled with her experience of working with older people in later life within financial services, led Jane Finnerty to co-found The Society of Later Life Advisers (SOLLA). In 2008, alongside barrister Trish Hanifan, Jane set...

For ten years, Rory Percival was 'the face of the Financial Conduct Authority' (FCA) for financial advisers. An influential speaker and thought-leader, Rory's technical expertise enabled him to play a significant role in setting the agenda for regulatory activity in the advice sector. The projects he was involved in included pension switching, the Retail Distribution Review and pension freedoms. I...

The new residence nil rate band (RNRB) came into effect on the 6th April 2017. It's a new inheritance tax relief being phased in gradually over a number of years. In tax year 2017-18 it was worth £100,000 per person, and it's increasing by £25,000 increments until we get to tax year 2020-21 when the relief will be worth £175,000 per person. When you add that to the £325,000 ordinary nil rate band...

In the first part of my interview with Barry Van Danzig we heard how Barry attempted to sell his business to venture capitalists, but ended up buying the business back after they turned a £2 million EBITDA* into a loss in two years. Barry found himself back in the driving seat of his company. The highly successful company he had spent years building and nurturing. He still needed to find a way to...

Barry Van Danzig is not successful by accident. An astute entrepreneur who built and lost a business early on in life, Barry picked himself up, reengineered his future and created a fabulous company that brought the wealth and success he deserved. As Barry approached his 50s he started to consider "What next?" The business was booming, robust and running smoothly. He started to think about retirem...

410,000 people live in care homes in the UK today. It is predicted there will be a 36% increase in the number of over 85s by 2025. With an ageing population comes a growing demand for care provision and care homes. I chat to Hollie Clarke, Senior Care adviser with Colten Care , about how to find the most suitable care home to meet your needs. The key to success is good planning. Working in the spe...

In this episode you can listen to the second half of my interview with Carl Richards for his new  Talking About Money  workshop. The goal of Carl's Talking About Money  workshop is to give people the tools and confidence necessary to have conversations about money that don't end up in arguments. Too often, our money discussions cause stress and distress as we don't appreciate that money is emotion...

A few weeks ago, I was honoured to be interviewed by Carl Richards for his new Talking About Money workshop that launches right around now. For those of you who don't know Carl Richards, you may be familiar with his most famous work. Through his simple sketches, Carl makes complex financial concepts easy to understand. Otherwise known as The Sketch Guy, his column has appeared weekly in the New Yo...

Since George Osbourne pronounced the words "No one will have to buy an annuity again" in 2014, the retirement market has changed from a safety-first environment to one full of risk and responsibility. No longer forced to convert your hard-earned savings into an annuity – a guaranteed income for life in exchange for your pension pot – pension freedoms legislation allows you more freedom on how to s...

People struggle to keep track of their pensions; 3 out of 5 people don't know what they have. On average, a working adult in the UK may have 11 different jobs during his or her working life. A holistic view is hard to achieve, even with the help of a financial adviser – and perhaps that's why it is estimated that £400m of pensions are unclaimed. Henry Tapper is passionate about helping people unde...

Suzanne Noble had enjoyed a successful and varied career which included PR for big entertainment brands, founding a TV company, creating a baby sling company and launching money and time saving app Frugl. Then, age 50, attempting to join the London technology start up industry Suzanne very quickly realised she was the oldest person doing so. She also found there was very little support for her, wh...

Record numbers of people are formally assigning emergency decision-making to those they trust with a Lasting Power of Attorney. 726,000 people handed over control of their affairs to those they trust in 2016 alone and the figure has grown by 180 percent in the last 5 years alone. But would you know where to start? Fiona Heald is a partner in the Court of Protection team at Moore Blatch Solicitors....

The Five Ways to Well Being have been proven to be critical to a healthy retirement. Dr William Bird MBE, GP and founder of Intelligent Health, explains how an understanding of these principles can create the building blocks of a successful retirement. As a family GP, William has first-hand experience of watching patients' health deteriorate within a year of retiring. In 1996 he started to get his...

The need for care home spaces is predicted to rise dramatically with the ever-increasing life expectancy and growth of debilitating conditions including dementia now prevalent in later life. And planning for that care is something we need to face up to in retirement. There are many different ways to fund care. Last year, 57,000 people needed to fund the costs of living in a care home. Only 6% opte...

You've worked hard to earn your money and want to do everything you can to both protect it and make sure it works hard for you in retirement. Justin chats with his colleague Rian about how to avoid being negatively impacted by poor pensions advice and financial scams, and ensure you're maximising your State Pension as you head into the New Year. The impact on the UK economy of financial scams is e...

Dr Ben Hicks has a very refreshing approach to 'The Big D'. A highly engaging and passionate professional who cares deeply about his research topic, and more importantly about his research  subjects , Ben explains about the ground-breaking research he's involved with. Ben is adamant that a dementia diagnosis is no longer a death sentence. In fact, developments in technology and a gradual shift in...

Like many of the people we work with, Nick and Debbie approached retirement with some apprehension. After many years in the Royal Marines and subsequently in the corporate world, the couple faced a devastating life-changing event that made them re-think their future. Having been offered an opportunity to take redundancy earlier than planned, Nick and Debbie faced the challenges of creating a new l...

At age 15, Ken West began his career planting up cemetery graves. Maybe a strange career choice for a young lad, but one driven by a deep interest in horticulture. This was the start of Ken's 45 year-long career in bereavement services. Ken has been involved in over 100,000 funerals, from managing graveyards to crematorium to local authority funeral services. As his knowledge of the reality of tra...

I'm delighted to welcome friend and highly respected solicitor, Kurt Lee, to the first interview on The Retirement Café Podcast. Kurt has over 20 years' experience in tax planning. As well as being a solicitor, Kurt is a Chartered Tax Adviser - and this is what sets him apart. Kurt is partner at Lester Aldridge LLP specialising in Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Trust Planning. Tax rules in...

In this episode, Justin King shares what you can expect from The Retirement Cafe Podcast. Over the past 30 years, Justin has helped many people work their way through major transitions in their lives. Ready or not, we all go through numerous transitions in our lives. These transitions are often life changing events that cause us to re-examine our status quo. The transition into retirement has to b...