Karen and David are in their mid-60s and have been married for more than 40 years. They have two adult children and one grandchild. Before retiring, Karen was an administrator for a local authority and David was involved in sports coaching. Due to ill health, David’s income hasn’t always been consistent and there have been difficult times financially. In the past, they’ve had to be very careful with their money.
Why did you decide to work with Barrington Hamilton?
My mum sadly passed away around the time that we retired. We received a small inheritance and wanted advice on what we should do with it. We also had savings and wanted to know if they were invested in the right places and performing as well as they could. We asked our accountant if they could recommend an adviser and they referred us to John.
How did we help?
What was really interesting was that John turned things on their head. Instead of focusing on our investments from the outset, he asked us to consider what we want to do during our retirement. He then did a complete review of our finances.
He encouraged us to think about when we would need to replace our car; when we would need to make home improvements and when we’d like to go away on holiday. John then put together a cashflow plan which showed us that we were in a far better position financially than we’d realised. Now we know that we have the money to maintain our lifestyle as well as do all those things.
A lot of our savings were in cash at the time, so John recommended ways in which we could invest our savings and we’re comfortable with those investments.
John also helped my dad after my mum passed away. He was 89 at the time and struggling on his own. We wanted to find a good care home where he would be happy. He had savings but we were all concerned about the money running out. John helped us to organise a care annuity which will ensure that dad can continue to pay the care home fees.
This has given us a huge amount of reassurance, to know that our dad’s future is secure and that he’ll be looked after where he’s happy; that’s priceless.
What’s been the benefit for you?
The whole process has enabled us to think more clearly about what we can and can’t do. We’ve been able to make home improvements and have a wonderful holiday in Peru, with the confidence that we can afford it.
It’s a huge relief to know that we’re OK financially and we have the security and confidence to actually spend money. We also have more clarity on our financial position with reviews every year to make sure we’re still on track.
Now we’re in retirement, we make the most of the area we live in and get outdoors as much as possible to the forest and the coast. David continues to do sport and I enjoy knitting and watercolour painting. We also look after our granddaughter two days a week; and we couldn’t have done that if we were still working.
Fancy a chat?
We’d love to hear your story and find out what you want the next chapter to be.