Wealth of Advice, Swale House, Mandale Business Park, Durham, DH1 1TH
Episode 55 was a little different. This was recorded live at our recent client conference in front of around 100 Wealth of Advice clients.
The first half explored “The Value of Advice” — why financial advice exists, what value it actually delivers, and how it helps in a constantly changing retirement landscape.
The second half moved into a live Q&A, covering real questions from clients about retirement decisions, investment strategy, and the psychology of stepping into retirement.
Below is a written version of the key ideas from the episode.
Thirty years ago, retirement was far simpler than it is today.
Most people retired with:
There was very little flexibility, but also far less responsibility placed on the individual.
Today, the retirement landscape has completely changed.
Over 80% of retirees now rely on Defined Contribution (DC) pensions, which introduces multiple risks:
Alongside this, retirement has become more complex:
The rules don’t change every day — but they change often enough that yesterday’s good plan can quietly become the wrong one.
This is where ongoing advice becomes valuable.
Research from Vanguard suggests good financial advice can add around 3% per year in value over time. This doesn’t come from chasing markets — it comes from multiple small decisions done consistently well.
Getting the right level of risk matters.
Advice helps with:
Even small improvements in risk alignment can materially improve long-term outcomes.
Portfolios naturally drift over time.
A portfolio starting at 60% equities / 40% defensive can quietly become 70%/30% or even 80%/20% after strong markets — increasing risk unintentionally.
Rebalancing:
This is often the largest source of value.
Advice helps investors:
Missing just a few strong market days can dramatically reduce long-term returns.
Emotional decisions — not poor investments — are often the biggest destroyer of wealth.
Advice also delivers softer benefits:
It’s not just what you invest in — but where you hold it.
Advice helps structure wealth across:
This provides:
Two people withdrawing £40,000 per year can pay very different amounts of tax — purely due to structure.
It’s not about avoiding tax — it’s about not paying unnecessary tax.
Advice also helps manage:
One listener shared a common challenge:
Moving from saving to spending feels harder than expected — even when retirement is affordable.
This is extremely common.
Key insight:
Not frequently — but it should be reviewed regularly.
Changes should be driven by:
The value of advice is not just investment performance.
It is:
For many clients, the biggest value is simple:
Knowing someone is continuously looking after the plan — so you can focus on living your life.
Retirement today is more flexible — but also more complex.
Advice helps turn complexity into clarity and uncertainty into confidence.
Whether it’s structuring withdrawals, managing investments, planning tax, or simply helping you feel comfortable stepping into retirement — good advice aims to improve both outcomes and quality of life.
If you’d like help building or reviewing your retirement plan, the team at Wealth of Advice are here to help.
And if you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to follow Retire Well with Wealth of Advice for more retirement planning insights.
If you want a better view of what your future could be, we'll have a chat and work out if we make a good fit for you and your financial picture.
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