There are three main phases in planning for retirement. At St Joseph’s we will work with you through all phases of your retirement, planning, reviewing your arrangements whenever your circumstances change, to ensure that you achieve the comfortable retirement that which you deserve. 1. Pre-retirement: ensuring you have sufficient funds for a comfortable retirement in the most tax efficient way. This also involves making your assets grow effectively and this could be by looking at where it is invested, especially if you hold older, smaller pension arrangements. 2. At retirement planning: reviewing the options available to you and help you to plan the most appropriate and tax effective solutions to meet your objectives. 3. Post retirement planning: helping you to plan whether to delay taking pension benefits and optimizing the phasing of the benefits to meet your specific income requirements. Are you prepared for the new pension changes? Towards the end of 2010, the government announced a number of important changes that will affect how much you can invest or build up in your pension without having to pay a tax charge. In addition, there will also be changes to the rules for converting pension funds into income that will give you greater flexibility and control when you come to retire. The tax payable on your pension fund on death in some circumstances will also be changing. Summary The impact of the forthcoming pension changes will affect some people more than others. Whether you are a long way away from retiring, approaching retirement or have already retired it is important to check if you are making the most of your pension savings in a tax efficient manner. We have a dedicated team of Pensions Specialists, who can assist and help you understand what it all mean for you and how you can make the most of the proposed pension changes by acting now. If you would like to talk to one of our specialists to discuss this further, please speak to your Private Banker in the first instance.