January 17, 2025
John Symonds specialises in retirement planning, estate planning and equity release. His aim is to help his clients achieve peace of mind about a financially secure retirement.
Before becoming an IFA, John was a French teacher. His experience of living and working in France to hone his language skills, as well as a stint living in South Korea, taught him not to take anyone’s ability to understand him (or his ability to understand them!) for granted.
He says, “Before spending a year in Korea, I couldn’t understand how anyone could live in a country for a long time without learning the language. But I learned, the hard way, that sometimes the knowledge gap is a real challenge. It’s not that different as a financial adviser. I’m very comfortable with numbers, and what they are telling me, but I understand that isn’t the case for everyone. I like to think that my years of experience as a teacher have helped me to explain things clearly to my clients, and to allow them to feel comfortable asking me any questions that come up for them.”
John’s approach as an IFA hinges on helping his clients to understand their options, and guiding them towards the most beneficial decisions for them. He also highlights that what we see as the obvious move, might not necessarily be the most tax-efficient choice.
“We tend to put a lot of our attention into growing our assets during our working life, but it’s just as important to ‘decumulate’ our wealth in the right way when the time comes, to avoid unnecessary tax. That could mean tax on your retirement income, or minimising your inheritance tax (IHT) liabilities for when you pass on your wealth.
“When we retire, our default is often to start drawing down money from a pension fund. But that’s not the end of the story. I recently helped a client with a significant pension and investment portfolio to reduce their retirement income tax burden by using spousal gift allowances to transfer some of their assets. That way, the couple could each benefit from being basic rate taxpayers, rather than one of them paying income tax at 40%.”
For John, integrity is also key. As he says, Talis IFAs are selling advice, not products, so if he thinks that your current portfolio is the most beneficial for you, he’ll say so.
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