Personal Financial Planning

Living with Parkinson's Young Onset Parkinson's
1

Hi,
Does anyone know of a good IFA they can recommend in Buckinghamshire who has experience of the financial planning issues faced by working-age people with Parkinson’s?
Hope to hear from you.
Peter

2

See if you can find who and what you are looking for on “unbiased.co.uk.” The advisors listed will be totally “independent” and not tied to any particular organisation.

3

Hi Peter,

Just to chime in - we have plenty of financial info on the website via this link. There’s also the details for our helpline on that page if you wanted to speak to one of our friendly advisors.

Best Wishes
Tom A, Parkinson’s UK Moderator

4

Hi, I’m still working nearly full time and am thinking through various financial questions like:

  1. I’m 49 now and thinking I may need to stop working before I am 55. In practical terms how would I cash in my pensions early?
  2. I have an old DB pension from a previous employer: should I cash this in for a lump sum?
  3. Should I shift my investments into low risk assets in case I need to stop working sooner than I expect?
  4. is there any advantage in transferring the house to my wife?

Etc.

I could also use a good IFA that specialises is health related issues, but in the meantime, any experience/suggestions with the above sorts of questions welcome. …

Thanks
JF

5

Hi JF,

It seems that you have some tough decisions to make and we do have some advice for those who are considering leaving work because of their Parkinson’s here.
You can also talk to a benefits and employment adviser by calling our Helpline on 0808 800 0303, but unfortunately we can’t provide financial advice. Our Helpline services will be back to normal on Wednesday the 2nd January 2019.
We hope this is useful for you.

Best wishes,
Edwina
Moderation Team

6

Following on from my previous post, I saw a local IFA this week, someone I found via unbiased.co.uk. Although he wasn’t a specialist in dealing with people with health conditions, he had some useful advice. Here are some points that others may find helpful:

  1. Guidelines for taking pension benefits before age 55 on health grounds are here: https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/pensions-tax-manual/ptm062100#IDAS0JRG

  2. My advisor recommended maximising use of the tax free pension allowance (i.e. pay as much as possible into my pension now) rather than building up cash reserves in anticipation of early retirement. If I have to stop work on medical grounds, it shouldn’t be a problem to access my pension early.

  3. Cashing in my DB pension makes sense (given reduced life expectancy compared to someone without PD) but he recommending leaving it to accrue for a few more years before doing the transfer.

  4. I should reduce the risk of my investments by shifting some out of equities and into bonds etc.

Thanks
JF