Paul Ward

Please provide a brief comment about your experience with Paul

Paul has been excellent in supplying the right financial advice to my wife and I. He is very professional and took time to understand what we wanted to achieve with our financial planning.

What were the circumstances that caused you to initially look for an adviser?

Retirement

How has Paul Ward helped you?

I wanted an annuity and he was able to get me a much better rate than I was able to get going directly

Have you seen the outcome you were hoping for?

Yes

What could they have done better?

Nothing

What were the circumstances that caused you to initially look for an adviser?

Transfer Pension from employers scheme to a more flexible personal pension.

How has Paul Ward helped you?

Paul gave me valuable advice on my pension and the benefits and flexibility of a personal pension.

Have you seen the outcome you were hoping for?

Yes

What could they have done better?

N/A

What were the circumstances that caused you to initially look for an adviser?

My wife and I had been discussing early retirement possibilities for over a year with another pensions adviser. But the process was slow and the advice was not truly independent. The scenarios presented were from a limited range of products and did not fully reflect the complexities of our financial needs. This did not inspire the confidence we needed to entrust the adviser with any/all of our pensions investments and future retirement planning.

How has Paul Ward helped you?

Paul was able to advise on the transfer of one of my defined benefit pension schemes and several defined contribution schemes (all from different employers over the years), and one of my wife's defined contribution schemes. Paul's recommendation was to consolidate all the relevant transfer values into a personal pension for myself, and an additional one one for my wife. With my defined benefit scheme, the advice needed Paul's higher level accreditation to allow him to advise on this type of scheme. Paul also reviewed my current defined benefit employer pension scheme and AVCs, identifying potential investment tactics for the future with these funds. Paul also advised on share investments and ways to reduce my investment risk in the future. I would normally have expected to meet a Financial Adviser face-to-face, but with Lockdown this was not possible. But Paul was able to inspire an appropriate level of confidence in both of us, to proceed and invest time and money in his services.

Have you seen the outcome you were hoping for?

Our new consolidated pension plans have grown in value faster than our expectations and the underlying market rates, resulting in a potential yield that is significantly better than our various different pension schemes were yielding, prior to the transfer.

What were the circumstances that caused you to initially look for an adviser?

I was looking to review my pension options and explore if retirement was a possible.

How has Paul Ward helped you?

Paul advised me of my options and suggested which of these would be most beneficial to me. Paul then managed my pension transfer which is going to allow me to retire earlier than I thought possible.

Have you seen the outcome you were hoping for?

I am currently working my notice and will retire as soon as this period has finished. Yes I would state that I have seen the outcome I was hoping for.

What could they have done better?

Face to face meetings would have been good but under the current COVID 19 restrictions this was out of my advisors hands.