The week before Easter sees this busy mum of two advising clients with their pension arrangements before finding time to hone her singing skills with her choir group
Monday
I have two small children so I start the day by dropping them off at school before I start work.
I have tried to have most of my meetings in February and early March so that I have most of this last week in March free to deal with all the tax year-end admin, such as last-minute applications, tapered annual allowances (after March bonuses), final carry forward calculations, and so on.
Tuesday
One of my clients asks me for advice on how to crystallise his final salary and money purchase pensions.
I put together some scenarios and the result is that, mainly owing to being over his protected lifetime allowance (LTA), it does not make much difference whether he takes the pension or the tax-free lump sum (TFLS).
I recommend that he takes the TFLS as this can be inherited by his wife and children and his pension will grow with inflation, which means more of it will be subject to tax in later years. I believe that taxes are more likely to go up in the future.
Wednesday
This same client emails me asking whether he should transfer his final salary pension as colleagues at work are saying he should, so that his wife potentially gets 100 per cent of the income rather than 50 per cent.
However, Mifid II puts me in a difficult position as I need to advise on whether he should hold on to this pension when I would rather not.
I explain that as a cautious investor, the return on the transfer, minus charges, might not be much better than the underlying interest rate of the transfer, and that both he and his wife, being very healthy, might have the pension paid for a very long time.
Transfers benefit those with lower life expectancy due to health conditions like diabetes or heart conditions.
Also, being over his LTA means he will probably not get a higher TFLS, and that most of the benefits of transferring will be taxed at 55 per cent.
Finally, I also direct him to the Pension Protection Fund website. I describe the general pros and cons of transferring, but I suggest that he seeks specialist pension transfer advice.
Thursday
Sadly, one of my clients has discovered he has a benign brain tumour and he needs to have an operation and maybe chemotherapy. They have a three-year-old and a six-month-old baby.
We discuss the fact that his pension will be paid tax-free to his wife if anything were to happen to him in the operation.
We debate whether he should top up his pension this year if it is paid tax-free. I advise against this as they plan to have the operation done in the US, which could cost tens of thousands of pounds.
I remind him that he can always carry forward the contributions.
Later that day I go to choir practice, where we are trying to learn the parts for the Passion of Tomas de Victoria, followed by mass.
I made some voice notes with the piano to listen to as I find it tricky. I am looking forward to singing God so Loved the World by John Stainer a lot more.
Friday
It is Good Friday today so I deal with a few emails in the morning while listening to my voice notes.
I then head to church at 2pm.
Ana de la Quintana is a director at Bright Investments Pensions and Savings
