Dear LPG

I retired about two years ago and I know that that is the time when everyone wants to know you. ‘Why?’, you may well ask, and the answer is usually because most of them have £ signs in their eyes when they think of all the wonderful ways that they could help you invest it.  

The more honest ones will be looking for a serious percentage which will represent their fee after all the advice that they offer, while others will be looking to blind you with financial science so that you are persuaded to sign on the dotted line and effectively give the whole lot away; but how do you know the difference? 

This is the time when all the people who could help you to invest it come out of the woodwork.  You get letters from companies you have never heard of before and telephone calls from really friendly sounding advisors who all know how you can get the best return on your money. 

I know that members of your family will also be advising you to be careful with all that hard earned cash, but can I please implore you to make your own enquiries.  Please don’t be swayed by the nice man that phones and offers to visit and explain all about it. You can bet your bottom dollar that his advice will be based on what he can best get out of the deal for himself. 

‘Money Advice’ are a very good place to start and a telephone call to 0800 138 7777 has worked well for me when I have asked about this and other questions surrounding my personal economic situation.  I have found that if you call them they will answer all questions that they can, and if needed, they will have a list of financial advisors who will talk to you free for half an hour on the telephone.  The advantages here are that you know the advisor you talk with will be regulated by a governing body and therefor very unlikely to scam you, even if you do decide to take your enquiry further after the call.   These nominated Financial advisors are as likely to be as interested as anyone else in their commission but they are at least registered and regulated and therefor highly unlikely to scam you.

The other very important thing to say is that, regardless of which Financial or Pensions advisor you decide to approach, if you are going to telephone or meet with such an advisor consider taking someone with you because they may hear an aspect of the financial sales talk that you miss.  My other suggestion is that you just spend a chunk of it on something you enjoy.  What are you still really saving it all for?   This is just my opinion.

What I have written here was inspired by an advert I saw on the television recently and the plight of one of my more recently retired friends. 

FR, Dulwich

LPG has found the Advert that FR was talking about and also some other related information.  The government website suggests a phone call to Action Fraud if you suspect that someone has tried to defraud you  (0300 123 2040) and another helpful telephone number for pension issues is that of the Pensions Advisory Service:- 0800 011 3797

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