Chartered Financial Planners, Frances Boiling and Guy Ovenden and new Adviser, David Brunning, of Pembroke Financial Services Ltd, one of Sussex’s leading Independent Financial Advisers and specialists in Pensions advice have all received the Pensions Transfer Gold Standard award.
The award symbolises Pembroke’s promise to provide the very highest standards of advice and service in the field of Defined Benefit (DB, sometimes still known as Final Salary) pension transfers.
The Gold Standard for Pensions is a voluntary code of good practice for safeguarded and defined benefit pension transfer advice, based around a set of 9 principles. IFA firms can adopt and promote this standard and principles, so consumers can better understand and find good advice and be confident they are dealing with a firm that is going above and beyond minimum requirements when giving financial advice.
Keith Richards, who is CEO of The Personal Finance Society, which has been instrumental in helping create the Pension Advice Taskforce and facilitates and promotes access to the Gold Standard for Pensions on their behalf to both IFAs and consumers alike said “The Pension Transfer Gold Standard helps consumers better understand what good advice looks like and where they can find it, we believe it will represent significant progress towards avoiding a repeat of negative events such as the British Steel debacle of 2018. We hope you agree and that if you are a financial advice firm you will sign up and adopt the Gold Standard for Pensions”
Well, we did.
We are in the process of embedding the nine principles of the Gold Standard for Pensions into our processes and are confident that our clients (both existing and new) will be better prepared for discussions about what to do with their safeguarded benefits and that this will lead to a stronger, more informed, trust-based relationship with you.
The nine principles are:
- Helping clients understand when advice is appropriate
- Ensuring advice given supports the clients overall wellbeing in the context of their stated objectives
- Ensuring client understanding and acceptance of all charges
- Ensuring the most appropriate and updated technical skills are applied
- Transparent management of Conflicts of Interest
- Helping clients understanding the cost of transferring benefits
- Avoiding unregulated investments and introducers*
- Transparency in advice processes and outcomes
- Promoting the Consumer Guide to the Pension Transfer Gold Standard
David Brunning, Pension Transfer Specialist and Independent Financial Adviser at Pembroke comments that “Advising on pensions and retirement planning, both pre-, at- and post-retirement has changed radically since the government introduced pension freedoms. DB pension rules were a specific focus of Regulatory attention and it is compulsory to seek independent financial advice before effecting a DB pension transfer with a transfer value of £30,000 or more.
Over the past few years, for many reasons, an increasing number of people have been seeking independent financial advice on pensions so we want to ensure that when they come to us they are confident that we not only understand what high quality, professional advice looks like but that we adhere to those high standards and that we aspire to deliver on those principles without compromise.”
IFAs who display the Gold Standard for Pensions badge (shown as the image on this post) show they abide by this code of practice. The Gold Standard ‘badge’ helps the public to identify Financial Advisory firms who uphold the highest ethical and professional standards and the Money Advice Service/Pensionwise directory lists all adviser firms awarded this Pension Transfer Gold Standard.
For more information, you can read the Pension Transfer Gold Standard consumer guide here.
We are lucky to have 3 highly qualified, professional Financial Planners at Pembroke, all of whom are designated as Pension Transfer Specialists, so please call us to discuss your Pension and Financial Planning requirements on 01273 774855 or get in touch by clicking here.
Please Note:he value of your investment can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Investing in shares should be regarded as a long-term investment and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.
