"For example, you can be 50 and about to retire, but if you plan to keep your pension for 30-years and also have other forms of income still, then do you really need to take less equity exposure than when you were 49? The answer for many clients is no.
"They should often maintain their previous risk profile and continue to think long-term. This is even more true for clients who intend to pass pensions onto their beneficiaries."
Meanwhile, Lucie Spencer, director – financial planning at Evelyn Partners, says many savers are keeping more in cash than they would normally have done as they are for the first time in many years receiving reasonable rates of interest on their savings.
She adds: “Clients are still investing their money and are comfortable with taking risk where appropriate. At this time it is vital that advisers have full detailed conversations with their clients concerning risk, what their views are if the markets dropped in value and ensuring that they do have enough in cash to cover any emergencies or planned expenditure.”
Looking at financial planning through its holistic lens, many advisers will be speaking to their clients about the other sources of income they should tap into before touching their pensions.
And to aid with these conversations, advisers say that soft skills are essential.
James Murray adds: “Formulaic fact-finds are not enough to help people adequately plan for their retirement. You need to understand a client's deeper desires and fears and these are often only visible through soft skills.”
Doug Brodie, founder of Chancery Lane Income Planners, adds: "Soft skills have always been an important role of advisers, and even more so for financial planners whose core role is to display the arithmetic behind a client’s future income, in work and in retirement.
"Ultimately, financial products are the by-products of an individual’s aspirations, therefore soft skills are imperative to collate this information and translate an individual’s wants and needs into a dynamic solution. Financial plans are never cast in stone, they must always be flexible."
At Evelyn Partners, Spencer says the firm is now conducting more cash flow planning for clients who are looking at retiring and how long they would need to work for, in order to have the retirement that they would like.
She adds: "Advisers have to be tactful with these conversations and not just present the numbers, which can be a stark reality to many. Advisers now discuss with clients around dropping down their working days rather than having a cliff edge of stopping work.
