“We receive positive feedback on Birchwood from our attendees because they discuss, they don’t sell...”

There’s a certain irony that something that we may spend years looking forward to – a comfortable and active retirement – is all too often given fairly short shrift at the planning stage, despite the major life change that it represents.

That’s something the Retirement Counselling Service (RCS) has been working to put right for 30 years. Originally established by Legal & General in 1978, following a management buy-out in 1998 RCS has been run by managing director Derek Wildey as an independent organisation, providing in-house and external pre-retirement seminars and services to around 700 client businesses across the UK from its head office in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

For Derek, previously a senior civil servant in the old Department of Social Security, that independence is an absolute. He says: “We don’t sell any products or services and we don’t allow our speakers to sell products or services. Anyone who tries doesn’t get used again.”

So the fact that Birchwood has been successfully delivering financial workshops on behalf of RCS for some 20 years is testament to the quality – and impartiality – of its services. Derek says: “We have a good relationship with Birchwood and we share similar aims. We both believe in helping people to make informed choices.

“People who are retiring have to make big decisions, yet their awareness of financial matters may be limited. For example, they will receive a pension but do they opt for a lump sum and take a reduced pension? There’s no one right answer, it’s different for everyone.

“Birchwood will provide information and discuss the pros and cons, making it easy for people to ask the questions that are worrying them but that they have been too shy or scared to bring out into the open. Because they know their industry so well, they can go down routes that give people alternatives, so if someone asks about equity release, for example, they might say ‘If that interests you, you might like to think about this or that option’.

“We receive positive feedback on Birchwood from our attendees because they discuss, they don’t sell, and that makes people much more comfortable. We like the fact that Birchwood are confident enough in their own professionalism to advise our delegates to see more than one financial adviser, make comparison of the advice given and choose an adviser they are happy with.

“Birchwood want to open people’s minds to the different options and give them the facts they need to make informed choices about their money, whether they manage it themselves or use a financial adviser. That is why we have complete confidence in Birchwood.”