Client Testimonials

Geoff Wright

Since Geoff Wright took early retirement just over three years ago, he hasn’t looked back. He and his wife have travelled extensively and as well as cruising they also make regular visits to Paris to visit their daughter and two grandchildren.

Knowing that his finances are in good shape, and that he can carry on planning more overseas trips, make for an enjoyable retirement – and Birchwood Investment Management have played a part in making that happen.

Geoff, who lives in London, had always intended to retire early from his job as senior engineering manager with United Biscuits, as he had already the maximum years of pensionable service.

So when he was asked if he’d like to leave a year earlier than planned – with no loss of benefit – he was more than happy to do so. To help employees in Geoff’s position, UB organised a pre-retirement seminar, at which speakers included representatives of the company’s own pension scheme, the government’s Department for Works and Pensions, and an independent financial adviser, in this case Trevor Simms of Birchwood.

Geoff was interested in what Trevor had to say and arranged a follow-up meeting to discuss how best to handle his finances. He had a pension lump sum and a severance payment for which he needed to consider the best options.

As a result of the meeting, Birchwood set up an investment portfolio for Geoff and – as he puts it – “tidied up” some issues around his mortgage. He receives quarterly statements on the performance of his investments but can also monitor what’s happening between statements, using the secure, password-protected client area of the Birchwood website, which he describes as “a useful avenue of information”.

He is pleased with the performance of his investment in a commercial property bond, which has done “exceptionally well”, as well as the monthly income element from the investments overall.

Geoff is also happy with Birchwood’s prompt and informative response to any queries, which he usually submits by e-mail, and recently sought their advice on inheritance tax planning. He sums up: “I would willingly recommend them to anyone seeking financial advice.”