1. www.financialplanningtoday.co.uk | September - October 2016 | 17
Financial Planner Sam Whybrow CFPTM
Chartered MCSI tells readers about how he helped a woman who
was worried about retirement and wanted to complete a divorce in amicable fashion
Disillusioned divorcee looking
for better balance in life
Casebook Brief
Andrea, aged 54, was highly successful and earning a six figure salary in London. She had become disillusioned with her high pressured job.
She sought a better work/life balance so that she could devote time to pursuing her own passions. She wanted to split her time between London,
where she lived, and being with her son and grandchild who lived some miles away. She and her husband were also divorcing but wanted to do
so amicably. In her words: “I need future security but I also want to divorce amicably”.
Andrea and her husband had managed to accumulate savings, investments and pensions over the years and had also repaid their mortgage.
However she was unsure about her financial capacity to change her life so dramatically, especially as she was approaching retirement age. She
was worried about both her immediate financial position and the effect these changes would have on her short and long term financial position.
This is a real life case study. Names and some other details have been changed to protect confidentiality.
Continued on page 18
A
ndrea was referred to me by a
long-term client. She had never
consulted a financial adviser and her
initial perception was that I would not be able
to assist her during such a turbulent time in
her life.
We corresponded by email and spoke on
the phone. I was keen to reassure her that I
could help but as Andrea was experiencing
such change it was important that we liaised at
her pace so that she was comfortable moving
forward. She had major decisions to make.
It was vital that I really understood Andrea
before we even started talking about financials
and we therefore took our time to discuss her
background, her vision for her future, her
expecations, priorities and money handling
experience. I was also interested to know what
her husband’s expectations were for the divorce
settlement. This insight would help me to assist
Andrea and her solicitor to resolve the divorce
as amicably as possible and make mutually
acceptable financial decisions. After the initial
conversations we agreed to meet in person
but in the meantime we spoke on a number
of other occasions. A little and often approach
helped Andrea to gain greater understanding
and confidence.
Andrea placed significant importance on
ensuring that her “capital lasted as long as she
did”, especially as she was still some way from
her retirement age of 65. However she didn’t
want to live in fear of using some of her capital
immediately to help fund her new life. In her
words “why live life tomorrow, when you can
live it today?”
She was keen to split her time between her
London life and her life as a mother and grand-
mother, however, she was conscious that this
could affect her earnings potential, especially if
she spent significant time away from London,
which was where her new consultancy business
would have the best opportunity to thrive. Her
consultancy earnings were an important part
of the financial transition between full time
employment, semi-retirement and retirement.
In between our meetings and conversa-
tions, I found that Andrea had assets of
some £250,000 in ISAs, £300,000 in shares
and unit trusts, £650,000 in pensions and
£350,000 in bank deposits. The jointly owned,
unencumbered UK property was already sold
for £1,650,000 and both parties had bought
PLANNER CASEBOOK
The client was fed up with her career and was
in the middle of getting a divorce

2. 18 | September - October 2016 | www.financialplanningtoday.co.uk
their own property with an equal share of the
proceeds. Andrea had retained some £75,000
in bank deposits after buying a property for
£750,000. The residual amount was earmarked
for home improvements.
Her husband had independent assets of
some £200,000 in ISAs, a business valued at
some £500,000, a deferred final salary pension
with a CETV of £450,000 and bank deposits
of £175,000. Her husband was keen to retain
his business and final salary pension whereas
Andrea was keen to have flexibility of capital
and income.
Andrea completed an expenditure question-
naire which identified that she was spending
all of her gross salary plus bonus, including
making pension and ISA contributions each
year and gifts to her son. When Andrea
completed this I asked her to imagine what
expenditure might look like for her new life.
The questionnaire showed her expenditure
dramatically reduced from some £100,000+
per annum to some £40,000. We agreed to
cease pension contributions for the time being,
and for ISAs to be funded from her share
portfolio rather than from her own savings.
Andrea found this exercise, as with most of the
other exercises I had asked her to complete,
very cathartic. She was already feeling more in
control of her financial future.
I was comfortable that Andrea had sufficient
assets, based on an initial equal split of matri-
monial assets, to help her transition from her
highly pressured life to one that she dreamt of.
It was also apparent that Andrea could achieve
her required amount of income, a flexible
lifestyle and longer term security, all whilst
she built a new business and transitioned into
retirement. It was important that I helped
Andrea to visualise this too, especially as so
much of her life was susceptible to change.
We therefore agreed that I would create an
overview of her potential future financial
position (cashflow plan) based on various
outcomes that she wanted to achieve. This
would help her to plan for tomorrow, today,
whilst incorporating provision for obstacles
and unknowns that could likely occur over her
lifetime. We built a financial plan of Andrea’s
current life with her husband so she under-
stood the life she was currently living and
could use this as a benchmark for her new one.
During an eight week period we built
various plans, assuming many outcomes
for the divorce settlement, that stress tested
her financial position under each varying
circumstance and based on differing financial
assumptions. Andrea was then fully informed
and knowledgeable about her current and
future financial position. Andrea and I were
also able to liaise meaningfully with her
solicitor so the divorce could potentially
be settled quickly. Shortly after our work
together Andrea created an amicable financial
agreement with her husband that both parties
were happy with. This meant that they could
both move forward with their new lives.
It was agreed that both parties would
retain their own assets with Andrea’s husband
compensating her with an additional £75,000
to offset the benefit of him retaining his final
salary pension. Andrea got to retain as much
flexibility as possible whilst her husband
retained his business and final salary pension.
Andrea was very happy with the outcome both
emotionally and financially. She was especially
pleased she had amicably resolved matters with
her husband and could visualise her new life.
Andrea retained £250,000 in ISAs, £300,000
in shares and unit trusts, £650,000 in pensions
and had £500,000 in the bank. She owned her
own property, worth £750,000. We agreed she
would retain £200,000 in bank deposits to fund
£75,000 of home improvements which left
some two years worth of expenditure in short
term deposits to help her transition to a new
career and build her consultancy business. The
remaining £300,000 in savings was earmarked
to purchase a property close to her son which
could be rented during the school holidays
while she was in London. Andrea liked this
idea and eventually purchased one in a popular
tourist area and signed up with a holiday
letting agency. She could generate some £7,500
plus per year income. The rest of the time
Andrea was free to use the property to visit her
son and help with childcare when needed.
While the property was being sourced we
performed a financial audit of Andrea’s policies
to assess whether they were still fit for purpose.
Her existing ISA, share portfolio and pension
assets were out of sync with her new situation
and goals. This was addressed to bring matters
into line. Andrea required income for when
she resigned from her employment. As she
could not access her pension for a further year
we restructured her ISA and share portfolio to
provide her with an income of some £20,000+
net whilst also adding significant diversi-
fication to her assets aimed at preserving
capital and generating income. Andrea’s share
portfolio had a small CGT liability, which we
aimed to mitigate over multiple tax years by
selling the proceeds within her annual CGT
exemption and then reinvesting.
I recommended that Andrea move £125,000
into varying term deposits to fund the balance
of her £40,000 pa income need over the first
two years of her transition, if required. We
earmarked her pension to fund some income
after the first year, when she reached age 55.
We had discussed using parts of her tax free
lump sum entitlement and some taxable
income to fund the amount of income she
needed, which would efficiently manage her
pension income tax liability. Andrea estimated
consultancy income of around £20,000 p/a
and possibly increase this to £50,000 p/a over
the next three years. This, coupled with her
investment income, would easily fund her
lifestyle and provide for her long term future.
What Happened Next...
Over the course of a few months we managed to help Andrea move from a state of flux to a life and financial position that had greater clarity,
focus, structure, but flexibility too. Andrea resigned from employment and is confident with what the future holds for her. She sees her son
much more, enjoys a less stressful life and has more than enough income to satisfy her simpler needs. We implemented a number of
recommendations for Andrea that have improved her position and matched her needs. We regularly meet to ensure she is fully abreast of her
financial position and that every financial decision she/we make is meaningful.
Andrea has not needed to access her pension as her consultancy business is thriving. Her holiday home is being let and, as expected, the income
varies but is mainly consistent. She is considering stopping the holiday let, such is her overall income position. She is continually making home
improvements from the money we set aside. She has been delighted by the planning we put in place and appreciated that we have acted in her
best interests at all times. She is surprised by the relationship we have built and by how we worked together to achieve her goals.
Continued from page 17
Sam Whybrow, Lubbock Fine Wealth Management, London
Qualifications: Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Financial Planner & Registered Life Planner
Sam is dedicated to working with people to give them every possibility of achieving their most sought after life goals.
Working collaboratively with his clients he uses his financial acumen to ensure that every financial decision is clearly
thought out, financially sound and meaningful. He is passionate about people receiving financial advice that makes a
difference to their lives and that helps deliver the life they want. He believes that high quality Financial Planning is first
and foremost about people and then their money, a philosophy which delivers better outcomes for his clients.
sam@lubbockfine.co.uk www.lubbockfine.co.uk
Keypoint 1 Begenuinely
interestedandwanttomakea
positivedifferencetoyourclient.
Keypoint 2 Alwaysworkcollaborativelytoachievebetter
clientoutcomes.Itistheirlifeandtheirmoney.Thisresults
inmeaningfulFinancialPlanning.
KeyPoint 3 Consideraclient’sfullfinancialresource
notjusttheirfinances.Thismeansthinkingoutsideof
theboxandkeepingalloptionsopen.
PLANNER CASEBOOK