YOUR PORTFOLIO Financial curveballs
Daniel Blandford
The Private Office
Terminal illness
Daniel Blandford , partner and chartered financial planner at The Private Office , is helping a married couple in their late 50s who have no children but are close to their wider family . He had been helping them plan for their retirement , but then their world was turned upside down when the wife received a terminal cancer diagnosis . “ The work that we are doing now involves looking at what a spousal pension would provide to her husband , as well as options including a serious ill-health lump sum and a defined benefit pension transfer ,” he says . “ The speed at which we can give the advice is important in this case because this lady is about to enter end-of-life care , so sadly we may only have a matter of weeks .” Blandford has carried out cashflow work with these clients to give them various iterations of what the future may look like and the best options . For example , should they keep a defined benefit pension for the husband and then use other assets to give to nieces and nephews ? Do they transfer a defined benefit pension and use that to gift on for the inheritance tax benefits ? Or would they be better off taking out a lump sum because it ’ s the easiest and quickest option ? “ This couple are financially vulnerable at this point in time but are driven by the thought that , if this is the end , they want to maximise the financial benefit to their family ,” Blandford adds .
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