Brooks Macdonald today announces the launch of its new Retirement Strategies offering, a comprehensive suite of investment solutions designed to help advisers meet the varied and evolving retirement income needs of their clients.
These strategies address the growing need for hybrid retirement products that combine sustainable income with growth while catering for different individual circumstances and levels of complexity. By addressing these needs BM’s Retirement Strategies brings greater clarity, choice, and confidence to advisers and their clients.
Brooks Macdonald Retirement Strategies offers three solutions to cater for a range of client profiles:
- Bespoke: A highly personalised solution for clients who have more complex needs, require greater income flexibility, or have specific preferences on longer-term growth components of their portfolio.
- Tailored: A solution tailored to deliver set income requirements for clients whose needs are less complex, that can be addressed with one account for a lower management fee.
- Modelled: A model-based platform solution which provides a choice of platforms and withdrawal rates to suit clients’ income and risk requirements, while allowing advisers to maintain operational efficiency across their client bank by using their platform of choice.
Financial plans for clients in drawdown must address three key risks: sequencing, longevity, and inflation. Sequencing risk – the risk that the timing of withdrawals can negatively impact an investor’s overall return – is often the primary challenge. Addressing sequencing helps clients to stay invested for the long term and improves their ability to manage other longevity and inflation-related risks.
The modelled strategy aims to provide security of income by actively managing these risks. It uniquely combines two strategies within a single account – one focused on the first seven years in retirement when the timing of withdrawals tends to have a greater impact on long-term returns,andanother focused on growth for the longer term beyond year seven.
Investments are split across three buckets:
- 0-1 Year: Cash for near-term withdrawals
- 1-7 Years: Fixed maturity investments for short-to-medium-term income
- 7+ Years: A diversified portfolio for longer-term capital growth
Brooks Macdonald’s modelled strategy meets strong client demand in a growing market driven by rising demand for flexible retirement solutions. The number of income drawdown plans is expected to increase by 20% over the next five years and 57% of Defined Contribution (DC) pension holders express strong interest for retirement options which combine shorter-term income planning with long-term investing[1].
Andrea Montague, CEO at Brooks Macdonald, commented:
“We are delighted to launch Brooks Macdonald Retirement Strategies for our valued IFAs and their clients who want retirement investment options not met by products currently available in the market. We have listened carefully to clients’ needs and have developed a product which aims to provide financial peace of mind in retirement.”
Neil Cowell, Group Distribution Director at Brooks Macdonald, commented:
“Planning for retirement brings growing complexity, from the changing regulatory environment to the management of multiple pension pots and inheritance tax considerations. A quarter of the UK population is set to be over sixty-five within the next fifteen years, and the need for flexible retirement planning has never been greater. These are the reasons why the 91% of people in the UK who currently don’t take financial advice[2], should speak to an expert.”
Our market leading Retirement Strategies offering gives financial advisers a robust and repeatable way of meeting the evolving needs of their clients, particularly as demand grows for hybrid products. We look forward to working closely with IFAs across the UK to support them in delivering greater income security and growth for their clients in retirement.”
1 Mintel, Annuities and Income Drawdown Report, December 2024
2 FCA, Financial Lives Survey, May 2024
