For the third time this year London branch ran a meeting of two halves, reports outgoing London branch chairman Dennis Hall.
In the afternoon we invited newer members and Paraplanners to join us for a foundation level presentation about post retirement and pension decumulation. John Davis from LV= looked at the role annuities have played, and the current issues facing annuitants whilst Nathan Bridgeman of Talbot & Muir looked primarily at Scheme Pension as a solution to current drawdown issues. In the evening we invited all branch members, and the presentations were taken up a notch to meet their higher technical requirements.
John started his annuities presentation with the suggestion that the only risk-free retirement was one with a full index- linked income, and as these are prohibitively expensive our clients need to be aware that whichever option they choose carries a risk.

The skill these days is to manage the risks and rewards, and often this involves adopting a phased approach to retirement with a mix and match approach to the various solutions available.
Nathan then looked at issues surrounding the recent changes to GAD rates and the drawdown rules, commenting that some clients experience falls of up to 50 per cent in their income as a result of the periodic review. He also mentioned registering clients for the Minimum Income Requirement even if it was not going to be utilised immediately, a good point that several members mentioned in their feedback.
We're fortunate at London branch to have support and sponsorship from UBS. They provide the premises and the refreshments which have stimulated the development of healthy post meeting networking culture. Many regular attendees find the opportunity of chatting to other IFP members to be as valuable as the more formal presentations. Whilst I hope members have enjoyed listening to some terrific presentations over the past four years, I believe my biggest achievement is getting more members together more regularly. There's an amazing amount of knowledge within the membership, and the branch meeting forum is a fabulous environment for this knowledge to be shared.
Nick Cann, CEO of IFP comments "On behalf of the IFP and London branch members, we extend a huge thank you to Dennis for doing such a sterling job as chairman. Claire Menni certainly has a lot to live up to!"