For You / Later Life Planning
For individuals & families
Later Life Planning
Estate planning, pension legacy, and family wealth transfer for clients in their seventies and beyond. The focus is on passing on more of what you have built, on your terms.
This service supports clients who are:
Overview
Planning that reflects where you are now
Financial planning in your seventies and beyond looks different from planning in earlier decades. The focus shifts from accumulation to preservation, from saving for the future to deciding how that future is shared with your family.
The Finance Act 2026 introduced the most significant changes to inheritance tax in a generation. Frozen allowances, capped business and agricultural reliefs, and the inclusion of pension assets in estates from April 2027 mean many families now face exposure they did not have a year ago.
Our advisers work with you and, where you would like, with your family, to bring clarity to your estate, identify where exposure sits, and put practical structures in place.
How we help
- Full estate review and IHT exposure analysis
- Pension legacy planning (post-April 2027)
- Lifetime gifting strategy and the seven-year rule
- Trust structures and family arrangements
- Lasting Powers of Attorney
- Coordination with your solicitor
- Family and intergenerational planning
- Care planning where relevant
In detail
A structured approach to later-life planning
What we will explore together.
Your estate, in one picture
We start by mapping your estate in full: property, pensions, investments, business interests, life policies, and any gifts already made. The goal is a clear, single view of what you have and how it will pass under current rules.
IHT exposure and the levers available
Once the picture is clear, we model the IHT position and identify the practical levers, including allowances, exemptions, gifting strategies, trust structures, and pension nomination, that can change it.
Pension legacy strategy
From April 2027, pension assets are part of your estate for IHT. We work through whether to draw down, gift, or restructure, taking into account your income needs, your family circumstances and the wider plan.
Lifetime gifting, used deliberately
The seven-year rule, annual exemptions, gifts out of normal expenditure, and gifts in consideration of marriage all have a place. We help you use them in a way that supports your family without compromising your own security.
Trust structures, where they help
Trusts are powerful but rarely necessary in their full complexity. Where they earn their place, we work alongside your solicitor to set up arrangements that achieve specific objectives, no more.
Lasting Powers of Attorney
Putting financial and health LPAs in place while you have capacity is one of the most valuable steps you can take, for yourself and for your family.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
What does later life planning involve?
Later life planning covers the financial decisions that matter most from your mid-to-late retirement years onwards: ensuring your income is sustainable, planning for the potential cost of care, reviewing estate arrangements, and managing the transition of wealth to the next generation. It often involves reviewing pension drawdown strategy, property wealth, power of attorney and the interaction of these with inheritance tax, particularly in light of the Finance Act 2026 changes.
How much does residential care cost in the UK?
The cost of residential care in the UK varies significantly by region and type of care required. Residential care (without nursing) typically costs between £30,000 and £50,000 per year. Nursing care is higher. State funding through the local authority is means-tested and available only below a defined asset threshold. Planning for care costs well in advance of need, using cash flow modelling, gives the most options.
When should I set up a Lasting Power of Attorney?
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) should be set up while you have mental capacity, it cannot be arranged after capacity is lost. There are two types: property and financial affairs, and health and welfare. Both are important. The process takes several months from application to registration. Setting up an LPA is one of the most practical steps available to anyone in later life planning.
How does the Finance Act 2026 affect later life pension planning?
From April 2027, unspent pension funds will form part of the taxable estate. For clients in later life who have been drawing from other assets to preserve the pension as a legacy vehicle, the strategy needs revisiting. Drawdown sequencing, which assets to use first, and in what order, is now a significant planning question with direct tax consequences.
See how we helped
Pension options for clients approaching 75
A real, anonymised example of this advice in practice.
The first conversation is free
Talk to a later-life planning specialist
Book a no-obligation conversation. We’ll talk through where you are now and explore whether we can help.
Book a meeting →The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate Wills, Trusts, Tax advice or Cash Flow Planning. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may be subject to change in the future. The value of your investments can go down as well as up, so you could get back less than you invested.