Planning for retirement during a crisis? Let technology assist

SPONSORED:Pensions communications have been very good in recent months, actually well suited to video calls, says Eamon Dwyer of Invesco

From the comfort of their home, or home office, people have been able to receive advice and real-time information just when they wanted it most. A key part of financial advice is to get the client to slow down and focus on the long term value of their investment.

For the first time, obtaining pension advice during a global crisis has become easier rather than harder.

With the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown, our wealth management team in Invesco made a concerted effort to speak with more pension savers than ever before.

Eamon Dwyer, CFP®,  Senior Financial Planning Consultant with Invesco.

The problem was, the national guidelines and public health advice meant we weren’t allowed to meet anyone – no matter how much either party wanted to. The phone is useful, no doubt, but when you want to share data or a graphical explanation, it is not good enough.

The rapid adoption of video call and video conferencing platforms like Zoom and MS Teams has led to a far richer and more interesting dynamic between pension savers and their advisors. From the comfort of their home, or home office, people have been able to receive advice and real-time information just when they wanted it most.

People like doing business with people. People like being advised by people. People like learning from people. Whilst we can’t mimic the dynamic of a personal meeting completely at the moment, with the use of web based video meetings we can get pretty close.

A good client of mine who is 3 years from retirement recently commented – “I realise now the amount of time we saved by meeting my financial planner via Teams. We covered all the ground we needed to and made some small adjustments to make sure my financial plan was on track. When the meeting was finished I was straight back to my own work – without spending an hour getting to and from the meeting. A blessing in disguise perhaps!” 

The rapid spread of Covid 19 globally, and the knock on impact on investment markets and pension funds, has led to pension savers being understandably concerned. How is their hard earned AVC fund doing? Will they have enough in their personal pension fund to retire? Or on a more optimistic note, has the market turbulence led to some interesting investment opportunities?

Throughout this crisis, we have all felt fear and no doubt some sort panic about the future. As financial planners, we are quite sure at this stage of this global event that the opportunity to discuss things, to review a pension fund, to look at fund performance and different strategies is valued more than ever.

By sharing a screen and talking to a person in real time about what is happening, we cut down on the waste of time and the possible withering of an idea that happens when sending documents by post, or even email.

With its excellent modelling tools for video conferencing, Invesco can show people clearly the effect of the recent pandemic on their financial future.

In addition, we have innovative modelling tools at our disposal, where we can chart people’s income and expenditure, and household balance sheet, for many years into the future. With video conferencing, we can show people clearly the effect of the recent pandemic on their financial future.

In many cases the impact so far hasn’t been as bad as people think. In fact, it has focused the minds of people on some key concepts, like diversification, liquidity and avoiding inertia.

As is well documented, the stock-markets recovered strongly over the summer months following the extremely negative March and April. These same “markets” will always move up and down. We would all love to ignore them, and let our pension funds do their own thing over the long run but we are inquisitive by nature. Many of us also impulsive – so when we get an idea – we often want clarity or further information now – not tomorrow or next week.

Part of my role as a Financial Planning Consultant, is to slow down my clients’ impulsiveness and to try and focus on the long term. To do that I need to facilitate meetings and enrich conversations now, or certainly as soon as possible. Technology can assist ones inquisitive mind and can lead to better outcomes on the back of specific and expert advice.

www.invesco.ie/wealth-management

Contact: [e-mail] 021 4808041