“Our life is so much more valuable now.”

Trevor:

My name is Trevor George, my wife's name is Kay George. We have been a client with Fortitude for approximately 18 months, and our adviser is Richard Peters.

Kay:

When we were with a previous company, we found that their advice was more about investment rather than planning. But as soon as we were introduced to Richard and Fortitude, their whole idea was actually planning for the future. During the process of swapping between the two, I had a serious accident and it was a challenge to carry on working. Richard understood what we were going through, and how to make our funds work for us, so he gave me the opportunity to stop work sooner than we initially planned. We can spend time together, which is great, because Trevor had to retire so I could come out of hospital. It just means that our life is so much more valuable now.

We heard about Fortitude from our neighbours. They had gone through the process a bit earlier than us and were really pleased with the whole experience and so we thought we'd give that a try.

Trevor:

We didn't know what we wanted, but we knew we had to invest money. I'd already got pensions, and Kay had pensions, plus all the other pots of money and various pension schemes. We were going in blind, we didn't know which way to turn, but he led us through the process of life coaching, seeking what you want to do with your retirement and then working out how to finance it.

Kay:

We chose Fortitude because we felt completely comfortable. We liked the idea of having a plan, as opposed to just getting investment advice, about what we can do once we do retire, or once we were about to retire, and work out how we spend our money and maximise it. We’re completely comfortable with the advice we’ve had.

Trevor:

When we started the process, I had a pension that had done a lot better than I thought it would. When Richard explained about that pension, plus all the other money that I want to be invested, it makes me feel very confident. Despite the economic condition at the moment, history tells you things get better, so we're pretty confident we're going to have a good lifestyle in retirement.

Three words I would use to describe Fortitude are “professional”, “competent”, and “reliable”.

Kay:

The best thing about working with Richard and Fortitude is locality, and how he explains everything to us. So, for anything that we're unsure about, he always has time and patience and is more than happy to explain so we understand.

The best bit of advice Richard has given us is how most people spend their money. Essentially, we're going to be spending lots now and then, as we get older, we won't need as much money because we won't need to spend at the same rate. This strategy gives us confidence that our money will last and working with Fortitude is a great investment of our assets.

Trevor:

I would recommend Fortitude and Richard because he has put in place great advice for us to be able to retire earlier than we should. I'm always recommending to anyone I see. It’s a fantastic thing to have this knowledge and share it, rather than keeping it to ourselves, because I think everyone should be investing in their future.