“Everything that we've put in place over the years is going to allow me that freedom to make choices”

My name is Yvonne, and I live in South Warwickshire. 

I think I'd probably describe myself as having a portfolio career now. And that's very much thanks to the power of the financial planning that I've been doing with my financial planner for more than 20 years now. 

I knew that everything was in a right muddle. I had bits of investment here, there, and everywhere, and I knew I needed some help. 

It gives me that real confidence, that power to make decisions I just didn't have before. Because I know exactly what I've got in one area and where I've got flexibility, I can then make really informed choices about what I want to do. It has given me real confidence. 

I don't worry now about money or about what on earth the government is going to do in terms of telling me when I'm allowed to retire and when my pension is going to mature. That just doesn't bother me anymore. 

Everything that we've put in place over the years is going to allow me that freedom to make choices, and I think that's the really important thing that financial planning allows. 

It sets a plan, but you still have the opportunity to make choices within that plan and be able to do scenario planning to see the impact it's going to have, but then there are the other things that you could do that either mitigate that impact or actually adjust a slightly different path, and that's the thing for me why I find it such a powerful discipline.