Pension Advice
in Halifax
Old workplace pensions found and valued, the guarantees checked before anything moves, and a straight answer on whether you are on course. Advice from Joanne Flanagan, DipFA. Your initial consultation is free.
Free initial consultation. Any charges are agreed with you in writing before any work starts.
- DipFADiploma for Financial Advisers
- 57Access age from April 2028
- FCARegulated, FRN 460421
- FreeInitial consultation, no obligation
- We chase providers for the paperwork you cannot find
- Guarantees checked before anything is transferred
- Office, home visit or video call
- Plain English and a straight answer
What Does a Pension Adviser
Actually Do?
A pension adviser finds out what you have, tells you what it is worth, and explains what your options are for turning it into an income. In practice most of the work is unglamorous: writing to providers, reading scheme booklets, and checking whether a plan from 2004 carries a guarantee that would be lost if it were moved.
Every Step Financial Services is based at Croft Myl on West Parade, in Halifax town centre. Advice is given by Joanne Flanagan, who holds the Diploma for Financial Advisers, one of the Level 4 qualifications required to give regulated financial advice in the UK. Every Step is an Appointed Representative of New Leaf Distribution Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 460421.
Most people arrive with two or three pots from old jobs and no clear picture. That is the normal starting point, not a sign you have left it too late.
We see clients across Calderdale and the Calder Valley: Halifax town centre, Sowerby Bridge, Brighouse, Elland, Hipperholme, Northowram, Illingworth, Ripponden, Mytholmroyd, Hebden Bridge and Todmorden, as well as Huddersfield, Bradford and Leeds. We meet at our office on West Parade, at your home, or by video call.
What Can We Help You
Sort Out?
Finding Old Workplace Pensions
A job from fifteen years ago, a provider that has since been bought twice, and no paperwork. We chase them down and get current values in writing so you can see what you actually have.
Cashing in an old employer pension
Pension Consolidation
Combining pensions makes them cheaper and easier to follow, but some older schemes carry guarantees that vanish on transfer. We check every plan before anything moves.
Should I consolidate my pensions?
Drawdown & Annuities
Flexible income you manage, or a guaranteed income for life. Most people are better served by some of each, and the split is the part worth getting right.
Drawdown vs annuity explained
Contributions & Tax Relief
How much to pay in, how tax relief works, and whether salary sacrifice would leave you better off. Relevant whether you are employed or running your own business.
Pensions for the self-employed
Retirement Income Planning
State Pension, workplace pots, savings and any other income, added up into one number and tested against what you actually spend.
How much do I need to retire?
Pension Sharing
Pensions are often overlooked in a divorce, and are frequently the largest asset after the family home. We work alongside your solicitor before anything is agreed.
Pensions and divorceWe Do the Chasing
The reason old pensions get ignored is not laziness. It is that tracking them down means finding a scheme number you no longer have, for an employer that has been bought twice, through a provider whose name has changed. It is genuinely tedious.
So we do it. You sign an authority, we write to the providers, and you get back a single summary of what you have, what it is costing you, and what it is on course to pay.
- Current transfer values and annual charges, in writing from each provider
- Guaranteed annuity rates and protected retirement ages identified before any transfer is considered
- One summary instead of five annual statements you will not read
Transferring a pension is not right for everyone. Some older schemes carry guarantees or protected retirement ages that are lost on transfer, which is why every plan is reviewed on its own before any recommendation is made.
Drawdown or an Annuity?
How the Two Compare
This is the decision most people find hardest, and the one that is least reversible. Once the cancellation period has passed, an annuity cannot be undone.
| Drawdown | Annuity | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | Your money stays invested and you take income from it as you choose | A guaranteed income, paid for life, in exchange for the pot |
| Can it run out | Yes, if you take too much or investments perform badly | No, it is paid for as long as you live however long that is |
| Flexibility | High, you can change the amount or stop and start | None, the terms are fixed at the point you buy |
| On death | Whatever is left can usually pass to who you nominate | Nothing passes on unless you paid for that feature at the outset |
| Reversible | Yes, you can buy an annuity later with what remains | No, not once the cancellation period has passed |
| Suits | People with other income, or who want to leave money behind | People who want certainty and would worry about markets |
You do not have to pick one. A common approach is an annuity covering the bills you must pay whatever happens, with the rest left flexible. Our guide on drawdown against annuities goes into more detail.
Where Are You Up To?
Employed and paying in
You have a workplace pension and a vague sense you should be doing more with it. We tell you whether that feeling is justified and what the options are.
Self-employed or running a business
Nobody is enrolling you into anything. Whatever you build is what you get, and it needs to work around income that moves around.
Within ten years of stopping
The decisions start getting real. Access age, how much you can take, what order to take it in, and whether the date you had in mind still stands.
Already retired
Drawdown left running on autopilot, or income that has not kept up with costs. It is not too late to change how the money comes out.
Not sure what you have got?
Most people are not. That is the starting point for nearly every review we do.
No cost, no obligation
From First Call
to Written Advice
Four steps. Nothing is charged until you have seen the number and agreed to it in writing.
Free initial consultation
Twenty minutes on what you have got, what you think you will need, and what is worrying you. No cost, no commitment.
We find and value every pension
We write to each provider for current values, charges and any guarantees, including the schemes you have lost track of.
Written recommendations
What to leave alone, what to move, and what it means for your income, with the costs and risks set out. [FEE DETAIL]
Annual reviews
We check in once a year, or sooner if something changes. Jobs, inheritances and divorces all move the numbers.
Who Will You Actually
Be Dealing With?
Joanne has worked in financial services for ten years. She started out advising on mortgages before qualifying as a financial adviser four years ago, which is why later life lending and equity release sit comfortably alongside the pension work.
She also holds the Certificate in Regulated Equity Release, which matters when retirement income and the money tied up in a home need weighing against each other. She handles every case herself, from the first phone call through to the annual review, so you never have to explain your situation twice and nobody hands you to a call centre.
She holds the Diploma for Financial Advisers, the benchmark qualification for giving regulated financial advice in the UK, and the Certificate in Regulated Equity Release, which matters for clients weighing pension income against the money tied up in their home.
- Ten years in financial services, first in mortgages, now advising
- Diploma for Financial Advisers (DipFA)
- Certificate in Regulated Equity Release (CeRER)
- Appointed Representative of New Leaf Distribution Ltd, FCA FRN 460421
- Meetings at our Halifax office, at your home, or by video call
Pension Advice in Halifax:
Your Questions Answered
Want to Read More First?
Plain English explainers on the questions that come up most.
- Should I consolidate my pensions?Weighing up combining old pots
- Drawdown vs annuityHow the two ways of taking an income compare
- Cashing in an old employer pensionWhat your options actually are
- How much do I need to retire?Working back from what you spend
- Average pension pot in the UKHow your position compares
- Final salary schemes explainedWhy these need extra care
- Emergency tax on a pension lump sumThe bill people do not expect
- Pension scam warningsHow to spot one
- Pensions and divorceHow they are split
- Self-employed pensionsBuilding one without an employer
- Claiming a deceased parent's pensionWhat happens on death
- Applying for the State PensionThe part that runs alongside
Speak to Joanne
Book Your Free Pension Review
Tell us a little about your situation. You do not need to have made a decision, a question is enough. Or call 01422 652300 and speak to Joanne.