Becky, Wales – help with a financial decision
Becky was considering a job move from a company where she had a final salary pension, to a company where she would pay into a defined contribution plan. She had no idea what the value of her final pension salary was, or what she should be asking in terms of salary to compensate for it, so I created a spreadsheet to help her understand the implications. Based on agreed assumptions, we estimated that Becky would have to pay £25,000 a year into a pension fund to equal the guaranteed pension she could be giving up in her current role. Armed with that information, she went into salary negotiations and managed to negotiate an extra £25,000 a year on top of the payrise the new employer was already offering.
She’s now working in a job that she loves and Becky told Simonne that without her help, she would have had no idea, and accepted a moderate pay rise without realising the true value of her current package.
“Paying for two hours of Simone's time in return for potentially negotiating an extra £25,000 a year is about the best return in investment I can think of. What I also value about working with Simonne is that it is a joint collaboration. Simonne gives me knowledge and tools which empower me to understand my own finances and make decisions that are right for me.”