RETIREMENT ADVICE: TURNING INSIGHT INTO OUTCOMES
Explore our research that aims to help advisers make sense of retirement, from first questions to evidencing outcomes.
Overview
Financial advisers play a vital role in helping people turn uncertainty into clarity and plans into outcomes. In this year’s Retirement Advice in the UK report, produced with our partners at NextWealth, we set out to recognise that contribution and share practical insight to support advisers as they navigate a changing landscape with clients.
At BNY Investments, our commitment is to be more for our clients by listening, learning, and building solutions that help advisers deliver high‑quality retirement outcomes at scale. We hope the findings here offer reassurance, benchmarkable evidence, and actionable takeaways, reinforcing the value of professional advice and the trusted relationships at its core.
Gerald Rehn
Head of EMEA Distribution
BNY Investments
KEY TOPICS COVERED
Policy and tax uncertainty dominate the client landscape
Ongoing policy shifts and complex tax rules have made it harder for clients to identify sound decisions or clarify their retirement priorities.
- 39% of clients state that the 2024 Budget changes have affected or will affect their retirement plans
- 48% of financial advisers cite proposed and potential tax changes as their clients’ top concern
- 77% of advisers say that inheritance tax policy changes are driving change at their firm
Clients are often not emotionally prepared for retirement, and expectations are rarely accurate
Expenditure is a key input into retirement planning, but clients struggle to estimate what they will spend in a future they have not yet lived.
- 75% of advisers say clients do not come with an accurate understanding of the income they will need in retirement
- Out of every 10 clients, five underestimate their retirement needs, three overestimate, and two are broadly accurate
Delivery is being reshaped by consistent processes and technological innovations
Robust processes and pragmatic use of tools such as cash-flow modelling and artificial intelligence (AI) are enabling better conversations.
- 64% of advisers use a cash-flow modelling tool to determine a safe withdrawal rate for clients
- Early AI use cases are already delivering tangible benefits, with 43% of advisers currently using or implementing AI solutions to reduce the administrative burden
Not all firms have shifted from accumulation to decumulation approaches
Most firms acknowledge that retirement risks differ from accumulation risks, but many are adapting existing frameworks rather than fully re-evaluating how risks are assessed.
- 29% of advisers say their firm takes the same approach to assessing attitude to risk for clients in retirement as it does in accumulation
- Around half adapt their standard approach by adding questions to address retirement-specific considerations such as income sustainability, sequencing risk and time horizons
- Only 14% take a wholly different approach to assessing risk as their clients move into decumulation
Regulatory expectations continue to drive change
Regulatory developments are leading firms to reconsider how they articulate, monitor and evidence outcomes.
- In the past year, 78% of financial advisers say their firm has made changes in response to Consumer Duty, and 68% in response to the Retirement Income Advice Review
- For a third of advisers who have moved to a more common and consistent approach to retirement planning, meeting Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) expectations was the primary driver
Source: Research conducted by NextWealth for BNY Investments, based on responses to surveys with 207 retirement-focused financial advisers and 260 consumers of financial advice conducted in November 2025.
Retirement advice in the UK
Turning insight into outcomes
Retirement advice is evolving. Are you prepared to help your clients navigate what's next? Our latest retirement research delivers firsthand insights on how financial advisers are responding to change - and leading clients forward.
Clear and concise, our insights are easy to download and share. So staying in the know, and being able to offer your clients the most up-to-date views, couldn’t be easier.
3088651 Expiry: 2 March 2027
