Retirement planning in the UK has never stood still, but the ground is shifting more quickly and more meaningfully than many clients – and some firms – might expect.  In collaboration with NextWealth, BNY Investments’ new report, “Retirement Advice in the UK: Turning Insight into Outcomes”, sets out the realities of advice today and where paraplanners and advisers can add the most value. 

A transition, not a transaction

A defining message is that retirement is a multi-year transition, not a oneoff decision. Clients only gradually recognise how deeply work has shaped their identity, routine and self confidence. The research tracks sentiment across three life stages: pre-retirement confidence is surprisingly robust while retirement remains imagined; confidence dips during the “messy middle” as decisions become real; it then rebounds once retirement is lived, understood and adjusted to. For advice professionals, this reinforces the need to plan for sequences of decisions and clear review points, not single answers. It also suggests engaging earlier, normalising uncertainty and using simple tools (ideal week exercises, scenario conversations) to help clients articulate needs they cannot yet name.

Behaviour and expectations are as important as the maths

If expenditure is the linchpin of sustainable planning, it is also the hardest input to capture. Three quarters of advisers say clients do not arrive with an accurate grasp of retirement income needs: 46% underestimate, 29% overestimate, and only around a quarter are broadly on the mark. Clients struggle to estimate spending in a future they have not lived, may default to current patterns, or try to be “good clients” by offering neat answers that are not grounded. The report highlights practical ways to bridge the gap: reframe questions from “what do you spend?” to “what do you need, and when?”, and use gifting capacity modelling to surface real intent around family support, property and care – turning a technical calculation into a behavioural insight that materially improves advice.

Blended strategies are becoming the norm

The drawdown versus annuity dichotomy is giving way to more blended, phased approaches that combine cash buffers, selective guarantees and structured withdrawal rules. In response to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Retirement Income Advice Review, firms are reviewing drawdown propositions, sharpening communications, and strengthening processes to monitor income sustainability over time. Nearly half of advisers still reference fixed rates (e.g. the “4% rule”) somewhere in their approach, but most adapt heuristics to client specifics: time to guaranteed income, health and longevity expectations, planned changes in spending and the presence of other assets. 

Tax uncertainty is reshaping conversations

Proposed and potential tax changes are front of mind: 48% of advisers say tax uncertainty is their clients’ top concern, and 77% report inheritance tax policy changes are driving change within their firms. Pension wrappers once treated as “last to touch” are now very much part of active decumulation planning, prompting reevaluation of sequencing, gifting and guarantees. The report is clear that optimal planning is rarely straightforward. Family circumstances, health considerations and intergenerational fairness all create tradeoffs. 

Evidencing outcomes is everyday advice

Consumer Duty and the FCA’s thematic work are pushing firms to move beyond point in time recommendations towards ongoing outcomes. This is not a call for ever more paper for its own sake; it is a nudge to capture narrative evidence alongside numbers: why a decision was made, what alternatives were considered, how it aligns with client priorities and how it will be monitored and reviewed. Advisers want clearer guidance on income risk (31% cite this as a priority), but defensibility already rests on consistency of method – repeatable frameworks for testing sustainability, sequencing decisions and tracking outcomes over time, even as solutions remain tailored.

Technology should enable human advice, not replace it

Cash flow modelling is now core (used by around two thirds of firms to assess safe withdrawals), but the report cautions against false precision. Position projections as guides rather than prophecies; use plain language and simple visuals; flag assumptions and show what could change. Integration remains a frustration, yet where technology removes friction (meeting notes, file checks, suitability templates), adoption accelerates – freeing time for deeper client conversations. Early artificial intelligence (AI) use cases are promising in the back office, but clients remain cautious about AI in the room, reinforcing that trust rests on human explanation.

The headline? Better retirement advice today is less about perfection and more about process: helping clients make sense of complexity, navigate transition with confidence and understand what “good” looks like for them. If your role is to turn insight into outcomes, BNY Investments’ latest research offers reassurance, benchmarks and practical tools – and plenty worth a deeper read.

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