The Retirement Decisions Checklist
From Richard Platt’s YouTube channel
The Retirement Decisions Checklist
Seven financial decisions to get right in the five years before you retire, plus the one that isn’t about money. Free to download, and yours to keep.
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Richard PlattFounder, Clarity Wealth. “The conversation I’ve had with retirement clients many times, written down.”
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See if we can helpWhat’s inside
Each decision comes with a short set of checks. Tick the ones you’ve genuinely dealt with, and the final page shows you where your planning is strong and where the gaps are.
- 1
Start with spending, not the pension pot
Work out what your life actually costs, including the lumpy years.
- 2
Use your final high-earning years deliberately
Pension tax relief that disappears the day you stop earning.
- 3
Decide how and when to take tax-free cash
Which pot, in which order, in which tax year.
- 4
Treat everything as one retirement-income system
Pensions, ISAs, cash and investments working together.
- 5
Get the investments ready for withdrawals
Why the same market fall means something different at 60 than at 45.
- 6
Check old pension guarantees before consolidating
Valuable benefits that can’t be reinstated once given up.
- 7
Stress-test the plan before you hand in your notice
What happens when real life doesn’t follow the spreadsheet.
The one that isn’t about money
Your time, your partner’s plans, and the paperwork nobody enjoys.
Designed to be worked through, not just read
- Fill it in on screen or on paperTick the boxes and type into the worksheets in any PDF reader, or print it and use a pen.
- Do it together if you have a partnerThe costliest retirement problems are rarely tax problems. They’re two people assuming different futures.
- Finish with a clear list of what to do nextYour answers show which gaps matter most and which to tackle first.
“The best time to plan your retirement is while you can still change the answer.”
One of the hardest things I’ve seen in more than twenty years isn’t people running out of money. It’s people who spent forty years building their wealth, then spent so long worrying about preserving it that they ran out of time or good health before they let themselves enjoy it. This checklist is there to help you avoid that.