Hi, my name is Julie and I’ve been working with Sarah at KBA for the last seven years.

She kind of helped me with a plan because I always said that I was going to retire at 55, but I didn’t have anything put in place. She came along, sorted the insurances out for us, started the pension, and we kind of revamped it to a stage and then she showed me what I needed to be putting away to what I needed to get before I could retire at the age of 55. I’m 55 in March, and we’ve achieved It.

It’s always what I wanted to do, I’ve worked very long hours, it’s a hard industry I’m in and I know, from 55, I wouldn’t be able to give what I have been giving.

I wouldn’t have been able to retire at 55 without the support of Sarah. I didn’t really understand tax implications, I would not have been putting in pensions when I should have done. I didn’t really know what I was allowed to put away. She made it very easy. The money I haven’t missed because it would have been sat in a bank doing nothing anyway.

Once you’ve got a deadline, and you’re working towards that, it’s fine. From March this year, we had everything in action, so for this last year, all I’ve been doing really is supporting and making sure systems are in place for when I’m not at work. Because I know at 55, it’s going to happen.

I think if I would have done it a little bit sooner it would have been better, because I wasn’t using my money efficiently tax-wise. I didn’t really have the confidence in a pension, because we’d heard a lot of bad stories about them. I was a bit frightened to put into it. She gave me confidence and then last year, I did have some financial funds from the company, which we invested. I was reluctant to invest because of COVID-19, the stocks and shares had gone down. But she said no, it’s a perfect time, you’re going to be buying at the best time, go for it! I wouldn’t have done it without her.

She made it very easy for me because she explained what I needed to do. She showed me graphs, and she showed me different situations. I think it became not as complicated as I expected. Because she understood what I wanted to do, everything else fell in line as well. She sorted out all our insurance policies, life policies, so everything is in order. We’ve now got a platform with everything on which is tax-efficient. If anything should happen to me or my husband.

I would definitely recommend Sarah and KBA. She has been a breath of fresh air. She’s also supported me in areas which were not her concern. We did dealings with our accountant which I was unsure about and the confidence I got from it was very good. So yeah, I would definitely recommend her.