Client stories
Evidence from real consultations
These notes name the engagement and the friction — delayed valuations, transfer pressure, dividend timing — not a star rating widget.
The wealth planning consultation laid out our two workplace pensions and a forgotten SIPP in one timeline. We still waited three weeks for one provider’s valuation, so the written plan arrived later than we’d hoped — but the sequencing advice stopped us from emptying a high-earner ISA too early.
Our accountant flagged the dividend jump; Shoreline walked us through how company pension contributions and personal drawings could sit together without starving the cash buffer. The owner-manager session felt like a proper board conversation, not a product pitch.
I nearly signed a DB transfer pack from another firm. The second opinion listed the spouse’s contingent pension and the inflation link I was about to lose. Staying put was the quieter choice — and the right one for us.
The retirement income review showed how State Pension age and my civil service lump sum interact. Numbers were careful, not cheerful. We now draw a smaller SIPP amount and leave the workplace pot alone until later.
Meetings ran on time and the follow-up call used the same document pack we’d already supplied. No glossy brochure — just a prioritised list of calls to make with our existing ISA and pension providers.
Extended note: delaying a DB transfer
A civil service scheme member arrived with a transfer pack and a two-week window. The Shoreline second opinion listed the contingent spouse pension and inflation link that would disappear. The member stayed put. The only disappointment was administrative — chasing the ceding scheme for a clearer early-retirement factor took longer than the transfer sales timeline suggested.
Extended note: owner-manager drawings
A two-director firm wanted higher dividends in the same year as a house deposit gift. Cashflow advice kept company liquidity visible on one page with personal ISA and pension capacity. Dividends were trimmed; company pension contributions rose; the gift waited until surplus income was documented. No product was sold — only a calendar of drawings.