Private, fixed-fee pension and retirement guidance — not personal financial recommendations. Understand the difference.
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Choosing the right help

Guidance, coaching or regulated advice?

A plain-English explanation of the different kinds of support and why the right route depends on the answer you need.

The words guidance, coaching and advice are often used casually, but the difference matters. A simple test is to ask whether you need help understanding information or a personal recommendation about what action is suitable.

General guidance

General guidance explains pension rules, common options and questions to consider. MoneyHelper and Pension Wise are important free sources. Guidance does not select a product or tell you what is best for your personal circumstances.

Personal explanation and illustration

This is the area Pension Helper is designed for: exploring your own pension or retirement question, organising relevant information, explaining factual differences, illustrating agreed scenarios and identifying questions or missing facts. The work can use your information without becoming a recommendation about which action to take.

Coaching

Coaching can help you clarify goals, prepare information, complete practical tasks and have better conversations with a partner or professional. It should not be used as a different label for recommending a pension transaction.

Regulated financial advice

Regulated advice considers your personal circumstances and gives a recommendation about a course of action, product or investment. The adviser takes responsibility for assessing suitability within the agreed scope.

Route
Question it can answer
Typical cost
Free guidance
“How do pensions and retirement options generally work?”
Free
Pension Helper
“How do my figures look under these assumptions, and what should I understand before deciding?”
Fixed fee
Regulated adviser
“What should I personally do, and which solution is suitable?”
Quoted by firm

Warning signs that you may need regulated advice

  • You want someone to tell you whether to transfer or consolidate
  • You need a recommendation about an investment or provider
  • You have safeguarded benefits or valuable guarantees
  • You want someone to implement a transaction
  • Your decision depends on a detailed tax, estate or legal strategy
Pension Helper reviews every submitted question before proposing a paid service.

Paul will decide whether Pension Helper can appropriately help, propose one of the three published service levels or a bespoke scope, and say when another type of help is more appropriate.

Useful official resources

You don’t need to understand pensions before asking for help.

Tell us the pension or retirement question you want to work through. We’ll tell you whether Pension Helper is appropriate and what it will cost before you decide.

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