New research
Permission to spend
Unlock your clients’ confidence in retirement
A retirement plan has to succeed twice. First, the maths must work. Then, the household needs to confidently use the plan.
Retirement-income planning often assumes that once affordability has been proven, clients will naturally act. But our latest research – Permission to spend – suggests otherwise. Many clients continue to underspend, some overspend, and almost half do not sustain increased spending even after receiving explicit permission from their adviser.
Based on our new research with 1,000 retirees and 200 financial advisers, we’ve developed the insight, framework and tools to help you unlock your clients’ confidence in retirement. Get your free adviser guide and join our CPD-accredited webinar as we explore the confidence gap in retirement and the opportunity for financial advisers.
Why this matters for advisers
Permission to spend explores the gap between creating a retirement-income plan and helping clients confidently live it. The findings point to a simple reality: technically sound advice can still fail to become lasting household action.
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Permission to spend: The adviser guide
Download your free guide to access the key findings from our research and discover guidance to help clients make more informed retirement spending decisions.
Inside the guide:
- The key findings from our research with retirees and advisers
- The Permission to spend map: four points where retirement plans break down
- A repeatable way to identify client priorities and determine when their plan may need recalibration
- A practical framework for building and communicating an annual spending range
- A review process that checks actual spending and household confidence, as well as technical suitability
- The Adviser Diagnostic tool for meetings and reviews
- A Client Permission Statement the household can keep
Download your free guide
Get actionable insights, practical frameworks and tools you can use immediately.
Get actionable insights, practical frameworks and tools you can use immediately.
Live webinar – Permission to spend: Unlocking client confidence in retirement
Thursday 8 October 2026
10:00am to 11:00am (1 hour) | CPD-accredited
Our host David Edgar (Wealthtime), will be joined by Tony Wickenden (Technical Connection) and Phillip Wickenden (Ad Lucem) for a webinar designed to help financial advisers better understand the gap between a technically robust retirement income plan and sustained household action.
What you’ll learn
By attending, you will:
- Understand the key findings from Wealthtime’s latest retirement research and what they mean for adviser-client conversations
- Explore the four main reasons retirement income plans can break down in practice, even when they are technically sound
- Learn how the way income is delivered can influence a client’s confidence and willingness to spend
- Gain insight into the Permission to spend framework and how it can help clients create sustainable spending habits in retirement
- Hear practical guidance on the technical foundations of retirement planning, including tax, wrapper selection, sequencing risk, and the role of secure and flexible income
- Feel better equipped to help clients establish trusted spending boundaries and achieve better retirement outcomes
Book your place today
Join the live session and discover practical ways to help clients understand, accept and act on retirement-income advice.
Join the live session and discover practical ways to help clients understand, accept and act on retirement-income advice.
Everything advisers need for retirement planning
At Wealthtime, we provide the solutions advisers need to balance income security, flexibility and long-term growth for their clients. Our award-winning retirement proposition is designed to support modern retirement planning and Centralised Retirement Propositions (CRPs) combining drawdown, guaranteed income solutions, extensive investment choice and practical adviser tools – all on one platform.
