Reviewing a client’s existing drawdown plan is a regulatory requirement and is a regular occurrence for any adviser with retired clients. This article provides a step-by-step guide as to how you can quickly and easily write a brief, concise and compliant report to a client reviewing their existing drawdown plan.
1) Select or add the client
Go to Write report and select or add the client(s) for whom you wish to write the report.
2) Select the Report Creation Method
Although this article walks you through the steps of building a report 'from scratch', it is worth bearing in mind that there is already a Genovo report template covering this advice scenario: Genovo Example: Drawdown Review to save you time and help further speed up the report creation process for you.
3) Create the report
In Report Details, give the report a name and select the report currency and Report Type, which in this instance will be Review Report 2.0. You may also wish to include a Report Reference. However, it is worth bearing in mind that you can also write a drawdown review using the Suitability Report.
4) Add the required report section
You’ll then be directed to the Report Builder where you should add the necessary sections from the 'Available sections' drop down, which in this case will be the Review of Your Existing Retirement Income Plans.
If your drawdown review includes a recommendation to switch the underlying investments of the drawdown plan, you will also need the Recommended Investment Strategy section.
5) Complete all section wizards
Next you'll need to step through the section wizards of all the sections that require your input, starting with the Introduction section.
6) Complete the Introduction section
Progress through the steps of the Introduction section in the usual way.
When you reach the Review of Client Objectives step you should select or add the advice option(s) that accurately reflect the client's objective(s) and add comprehensive Know Your Client (KYC) information to ensure you fulfil the regulator’s expectations of you in terms of documenting a client's objectives. Alternatively, you can add the client's objectives as free text.
7) Complete the Client Risk Profile section
It's in this section that you will confirm the client's attitude to risk and capacity for loss, as well as their knowledge and experience.
8) Complete the Review of Your Existing Retirement Income Plans section
It’s here you’re going to include some basic information about the existing crystallised pension plan(s) you are reviewing.
a) Plan Summary step
Remember you don’t have to enter a value for all fields in the Plan Summary step, and fields which are left empty won’t be included within your report.
However, for a drawdown review, there are some essential fields, such as the fund value, income currently being taken, plus the compliance requirements of comparable annuity, critical yields A and (if applicable) B, and the age that the funds might be exhausted.
You may also wish to include details of the plan’s Current Investment Strategy.
b) Plan Benefits & Features step
It is in this step that you should summarise any pertinent benefits and features of the existing drawdown plan(s).
c) Recommended Action step
In the Recommended Action step, you will need to confirm your recommendation(s) for the plan. There are several to choose from to cover all possible advice scenarios.
d) Recommended Withdrawal step
If your recommended action involves a change to existing income (up or down) or the withdrawal of a lump sum, you’ll also need to complete the Recommended Withdrawal step. This is where you can specify the amount and frequency of any income and/or withdrawals. Note that there’s also a text box at the bottom of the page where you can add your own text and images if required – this is a great place to insert cashflow planning charts to support a recommendation to revise a client’s drawdown income.
e) Revised Plan Charges step
This is an optional step which allows you to provide an overview of the plan's revised charges where the recommended action will result in a change to the % or monetary charges of the plan, and demonstrate the impact those revised charges will have on the plan moving forward.
e) Key Disadvantages step
This step allows you to highlight any adverse implications of your recommendation. As always, you should note that in our humble opinion a disadvantage is different to a risk warning, and all relevant risk warnings specific to the advice you’re giving will be automatically inserted into your report.
f) Plan Comparison: Performance step
If your recommendation does involve a change to the plan’s Current Investment Strategy, the Plan Comparison: Performance step will also be triggered. This step allows you to provide a comparison of the past performance of the current investment strategy and the new investment strategy that is being recommended to replace it.
9) Possibly complete the Recommended Investment Strategy section
If appropriate (e.g. you’re recommending a change of investment strategy due to a change in the client’s risk profile) you can use this section to detail the revised investment strategy(s) being recommended.
10) Complete the Important Information section
This is the last section you’ll need to complete and is self-explanatory.
11) Tailor the structure of the report
Having completed all of the section wizards you should then tailor the structure of your report by unchecking any sections you do not wish to include in your report; and then change the sort order of any sections to reflect your personal preferences.
You’ll find more information about how to remove sections from your report here.
You'll find more information about how to reorder the sections in your report here.
12) Download the report / covering letter
Click the Download report / Download cover letter icon and the report / covering letter will download to Word.
Report template
Having created the report, you may then wish to convert it into a template and save it to your Report Template Library to use as a starting point for creating future drawdown review reports.