Upon leaving school Charles started his career as a machine cleaner at one of the largest carpet manufacturers in the west midlands. Eventually working his way through the engineering floor and into the offices. Where he could spend the day without getting his hands covered in grease, grime and yarn tufts. Charles’s relationships with his peers started to blossom and he was in time promoted to the sales team and his career began to flourish.
In the 1980s, the UK’s propensity to manufacture carpet was recognised globally. Charles built a career within this business which eventually landed him with a sales director role. Through the noughties and into the teens, Charles started to enjoy more and more of the perks of a senior role, greater investment into his company pension scheme and the ability to pay down a mortgage prior to retirement.
Charles and his wife Helen had spent many summers enjoying the sun, sea, and sandy beaches of Portugal. They had dreamed that their careful planning and saving would eventually enable them to retire to this beautiful part of the world. Close enough to the grandchildren to visit, stunning golf courses for Charles’s new hobby and warm enough that they could avoid the miserable British weather. The dream was set and now all they had to do was work out the logistics and finances.
When Charles eventually retired, he had maximised his pensionable allowance and saved a reasonable lump sum via ISA’s and some mutual funds. With the house fully paid off, Charles was finally in the position where he felt he had the ability to make the dream a reality. But the question was, how?
Charles was introduced to Privalgo in the middle of 2019. He had seen a Facebook post that had sparked his interest and decided to get in touch. With the help of a specialist relationship manager, Daniel, we introduced Charles to one of our Property partners in Portugal. After several viewing trips, Charles and Helen found their dream apartment, overlooking the harbour at Vilamoura.
The UK property was sold on the first viewing and the move was scheduled for January 2020. In November 2019, Charles had taken advantage of his 25% tax-free withdrawal from his pension scheme and made his first transfer into Euros through Privalgo, albeit we had already assisted Charles, he thought it prudent to check with his bank first to see if they could beat the rate as it were. Charles soon realized how different the service was and how much the cost differed when using a generic provider instead of a specialist.
After speaking with his financial adviser, Charles thought it best to use the money from the sale of his property combined with his money released from his pension to fund the purchase of the apartment, leaving a small lump sum to furnish the property. Under the instruction of Charles and Helen, Daniel was able to transfer the balance of the money into Euros and settled the purchase of the property at a pre-agreed date with a previously agreed rate. The happy owners received their keys and in mid-January became residents of Portugal.
Once the purchase was settled and the move was complete, Charles and Helen organised a meeting with Daniel. With a view to understanding how they now fund their new dream retirement. Their financial advisor had organised a monthly drawdown from their investments to be paid into a UK Bank account, along with Charles’s company pension and both Charles’s and Helen’s state pension. Daniel had explored several possibilities that could have efficiently moved the funds into Euro’s, but Charles needed the security of knowing that the money was coming every month, at the same time and at the same value without fail.
Daniel introduced Privaglo’s “Flexible Forward”. Charles and Helen were due to receive a set amount each month in GBP from their combined investments. It was designed that over a rolling two-year period a pre-agreed rate of exchange would be fixed against the account and a monthly amount would be paid in euros to Charles and Helen’s account.
The “flexible forward” allowed Charles and Helen to fix their income in euros for the next two years. Removing the worry and concern over a very volatile exchange rate. The fixed monthly amount did not incur any monthly fees or additional transfer fees, what they agreed was exactly what they received.
Daniel had fully explained what could happen if the rate had in fact improved. This might have worked against Charles and Helen, and they could have received more for their money in a month by month transfer than the “flexible forward”. After considering this and Daniel being so open and transparent, they decided the best thing for them was to remove the uncertainty and enjoy the stability that retirement should really bring.
We are privileged to have Charles and Helen as clients and wish them all the luck for their new future in sunny Portugal.
If you would like to explore how Privalgo can assist you in planning your future income payments please feel free to contact Hello@privalgo.co.uk
Privalgo Limited is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an Electronic Money Institution. (Reference number: 900887). FX forwards offered by us are a contractual agreement with Privalgo to lock in an exchange rate for two currencies for an agreed future date and are not intended to be an investment product.
In exchange for removing potentially costly currency fluctuations, you are locking in an agreed rate and will not be able to change that rate and will not get the market rate on the day the contract ends. Privalgo will ask for an initial deposit and depending on currency fluctuations we may request further deposit payments during the life of your contract.
Privalgo Limited is a private limited company (number 11219580) registered in England with their registered office at 25 Eastcheap, London, EC3M 1DE, United Kingdom.
