In our Pension Diaries series, we speak to people of all ages in the UK to find out how much or how little they have saved for retirement and the realities of putting money aside for their future.
This week, we speak to Simonne Gnessen, 60, founder and director of Wise Monkey Financial Coaching. Simonne lives in Brighton with her civil partner and loves her work so much that she cannot see herself ever wanting to stop.
Simonne reveals how she spent years riddled with regret for transferring her final salary pension. She eventually realised there was no point looking back, so she took action and massively boosted her retirement pot.
How did you first get into a career in finance?
After school, I went to university and studied statistics. It was just something I was good at and I had no idea what I wanted to do. I bumped into my ex-headmaster from my primary school and he introduced me to the idea of training as an actuary.
I applied and got a job and started off in that career path and was on the pension consultancy side of things. I lasted a couple of years as I realised it was going to be years and years before I did any client-facing work, as all the work I did was behind the scenes. I started to learn that I wanted to be much more client-centric.
Luckily, the company I worked for has lots of different opportunities so I moved from training to be an actuary to training to become a financial advisor – and I loved it as there was lots of client contact.
It was a salaried role with a final salary pension. I worked there for about eight-and-a-half years and it ended up being the only employed role I had in my entire working life.
What changed and how did you end up starting your own business?
My mum died when I was only 21 and she was 56. That ended up being a huge driver in terms of me making the most of my life and fulfilling my potential. I was almost living my life more fully because she hadn’t been able to fully live hers.
I joined a company of women-only financial advisors who specialised in advising women, which was totally unique in those days. I went from an employed role with a final salary pension to being self-employed.
Everyone thought I was absolutely mad but I loved it. Financially, it probably wasn’t a good move, but I had a lot more autonomy. worked with different types of clients and there was a really lovely ethos. I ended up working there for about four years.
I then went on a personal development journey and did a lot of work on myself. I realised I wanted to do things with my life that I hadn’t done. I desperately wanted to go travelling so I ended up quitting my job and travelling for a year on my own.
I was 33 at the time and went to about 12 different countries, including China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, India and Nepal. It was a phenomenal life experience.
After going travelling, Simonne realised she wanted to do meaningful work (Photo: Simonne Gnessen)
When I came back, I knew who I was and didn’t want to compromise my life. I started to look for work which was meaningful and looked for an organisation which would meet my ethos. When I couldn’t find it, I created my own.
I started my company in 2002 and was the first person in the UK to launch a financial coaching practice. My initial aim was to demystify the world of finance. I realised that most financial advisors only dealt with high-net-worth clients, and I started wondering about everybody else. Where do they go if they don’t understand the world of personal finance?
I started off by myself, and I now train other financial coaches, as well as doing my own coaching work, and there is a whole community of people we have trained.
I have now been doing this for 24 years and it is still massively enriching. I am still coaching clients but also supporting the next breed of financial coaches.
I met my partner the same year that I launched Wise Monkey, so it was a momentous year. I love my work and plan to do it until the day I die, probably.
Tell me about your pensions and why you had regrets
In my first job, I joined their final salary pension scheme at 21 and paid pension contributions and so did the company.
After I left, I began doing calculations of if I were to take the transfer value of my defined benefit pension [a pension that pays an annual income in retirement] and did an analysis of what returns I needed to match the benefits I would be giving up. Transfer value calculations were based on assumptions about investment returns, inflation and how long you were going to live.
Part of the value of a defined benefit pension was that in the event of death, 50 per cent of your pension would go to your spouse. I thought “I’m never going to marry”, because in those days, women couldn’t marry women and I never dreamt that law would ever change.
I was being a bit too clever because I had that actuarial background and knew the calculations and assumptions. I thought I could get better returns. But they never materialised and I never did do brilliantly with that pension fund.
I transferred my defined benefit pension to a private pension, but my own investment journey was not that great because I invested at the wrong time. When the stock market was down in 2008/09, which would have been a perfect time to invest, I didn’t have the money to invest in my pension because I was self-employed and building my career. So I paid in at a high and missed the opportunities when the markets were down.
How did you get over the regret?
Simonne spent years regretting transferring her pension – but then decided to look forward instead (Photo: Nick Ford Photography)
When I transferred my defined benefit pension, it was about £50,000 and the value today would probably have been around £250,000. If I had kept that pension, it would have kicked in at 60 and probably given me around £6,000 a year.
The regret of that decision weighed on me for so many years until I got to the point where I told myself I have to let it go, stop looking backwards and just compensate for it and build it back up.
How did you turn things around and what is in your pension pot now?
Around 15 years ago, I remember having only about £100,000 in my pension pot and I felt way behind and embarrassed. I felt I didn’t have anywhere near the level I should have at that stage of my life.
For the last 10 years, I have been paying into my pension on a regular basis and increasing the contributions. I now pay in £1,400 a month and I put in lump sums as well as and when I can. I also pay into a stocks and shares ISA regularly.
I now have £325,000 in my SIPP (Self-Invested Personal Pension) and £185,000 in ISAs. I view my pension and ISAs as the same pot, so I have more than £500,000 saved for retirement and feel much more on track.
What is your attitude to money and life?
My partner has long Covid, had to take early retirement from the NHS and is mostly housebound. Life has thrown a curveball, and you learn to recalibrate and evaluate what is important and appreciate things that you once took for granted, as you never know what is around the corner.
Simonne appreciates things that she once took for granted (Photo: Simonne Gnessen)
I definitely don’t plan to stop working before I am 67, but even then, I don’t think I’ll stop because there is a lot more I want to do.
My mum’s death also had a deep impact on me and building financial security has been important for me, as well as creating a business where I can do meaningful work which she would be proud of.
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