Ian Farmer

"We didn’t want to scale back in retirement, and thanks to Richard, we didn’t have to." 

My name is Ian Farmer. I’m based in South Carolina, in the USA, and I’ve been a client of Plan First Wealth since 2018, when they founded the company. The primary reason I went to them was their relationship with Richard, but I also had some international pension issues that I knew they would be able to help me with. 

I was using a pension company that didn’t do a bad job, but wasn’t quite in tune with the international aspect. When Richard first started Plan First Wealth, he approached me to see if I’d be interested in a more rounded service that catered to international needs, rather than just building up a pension in the USA. It was an attractive proposition, and the fact that he’s an expat made a big difference. So, I decided to go with Richard. 

As you get a little bit older, you realise how important pensions are. One of the reasons that I liked Richard was that he listened. He clearly cared about and had a passion for what he was doing in the pension business, which so many people don’t, and one of the big things was that Richard is based in New York, I’m down in South Carolina, and he took the trouble to fly down and meet with me; that was big for me. 

Over the years, Richard has been able to help and advise us in a number of different areas. Tax law is very complicated here in America from an international standpoint, and if you’ve got dual nationality, social security and the American pension system has an impact on that, and there’s some very complex law about disclosure. Richard is well-versed on all this stuff; he’s up to speed, and if there are areas he’s not quite sure about, he’s got people on hand who do know what they’re talking about. He’s very quick to say, “I’m not an expert here, but let me go and find somebody else who can help.” And to me, that’s important. 

One thing that’s really important to me when working with any organisation, but particularly when it’s as personal as your pension and your finances, is not feeling like you’re under pressure. I always feel that Richard’s there, and Martha is there as well, supporting him. We get honest advice when we want it and good reminders to do things, but we’re not pestered. The biggest thing to me is that we do not feel like we’re being sold to. A lot of times, you don’t know whether you’re getting advice or whether you’re being sold to, but with Richard, you always know it’s advice. 

I wanted to make sure that we had enough money to retire while not having to do anything differently, not having to downsize the house, have fewer cars, or buy a new boat. One of the things Richard’s been able to do is take a very long-term view, taking into account how we feel about risk exposure, and give us a really good strategy that accomplishes our goals; it’s ambitious, but not too risky. 

I would absolutely recommend anybody who is having some cross-border pension issues to talk to Richard, and indeed, I have advised people to do that. Why? Because you know what you’re getting with Richard. He knows what he’s doing, he’s got a great team backing him up, nothing is too much trouble, and he is just a really great guy to work with, and that is really important.