People like me

We have illustrated some examples below of people who could potentially benefit from our range of products:

Trip of a lifetime

Peter and Margaret are both in their fifties with two grown up children who have just finished university and are both financially independent. They have 6 months of mortgage payments remaining, and so they're free to start making the most of their disposable income. Once they've paid off the mortgage, they'd both like to look into retiring early, but probably not for another 5 years or so. Peter has been paying into a company pension scheme all his working life, whilst Margaret has a Stakeholder Pension Scheme.

To celebrate their 60th birthdays they are planning to take a 'round-the-world' trip and possibly build a conservatory on the house. In order to help make sure that they are able to do all these things, they plan a meeting with a Nationwide Senior Financial Consultant.

After talking to a Nationwide Senior Financial Consultant, and running through all their current financial commitments, and their plans for the future, they decide to make use of their tax efficient ISA allowance and to build a portfolio of investment products that aims to give them the medium to long term growth potential. They are both happy to take a medium degree of risk with their regular savings, understanding that as a result, they may potentially get better returns.

After a full financial review with a Senior Financial Consultant in their local branch, they agree to invest £300 each month into a stocks and shares ISA, giving them access to a range of fund providers, as well as choosing to top up their cash ISA.

The couple are regularly updated on the performance of their portfolio, giving them the opportunity to check if they are on target to achieve their goals.

Thinking about the future

Clive and Sally are in their early forties and they have three children aged 13, 8 and 3. Clive is the main breadwinner as Sally works part-time and they have an average size mortgage. Whilst their outgoings are reasonably high, they have spare money to spend on their family and home life. Clive and Sally lead busy lives and spend most of their spare time with the children, so they don't have much time to think about their finances. However, it's important to Clive and Sally to protect the family lifestyle they've worked hard for and to be able to support their children's future, so they have taken a positive step in achieving this and booked an appointment with a Nationwide Senior Financial Consultant to discuss the best products for them.

Nationwide provides a range of protection plans and the Senior Financial Consultant talked them through the appropriate products which were suitable for their needs.

These included:

Life Cover – could provide a lump sum should the worst happen during the term of the plan. With mortgage life cover, Clive and Sally could help protect their mortgage in case one of them was to die unexpectedly or they could take out a plan which provides coverage over and above their mortgage amount to provide extra financial security for their family should the worst happen.

Critical Illness Cover – in addition to their chosen life cover policy Clive and Sally could add Critical Illness Cover at an extra cost. This would mean if Clive or Sally were to suffer from one of 39 specified critical illnesses such as bacterial meningitis, multiple sclerosis and permanent deafness, during the term of the plan, they could receive a cash lump sum, relieving any financial burden at such a difficult time, enabling them to concentrate on their recovery.

Income Protection – with reasonably high outgoings each month, securing their monthly income could provide real peace of mind for Clive and Sally. Income protection could provide them with a monthly income if they were unable to work due to accident or illness. This benefit would continue until they were able to return to work or reach their intended retirement age and would help to secure their current lifestyle.

Planning for retirement

Keith and Anne are both in their thirties, and don't generally think about retirement. They are both in full-time employment and have just bought their first house together. They enjoy eating out once or twice a month, and don't plan on having a family in the near future. Keith already maximises his ISA allowance each year, but he plans on using this money to help with bringing up children later on in life.

It was only whilst walking past her local Nationwide branch that Anne started to think about the future, and whether they should start to make provisions for later on in life now.

Keith and Anne decide to call the branch to arrange a meeting with the Senior Financial Consultant as they're unsure as to the best option for them. They were concerned that for a single pensioner the state guaranteed minimum income is currently £130 per week (based on eligibility for the pensions credit 2009/2010) which is much less than they currently earn.

During the meeting, the Senior Financial Consultant suggests that by investing in a Stakeholder pension, they could make either make single or regular payments from just £20, so it wouldn't have a massive impact on their current lifestyle, and by investing in a Stakeholder Pension, they could enjoy tax relief of up to 40% on all their payments (higher rate tax payers must claim additional relief through their tax return), take up to 25% of their pension fund as a cash lump sum and take their pension benefits at any time between the ages of 55 and 75.

A first time investor

Kate is 59 years old and works as a legal secretary. She owns her house having made her final mortgage payment 5 years ago. She currently earns £26,000 per annum and although she has minimal savings, has just inherited £30,000 which she is looking to invest to help fund a special holiday when she retires in six years time.

She contacts her local Nationwide branch to book an appointment with a Senior Financial Consultant to discuss her current situation and goals for the future. During the meeting, it's established that Kate is comfortable to leave the bulk of her inheritance for a period of at least six years, but she doesn't want to take too much risk with her investment.

The Senior Financial Consultant suggests that she puts some of the money into an easily accessible savings account so that she can get to it as and when she needs to. To do this, she decides to split this money between a Cash ISA and an e-savings account. For the remaining balance, she chooses to invest in a Protected Equity Bond. This is designed to return her original investment at maturity, and also offers potential for better returns as her investment will be linked to the performance of selected world stock market indices, with averaging in the final year.

The people and circumstances in the case studies above are fictitious and for example only.

Tax Information is based on our understanding of HM Revenue & Customs rules and are subject to change.