The most common question asked to financial advisers by clients close to retirement is how much money they need to retire early, according to Standard Life.

A report from the insurer found the question was asked by 58 per cent of the clients, while nearly half (48 per cent) asked if they should they take tax-free cash as a lump sum.

Other commonly asked questions included how to pay less tax, which was asked by 38 per cent, and the impact of Brexit on finances, which was a question from 36 per cent of clients.

More than a fifth (22 per cent) wanted to know about transferring defined benefit pensions and 16 per cent wanted information about buying an annuity.

Standard Life head of WRAP platform proposition, Alastair Black, said: “Clients close to retirement want to make the most of their hard-earned savings, so it’s unsurprising to see questions on early retirement and lump sums asked most frequently.

"This demonstrates the true value of good advice, as these are basic questions that can have a huge impact on retirement planning."

Black noted that an “interesting dimension” of the research was the “healthy proportion of clients seeking advice on inheritance tax and gifting to children and grandchildren”.

“Advisers are telling us this is a growing trend as more clients have larger amounts of money to manage. The area of intergenerational wealth transfer is reasonably ‘young’ in the UK market, we predict it will become an increasingly important part of the advice and planning process,” added Black.

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