For far too many months now we have been promising two things to our registered users.
- An integrated product where you can put your Guiide plan in place directly.
- Partner modelling to plan as a couple.
Sorry – It’s been slower than a treacle covered snail. So many people have quite rightly asked.
“Why the delay and what’s the latest?“
Why the delay…… Guidance vs Advice
We provide guidance, we cannot provide advice. However, a bit unhelpfully, guidance is not defined legally. It is just “not advice”.
We are pushing the limits of what can be provided under guidance. We have already done this through our existing tools. Adding new features that are not available anywhere else, (so cannot be pointed to as other examples), pushes this further. This requires lots of legal and compliance input.
What does this mean?
In short, this means that we need to be very careful that any further help we provide. Couples modelling, can not step inadvertently into what may be deemed by anyone to be advice.
It also means we have to be just as careful with any integrations that we do. This is especially the case in setting up links from your plans to a provider for payment. As well as allowing you to model potential investment funds within Guiide.
It has been a long and extremely detailed journey. This has involved specialist regulatory legal opinion and compliance advice. In addition, we have had a number of conversations with regulators to ensure we do not cross this line.
There is a push from both Regulators and Government to support more pension savers through innovation. This may mean the boundaries change over time. This may make things easier, but we have to deal with the current situation.
So where are we now?
The Product
We have built all of the modelling, functionality and integrations needed to allow this.
We have also announced our partners in the product. These are the tech focussed SIPP provider Pathlines. They will be the pension provider.
In addition, Invesco, the large multi national investment manager. They will provide the investment funds. You can see our recent joint press release here.
The product now has it’s first customer. Kevin, our Founder, signed up on 4 August 2025 and his pension pots are currently being transferred into it. Please note he believed the product was right for his own circumstances and he was eligible for it. This will not be the case for everyone. Please see eligibility below.
Further testing
We are currently looking to allow some more individuals who have shown an interest in this to go through the signup process for the Product over August. This will allow us to incorporate any feedback into this process. Once we have done this and made any changes based on feedback, we will make it available to all Guiide registered users.
If you have any interest in being part of this testing please just let us know at contact@guiide.co.uk. As part of this testing there is no obligation to choose the product, you can simply go through the process and provide feedback on the process if preferred.
Couples planning
Again we have built all the modelling and functionality needed.
At this stage we have not been able to release this. We need to be sure we are meeting our compliance requirements before we can.
Further testing
Again, as part of this, we want to work with anyone interested in using this modelling before release, to go through the new partners modelling journey, gain their feedback and understand the questions they may have. Once complete, we can then release this to all our registered users.
Again if you have any interest in being part of this testing please just let us know at contact@guiide.co.uk.
Again we apologise this has taken so long. The legal and compliance hurdles on both of these new innovations, when you are first to do them, have been far greater than expected given their uniqueness. We remain committed to bringing both options to all of our registered users as soon as we possibly can.
Product Eligibility
For the initial version you need to be over 50, not currently accessing your pension pots, with at least £50,000 of transferable pots.
Pathlines cannot accept transfers in from final salary schemes or pension pots with underlying guarantees on income, as you would lose these guarantees and we don’t want anyone to do that.
Pathlines also cannot accept transfers in from pots your employer is still paying into, as you would lose these employer’s contributions, again as we don’t want anyone to lose them. If you are contributing solely yourself, i.e. no employers contributions, these can be accepted and your own contributions can continue if wanted.
You must also have a Guiide plan with no expected shortfalls. We want anyone who uses the product to have an initial plan in place which is expected to last if everything goes to plan. This is the starting position, which you can then track and adjust over time if needed.
Disclaimer
With any pension product your funds will be invested and your capital is at risk. Remember investments can fall as well as rise.
All of the above is intended for information only. Further details of the product will be provided upon full launch. This product will not be suitable for everyone and other pension products are available.
The product is not suitable for those who want a wide range of investment choices to select themselves, or those you want regulated advice on the selection of a pension provider.
If you are unsure on what type of product or investments could be right for you, we recommend that you seek regulated advice.
Our couples planning solution is intended to help you plan as a couple under a guidance based route, it is not intended as advice, or a substitute for regulated advice.
Once launched, if you choose this product, we will receive ongoing payments from Pathlines to support you in the Product with our tools over your retirement plan. This will enable you to track your plan, make changes to the income wanted from the plan and model your investment fund choices.
