Retirement Planning
Retirement planning is very simply you taking control of your finances and preparing for a steady stream of money being available for you after retirement. It entails you putting funds aside, but, in order to get there, there are things you need to plan and our advisers are here to help.
What is Retirement Planning?
Retirement planning ensures you have the financial security to do what you want to be able to do from the moment you decide it’s time for you to hang up the proverbial gloves.
In our roles as independent financial advisers we come across so many different scenarios. There are people who plan for retirement as soon as they graduate, there are those who leave it until their mid-40s and those who leave it slightly later.
We want you to continue leading your life where you can fulfil your goals and dreams. It’s important for you to ask yourself questions such as – what are my retirement goals, how much money do I estimate I’ll need, and, between now and then, how should I invest in order to grow my retirement savings, how can an independent financial adviser help me achieve everything I want to achieve?
Our team of independent financial advisers in Cornwall, Southampton, Somerset and Northern Ireland will help you on your journey to retirement. We have clients all over the UK who we are guiding through their retirement plans. As empathetic, caring financial advisers we will act as your guide so you remain comfortable, informed and secure.
The general “default” view when previously saving for retirement was that when you are coming close to retirement day, you start to divest away from equities and into more risk averse assets like property and bonds, etc. That was the case when you had to retire at a set date, but that no longer applies.
Peter McGahan writes in the Irish News
How Do I Begin Retirement Planning?
At Worldwide Financial Planning we totally understand that everyone is unique. Retirement planning is a complex topic, like most other areas of financial planning, but, there are answers for everything and our advisers will talk you through each of these questions. They will go through your current pension pot and work backwards in order to work out how you can achieve what you want to achieve in your retirement.
What Do I Need To Be Thinking About?
Changes to pension legislation over recent years means you do have more choice when it comes to retirement planning. What this also means is that, with a wider range of options, there are more things to think about. This makes it even more crucial to get independent advice.
What Can I Start Thinking About Now?
The pension landscape is a complex one and legislation is forever changing. Our team is fully informed of all pension legislation changes as they happen. And what is important for you to remember is that we all are unique in terms of our personal situations, and indeed our attitude to risk, so our solution will be specifically tailored to meet your needs.
Things you and your adviser will discuss include;
When Can I Retire?
When you retire is totally up to you. There is no fixed date when you have to retire in fact you don’t have to retire at all as long as your employer is happy for you to continue working. You will need to be in a secure financial position to fund your retirement years before you choose to give up working. Your Worldwide Financial Planning adviser will go through all of your options with you.
What Are The Different Types of Pensions?
There are three types of pensions – the state pension, a workplace pension and personal pensions. If you are working then all three types are available to you. State pension age is 66 and this is when you can receive an income from the state. To claim it, you must have made National Insurance contributions throughout your working life. A workplace pension takes contributions from you, your employer and the government so you have money to live on when you retire. These contributions are invested with the aim of increasing the amount you have when you decide to retire. Self-employed people particularly have personal pensions – again, like workplace pensions, personal pensions invest your money so as to increase the amount you have when you retire. We go into this in more detail here so have a read.
Our Pensions Specialists Will Take Care of You
Frequently Asked Questions
The earlier you plan for your retirement the more time you are giving your pension pot to grow. People start retirement planning at different stages of their lives. But, if you’re reading this and you’re in your late 20s or early 30s, with each pound placed in your fund today, you’re giving it longer to grow so be positive about taking action now.
Your adviser will assess your current financial situation along with your attitude to risk. In reviewing your situation there will be a discussion on how much you are able to, and prepared to put into your pension pot. Having assessed your attitude to risk your adviser will then provide you with a number of different options which is backed up by our research partners.
The reason you need to think about this is because you will have to adjust your assumptions as you move forwards particularly in periods of high inflation. Your adviser will guide you on this.
When making all future financial plans it is so important to consider inflation. Inflation affects everything from how much you’ll need to spend on your weekly or monthly shop to how long your pension savings will last. Your financial adviser will monitor this for you.
As we said before, the earlier you start saving for your retirement, the more time you are allowing your pension pot to grow. How much you save will be determined by what kind of lifestyle you will want to live in your retirement years. If you start in your 40s, you and your partner would need to save a combined £350 approximately to have a comfortable retirement. If you are seeking a luxurious lifestyle, you could be looking at saving around £1,000 per month.
In October 2021, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced a 3.1 per cent rise so more than 10 million state pensioners will receive this payrise from April 2022 in line with the inflation rate. This could represent a boost of up to £288.60 for the year.
We go into this in more detail HERE (INSERT TEXT AS LINK TO BLOG POST) but basically yes, you can, partially. It depends however on when you qualified for the state pension. It also depends on whether or not you have chosen to delay when you collect your state pension. The lump option is only available to people who reached state pension age before April 6, 2016. Anyone qualifying after that date can only take extra weekly pension.
There are different pension options to choose from. They include; Occupational Pension; Personal Pension (standard personal pension, stakeholder pension or SIPP – Self Invested Personal Pension. Read this post (INSERT LINK AS TEXT TO POST) where we break this down for you.
If you decide to live life abroad during your retirement years take advice from one of our advisers to find out how this will affect your pension. There is quite a lot to consider here such as whether providers can pay into an overseas bank account or indeed if there are charges, whether your pension will be affected by fluctuations in exchange rates as your pension would be paid in sterling. Your adviser will be able to help you with this.
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