#RETIREMENT COUNTDOWN FREE#

To get an idea of what income you will have coming in take a closer look at your State Pension, private pensions, savings and investments. You will have a more fixed idea as to how you want your retirement to look вЂ“ and what it is likely to cost. The point is, unless you keep your retirement front of mind throughout your career, you will not have a blueprint to work from and you risk leaving it too late to cover your financial needs at the most important time.ДЄs you approach retirement in your fifties it is easier to calculate essential financial needs. Your dreams for the future will change over time, so will the value and options linked to your savings, and the financial environment itself. How much money will you need? This is never an easy question to answer.

#RETIREMENT COUNTDOWN FREE#

Again, an experienced eye is precious so please feel free to contact us to check out how you could possibly maximise your options and payback in the current climate. Review your pension regularly and keep a close eye on how changes in the financial environment (i.e., inflation) could de-rail your plans. To keep you safe, always seek out the assistance of a regulated financial adviser such as Portafina. Taking money from your pension fund early could mean leaving yourself less to live on in later life. Remember, however, these savings were originally meant for your retirement years. This can be a great asset for paying off debts (giving a smoother start to retirement) or buying a family treat in the approach to leaving work. In effect this offers extra savings in the approach to retirement. At 55, just as the idea of retirement is looming, most schemes allow you to access your private pension pot. This could include bonds, high interest savings accounts (such as ISAвЂ™s which offer low tax benefits) or property.ДЄs we age, the financial environment linked to savings and pensions begins to change. You may also commit to other long-term savings plans which will come to fruition when you have finished work. Try to align contributions and pension benefits to your expected needs and dreams. You can regularly check your funds by looking at your annual pension reports or asking human resources about your current occupational pension. It is common to live in the false premise that now you have a fund you will be fine. It is so easy to just forget about it, especially when we are not actively contributing and perhaps do not want to think about it. The key point is to monitor your pension fund throughout your life.

You may well revisit the efficiency of your occupational pension, consider other personal pension providers or other savings methods. The financial environment changes over time, along with financial regulations and opportunities, and your attitude to retirement. And now, if you are earning over ВЈ10,000 a year, a resident in the UK and over the age of 21, your employer must offer you an occupational pension by law. Therefore, it is wise to look at investing in a personal pension too. This is great, but in the 21 st century, the State Pension only provides fundamental financial cover. As soon as you start earning in the UK, you begin paying National Insurance stamps which build towards your State Pension. If you have had the opportunity, you will have started preparing for your retirement from an early age. At this time, it becomes more of a reality as it is visible on the horizon. Generally, it is around our early fifties that we really begin to take retirement more seriously. However, the longer we leave attending to our retirement needs the more likely we will be facing restricted opportunities in our later lives. We will have also started to think about all those dreams from a growing bucket list. Hopefully, during our working life we will have put in place those necessary financial cornerstones that allow us to live safely and comfortably. And, as our careers mature and we get closer to that precious day when we say goodbye to the boss, the excitement begins to build for turning our post-work days into something fantastic. With recent medical advances, global communications, and essential guidance at our fingertips, it is also a time for living dreams. And rightly so вЂ“ we cannot pretend we will not be dealing with some of these factors in later life.

Strangely, even though it now has capacity to be a major positive phase in our lives with great opportunities, it still tends to remind many of us of endings, slowing down, and general uncertainty. Retirement is either something we do not want to think too much about, or it is a phase in our lives we have little interest in. For the majority of our lives and careers it is something that we tend to subconsciously shy away from.

Retirement countdown