People planning for retirement

For many of us the thought of retiring is a distant dream. In fact, the increases to the State Pension age of the past few years can make it feel that the day you finally finish work will never actually be reached.

In my experience, there comes a time in all our lives when we start to take planning for our retirement seriously. The trigger is different for all of us; it might be a job change, a ‘big’ birthday, or an improvement in our financial circumstances. Whatever that reason, the sooner you take action, and start planning seriously for your retirement, the sooner you will be able to finish work.

If you’ve reached that stage, there’s plenty for you to think about:

• When do you want to retire?
• What do you want to do in retirement? Do you have goals you want to achieve, things you want to do?
• Do you want to gradually ease in to retirement, by working part-time for a while, or stop working completely?
• What income will you need and how will inflation affect that in years to come?
• Will you need any lump sums? Just because you’ve finished work won’t stop the car from needing to be changed! On a more positive note, there may be things you want to do, such as large, once in a lifetime holidays, which will require a large lump sum of money
• How much capital do you need to build up to achieve your retirement goals?
• How much have you accumulated so far and what will it be worth when you come to retire?
• Are you likely to inherit any money before you retire?
• What’s your shortfall? And how can it be bridged?
• Is a workplace pension available for you to join?
• Is a pension the right option to help bridge the shortfall?
• Will the mortgage be repaid before you finish work?
• What happens to your retirement plans, and those of your spouse or partner, if one of you were to die, become ill, or you have a significant change to your circumstances?

I told you there was a lot to think about!

I know these questions often put people off planning for their retirement. Something that feels so complicated and far away is easy to push to the bottom of your personal ‘to do list’.

But, that just puts off something that you know, in your heart of hearts, you need to address.

My job is to help you plan for your retirement, whilst still enabling you to live for today.