20 November 2020

10 Points to ponder before taking advice on your Retirement options

Think, Act & Plan your Retirement

The challenge most people have when considering matters of retirement is that their vision for the future is clouded by several unknowns and factors outside their control, and often constrained by the money they have available.

Although we can’t predict what will happen in the future, you can certainly plan ahead based on what you know today.  Here are some questions to help you prepare: -

1. How would l like to spend my time and how will my lifestyle change as I get older?
2. How might this affect my monthly costs?
3. How will my health change as I age? Are there any pre-existing health or family conditions that may provide an indication?
4. What is my life expectancy?
5. How far will my savings need to stretch?

Once you have a clear picture of what your retirement might look like, you’re in a much stronger position to understand how you will want to use your pension money.  Ask yourself: -

1. Do I have sufficient pension money to support the kind of lifestyle I want?
2. Do I want to take a cash lump sum?
3. Do I want or need guaranteed income for the remainder of my life, or would I prefer to pick and choose when to take income?
4. Do I feel comfortable taking investment risk?
5. Do I want to minimise tax by managing how and when I access money?

In asking yourself these questions, you are creating a clearer picture of what retirement might look like for you.  The next sensible step would be to take FREE guidance from some of the government agencies to help build your knowledge about your retirement options.  These are: -

• Pension Wise – www.pensionwise.gov.uk
• The Money Advice Service – www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk
• The Pensions Advisory Service – www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk

Guidance and advice provide two different types of support.  Guidance is an excellent way to get an understanding of the options available to you and answer any general questions you may have.  Advice looks at your current circumstances and future needs and provides a detailed personalised recommendation on what you need to do.

I hope this article has been useful in helping you formulate your retirement plans or understand the steps you need to take as you embark on your journey.  We have more client guides on our knowledge centre for your reading.

Should you need independent retirement advice then please get in touch to arrange a no obligation meeting with one of our pension specialist advisers to discuss how we can help.  You can contact us by email at info@retinvest.co.uk or by telephone on 01786 431 703.