Retirement is an important life stage and many of us look forward to our time becoming our own.
With so many choices and decisions, planning for your retirement can seem daunting and mistakes are often made by those who try to navigate their retirement planning journey alone.
A financial planner can help you realise your objectives and lay the foundations for your future retirement.
How we can help you
Your retirement plan should be unique to you, to reflect the own individual aspirations and objectives.
We take the time to get to know your worries and your aspirations before proposing any solutions. Whether you are planning for your future retirement or how to achieve a suitable income now, our financial planners can make sure you are always on track to achieve your objectives.
To form your retirement plan, we will work with you to take several considerations into account.
- Objectives – establishing your ideal retirement and possible later life scenarios.
- Income – building a strategy that will fund your goals. This can include pensions, investments along with other assets and sources of income.
- Pensions – identifying your current provision and whether it will be enough. Consideration will also be given to the charges you pay and whether consolidation is appropriate.
- Investments – reviewing your existing investments to ensure suitability and making amendments where appropriate.
- Taxation – structuring your assets to minimise your tax liability.
- Personal insurance protection – safeguarding you and your dependants should the unexpected occur whilst you are building your wealth.
- Later-life care – ensuring you are prepared should you require care in your later years.
- Legislation changes – regularly reviewing your plan to take account of changes that impact on your plans.
We recommend periodic reviews to ensure your retirement plan adjusts according to any changes in your circumstances.
Our retirement planning process
Whether you are approaching retirement or have retired already, our team will work with you to create a retirement plan that sets out a structured path for you to achieve your financial objectives.
Your financial planner and support team will continue to review your position throughout your ongoing relationship with us, providing you with the peace of mind that you are on track to live the life you want to lead.
You will be provided with a full breakdown of charges to agree prior to the commencement of any work.
If you have any questions on our retirement planning process, please get in contact with us.
1. Identify
Your financial planner will meet with you to understand your current circumstances and objectives, before making you aware of your options.
2. Implement
Your financial planning support team will carry out thorough research to create and implement your bespoke plan.
3. Review
If featured in your service agreement, your financial planner will periodically discuss your circumstances with you and identify any changes that impact your financial plan.
FAQs
Take a look at the frequently asked questions for retirement planning below to find out more.
You should begin planning and saving for your retirement as early as possible. The sooner you do this, the more income you will have in retirement and the more flexibility you will have relating to your future decisions and options.
The short answer is when you can afford to. Typically, you cannot access your pensions until age 55 at the earliest, and this is increasing as the state pension age increases.
The age at which you can access your state pension is determined by when you wee born, you can check this via the government website.
On average, in the UK, men retire at 64.7 years old and women retire at 63.6 years old.
This entirely depends on your needs, objectives, and lifestyle aspirations for your retirement.
You should also consider that you may want to spend more in the earlier years of your retirement, and less in later life.
Other than what is known as your tax-free cash entitlement, any pension you receive is treated as an income and may be liable to Income Tax if your total annual income exceeds your Personal Allowance.
You will not pay any National Insurance on your pension.
If someone inherits your pension, they may have to pay tax depending on the type of pension, type of payments made to them and your age at the time of your death. Pension funds are generally treated as being outside of your estate and not subject to Inheritance Tax.
If you are self-employed, you are responsible for choosing your pension provider and making personal contributions. You need to be aware that there will be no employer contributions so an irregular income pattern may affect your ability to save. You are entitled to a state pension, but the amount will depend on your National Insurance record, you can check this via the government website.
Over your career, you may have joined a number of pension schemes, in particular through different employers.
Pension consolidation is the combining multiple pension funds into one scheme or pension plan.
This can make managing your pensions more straightforward, but you should make sure the costs you might incur and benefits you might gain or lose also make this worthwhile.
Useful resources
Take a look at our useful resources below to find out more. Additional content is available via our resource centre.
Retirement mistakes to avoid
Achieving the ideal retirement is not always easy without professional advice. Read our article for more information.
Retirement considerations at 55
Reaching 55 is a good time to consider your plans for retirement. Read our article for more information.
What does retirement look like?
Your ideal retirement will be unique to you and you should prepare accordingly. Read our article for more information.
Taking your pension benefits
Understand the different pension income options available to you. Read our guide for more information.
