Figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) forecasts that if you are presently under the age of 35 you stand a good chance of living to 100. Although this sounds great, we need to consider the financial implications. You could quite easily be retired for more years than you worked.
Below are a few points to consider when reviewing your retirement plans.
Annuities are when you give a lump sum to an Annuity company and in return, they guarantee you an income for the rest of your life. There are lots for a variation on this basic principle. Annuities fell out of favour when the returns started to drop. An option that might be worth considering may be to go into what is known as “drawdown” at the start of your retirement. Then move into to an annuity later, when your life expectancy will be shorter. This way you will get a higher rate of return.
Most people will look to achieve the same level of income plus inflation during the whole of their retirement. In practice, you may want more pension income in the early years of retirement when you are active and in good health. Then would be the time for the holiday that you have promised yourself or that new interest that you want to pursue. As time moves on and you become less active you may be able to manage on less.
The taxman encourages us to save for our retirement through tax incentives. With some careful planning, you can start to generate a useful tax-efficient income from investments in Individual Savings Accounts (ISA) and Pensions. You should also look at annual capital gains tax exemptions and dividend allowances. All useful tools in financial planning. You may also wish to take less investment risk as your investment will not need to work so hard to achieve the same returns.
We are a firm of Independent Financial Advisers (IFA’s). This means that, above all, the advice we offer to you is unbiased.
The above are just some of the areas that you might need to give thought to. At Anstee & Co our pension advisers will be able to provide you with more solutions that are designed around you.
Remember that it is never too soon to start planning for your retirement. So, why not arrange a meeting today to find out how we can help you with your pension income. The first meeting is at our expense and can be arranged at a time and location that is best for you. This may be at your home or at one of our offices located at: –
Additionally, our financial planners live and make use of meeting rooms in: –
The information contained in this article is for information purposes only and does not constitute advice. No action should be taken based on this information alone.