Planning for your retirement
Could you manage on about £100 per week when you retire?
That's the question you need to ask and if, like most, you realize that you will not be able to enjoy your retirement on a budget of £100 per week, then you need to work out how much you will need.
That’s often quite a daunting prospect. But it doesn’t need to be. We will take the time to understand what you want from your retirement and what your existing, if any, provisions are for when you retire. With some careful planning, we can even lower the age at which you plan to retire, after all, it’s your life and why delay what could be the most enjoyable time of your life?
We believe that planning for your retirement goes further than just putting in place a pension and can be achieved in several ways, for example, using various forms of tax efficient investments, building a portfolio of property, and of course the more conventional pensions with their extremely valuable tax relief.
Three main types of pension:
Occupational Pensions - Salary-related
Company pensions are set up by employers, for their staff. They are sometimes called 'defined benefit' or 'final salary' schemes and are based on the employee's salary and pensionable service. The employer contributes to the scheme and there are trustees to look after scheme members' interests.
Occupational Pensions – Money purchase schemes
Some employers offer these pension schemes - they are sometime called 'defined contributions schemes'. They do not provide a pension based on your salary or pensionable service. Instead, they are invested to build up a pension fund that you convert into an income when you retire. Usually, the employer contributes to the scheme and there are trustees to look after scheme members' interests.
Stakeholder and personal pensions
These are the most popular choice for people who arrange their pensions privately. They are also money purchase pensions. Financial institutions such as insurance companies usually run these schemes, also known as 'pension providers'. For people that want the freedom to choose and manage their own investments, Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPP’s) offer a tax efficient option. Read more. Some employers also offer stakeholder and personal pensions to their employees.
Which sounds most appealing, paying tax to the government or saving it for your old age?
One of the great attractions of pension schemes as a method of saving for retirement is that there is tax relief on contributions up to government set contribution limits. There is no other investment you can make which will give you 20% or 40% tax relief, depending on the highest rate of tax you pay.
For a free initial consultation about planning for your retirement, simply call us on 0845 073 0490 or complete our online form and we’ll contact you to arrange an appointment. We are conveniently located in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, just minutes from the mainline station at Hassocks and close to Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill, Crawley and Brighton.
