Meeting the financial demands you may face in later life
The significant increase in property prices in recent years has likely shifted many people’s expectations of the role property wealth will eventually play in supporting their retirement. With people spending longer in retirement, one of the challenges that many need to overcome is how to fund it and how to meet the financial demands they may face in later life, such as the cost of long-term care.
It’s never too late to think about saving for retirement
How much do you think you’ll need to fund your retirement? Of course, the answer to that question will depend on what you want to do when you stop work. Worryingly, almost half of non-retirees (46%) are unable to identify how much they believe retirees receive annually from their State Pension, according to a survey[1].
Having a good idea of the lifestyle you want is key
People planning for retirement should think hard about what they want to do when they eventually stop work. It is helpful to have a good idea of the lifestyle you want, how much it will cost and how you are going to pay for it.
State Pension is still the bedrock of many pensioners’ retirement income
The earnings benchmark of the State Pension triple lock has been temporarily set aside for this year. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) confirmed on 7 September 2021 that the State Pension triple lock rule has not been applied for the current 2022/23 financial year over concerns of the potential costs involved.
Encouraging individuals to save longer for their retirement
The normal minimum pension age (NMPA), currently 55, is the earliest age that members of a registered pension scheme can draw their benefits without incurring an unauthorised payments tax charge, other than in cases of ill health or where they have a protected pension age.
Are you ‘mid or late career’ or planning to retire within ten years? If the answer’s ‘yes’, then you probably want to know the answers to these questions: Will I be able to retire when I want to? Will I run out of money? How can I guarantee the kind of retirement I want?
Financial consequences to stopping work in your 50s
Early retirement may be the ultimate dream for some, but the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic made it the only option for many. Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that over-50s had the highest redundancy rate between December 2020 and February 2021[1].
Saving into a pension is one of the most tax-efficient ways to save for your retirement. Not only do pensions enable you to grow your retirement savings largely free of tax, but they also provide tax relief on the contributions you make.
If you’ve been diligently saving into a pension throughout your working life, you should be entitled to feel confident about your retirement. But, unfortunately, the best savers sometimes find themselves inadvertently breaching their pension Lifetime Allowance (LTA) and being charged an additional tax that erodes their savings.
What’s making the retirement journey even more difficult?
The days of working for a single employer for your entire career and retiring with a comfortable pension are largely gone. The responsibility for accumulating a retirement nest egg now rests with individuals as opposed to their employers.
