Better late than never!
You’ll often hear us say that you should start planning for your retirement as soon as possible, but if you’re already in your 40s/50s and haven’t already got a plan in place, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start getting retirement ready now.
There are plenty of measures you can take to ensure your dream retirement, and Jack Farmer, one of our Financial Planners, has outlined them for you below.
Review your finances
Setting realistic and achievable goals is heavily reliant on your current financial circumstances.
Knowing how much you hold in savings, investments, workplace pensions and more enables you to come up with the best possible strategy.
Define your objectives
What do you want from retirement? Whether it’s travelling, spending more time with your family, or taking up a new hobby – it’s important to set objectives so you know what it is you’re saving for. A plan can then be put in place based around this.
Check you have a workplace pension
A workplace pension scheme deducts contributions directly from your wages, and your employer may also contribute. Make sure you check what your company’s policy is and that you are enrolled.
Track down lost pensions
You may have been auto-enrolled into workplace pensions by previous employers, which are easily forgotten about when you start a new job. It may be worth looking into consolidating these in to one scheme.
Contribute as much as you can to pensions
There is also the option of private pension schemes, and we would recommend saving as much as you can afford in these. Despite starting later in life, the benefits of compound interest can help boost your retirement income.
Cut unnecessary expenses
The later in life you start planning your pension, the less time you have to save. So, this may mean identifying those expenses that you can live without and cutting them out, meaning those savings can go towards your retirement.
Downsize your property
It is common that as you get older you find your home has more space than you need due to children moving out, etc. If this is the case, it may be worth moving to a smaller property, meaning you can use left over money from the sale for your pension.
This will also help reduce monthly outgoings, including home insurance and general maintenance, increasing the amount of money you are able to put aside.
Delay your retirement date
The longer you stay in full time work, the more you will be able to save and the less time you will need to rely on retirement funds. Whilst this may seem like an obvious choice, if you started late in your saving then delaying your retirement date may be an effective solution.
Revise your investment strategy
Investments are a great way to gain additional income, so if you play your cards right and increase your returns, this could really boost your pension pot.
However, this of course comes with risk, so we would recommend speaking to a professional financial advisor, such as ourselves, before making any big decisions regarding your strategy.
Repay high-interest debts
It’s always important to stay on top of your high-interest debts, but it could be worth focusing on if you’re yet to start saving for your retirement as this will free up some cash.
WE are here to help
Funding your future can be overwhelming for anyone, but this is especially the case if you’re getting a late start. But it doesn’t need to be that way, as our Wealth Experts are here to make the process as simple as possible whilst giving you the highest returns. If you want to get started on your savings, you can get in touch with us here.
