Pension Planning

The great thing about our Pension Review service is we will do all the hard work. Your pension providers will supply us with detailed information, which will allow our in-house experts to analyse the strength of your plans.

This research will take a few months to compile. But at the end, we promise you'll be in a position to make informed decisions about your future.

If you’re currently working and paying taxes, you should be able to count on the state pension to provide you with some support in retirement. The current rules are that you need to have made at least 10 years’ National Insurance contributions to get the minimum state pension amount.

If, by the time you reach state pension age, you’ve made 35 years’ National Insurance contributions, you’ll potentially get the full state pension.

It is important to note that a state pension will only cover a basic retirement. Having a private pension as well is a must in order to achieve a better quality of life, when you need it most. You should only contribute what you can afford and make the most of an employee pension scheme, which means your employer pays in to you pension too. This can make a real difference to its overall value in the long-term.

Remember the sooner we start saving for retirement, the better off those retirement years are likely to be.

This answer can differ wildly for people. It all comes down to what type of lifestyle you want when you retire. Your golden years can be the most precious time of your life. If your goal is to take holidays, lose yourself in your hobbies, volunteer for important causes, you just need a plan in place and a commitment to follow it.

Research from Which? has shown that a retiree’s household spent just under £2,110 a month, or around £25,000 a year, on average. This covers all the basic areas of expenditure and some luxuries, such as European holidays, hobbies and eating out. Aiming for this as the minimum level of income will provide a good platform for your retirement.

Delving further in to the research, it’s reported that you’d need £40,000 a year if you include luxuries such as long-haul trips and a new car every five years. Your priorities can change slightly as you move through your retirement years though. This can mean spending less on food and drink, housing payments and recreation as you get older.

Beyond leisure activities, it is important to consider day-to-day life when planning your retirement pot:

• You’ll need an income to cover your bills and essentials like food.
• You might want to support your family financially, such as contributing towards university costs or to help fund a wedding.
• Finally, you might want to hold some money back for later in life, in case you or your partner need long-term care.

If you’re self-employed, saving into a pension can be a difficult habit to develop. More so than for those in employment receiving employer pension contributions.

Most self-employed people use a personal pension for their pension savings. With a personal pension you choose where you want your contributions to be invested from a range of funds offered by the provider.

There are three types of personal pension available:

• Personal pensions – these are offered by most large providers.
• Stakeholder pensions - where the maximum charge is capped at 1.5% and you can stop and start premiums without penalty.
• Self-invested personal pensions - which have a wider range of investment options, but usually come with higher charges.

As someone who’s self-employed, you may actually decide that you may not wish to use a pension, to allow more access to readily available funds. As you need to be 55 to access a pension, you may wish to ensure that your business has enough capital, by using savings or investment options instead.

Many self employed people also decide to sell their business when they choose to retire, to fund their retirement plans. This strategy though assumes they will be able to sell their business at that time (and at a good price).