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The Importance of Financial Planning

Pensions – No longer a luxury but an absolute necessity

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The recent budget announced that the Pensions levy is being substantially reduced and indeed will be abolished completely by the end of 2015. What was seen as a major obstacle to the encouragement to save through a Pension Plan for your retirement has now effectively been removed. Here therefore are some key considerations for you to bear in mind.

1. Start as soon as you can

  • Make no mistake, the starting point is the most important point when it comes to pensions.
  • Of course it is hard for someone in their 20s to think about saving for their retirement – let’s face it they are immortal and will never get old! – and it is made even harder in a fraught economic climate.
  • But the sooner a pension is started, the less a person will have to save. Someone who is 25 and takes out a pension is saving themselves a world of financial pain in the years ahead. If they wait until they are 40 they will need to put aside over 4 times to get themselves the same return.

2. Never panic though

  • More than 50 per cent of the population does not have a private pension.
  • While it is better to start a pension early, that doesn’t mean it is ever too late to start, it simply means that the later the start the more you may need to put in.
  • Counterbalancing the late start is probably a greater degree of affordability as you get older.

3. Managing risk

  • When you are younger you can afford to take a degree of investment risk that can include investment in high risk stocks.
  • As you get older the fewer risks you should take.
  • A gradual de-risking should be a feature of your strategy with each passing decade.
  • Good advice will help steer you through the process and to identify suitable opportunities without putting all your eggs in one basket.

4. Mix things up

  • Don’t just decide on a sum you’re comfortable putting into it and leave it at that. Change the payment amount as your life circumstances change.
  • If you get a pay rise you can increase it, if you have children you can reduce it (but only slightly). If you are due a bonus you can put in a once off lump sum.

5. A necessity, not a luxury

  • Putting pension money aside for your future retirement should be considered an unavoidable outgoing and not a luxury.
  • It is right up there with a mortgage, food, clothes and electricity as one of the things people need to realise that they cannot do without.

6. Keep tabs and get good advice

  • You should check your pension plan regularly.
  • Having access to a good financial planning adviser who will steer you through the process and carry out regular reviews with you is vitally important.

Source: Lifetime Financial Planning 2014