The key to a happy retirement is knowing what you want – and how to get there
14 Oct, 2022
Sponsored by Destination Retirement
Fail to plan, plan to fail – we’ve all heard this. And planning your money future is no different. You want the best possible results for your retirement, don’t you? Course you do.
But what makes a good retirement plan?
It’s about far more than just budgeting, and requires taking a very long-term view.
We all have dreams for our futures. A good retirement plan is the route map to help us get there, taking account of the possibility we may hit the occasional pothole or diversion.
First, you need income to pay the bills
Some of this is likely to come from the State Pension but the rest will depend on other sources, such as pensions, investments and savings.
A useful yardstick for retirement planning is the ‘minimum income requirement’. This is the minimum amount of income people need to cover the basics. It will include things like food, transport and utility bills.
But this ‘minimum income requirement’ is different for different people. Some people see an annual holiday as a necessity, others as a luxury. The point is that everybody has their own ‘minimum income requirement’ figure.
So, you need to make sure your retirement savings produce enough income to cover this spending before you can start thinking about anything else.
Then, you need to decide how much you can afford to spend
This is the really tricky part. How do you know how much you can afford to take out of your retirement savings each year?
For a start, you don’t know how long you’re going to live! This means you don’t know how long you’ll need your money to last.
And of course markets can go down as well as up. So, if - like many people - your pension pot is invested in stocks and shares, its value can go up and down as well.
Keep reviewing your plans
Finally, it’s really important to remember that circumstances and priorities change over time. So, you’ll need keep your plan under review and to rethink where appropriate.
For many people, getting professional financial advice is a really good idea
After all, planning for your life after work can involve making some of the most important financial decisions of your life.
And good financial planning for retirement is not just about money. It’s as much about having peace of mind. Knowing that your needs have been understood and you are being supported to make the most of what you have.
In the past, quality advice may have felt out of reach for many people. This may be because they didn’t know where to find it, or simply because couldn’t afford it.
But the good news is that this is all changing.
Introducing Destination Retirement
Destination Retirement is a completely new kind of financial planning and advice service.
It helps people paint a picture of what their life after work could look like, and gives them a free personal retirement plan which they can adjust as often as they like. It then provides expert financial advice on how to make their plan a reality.
Best of all, this advice is fully regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (the UK’s financial watchdog).
What’s more, Destination Retirement continues to support people throughout their life after work, making sure plans are performing as expected.
It’s easy for people to make changes to their future spending plans and receive updated advice. This means they can be confident that if things change, their plan can adapt with them.
And there’s a team of friendly experts on hand to provide help whenever it’s needed.
As with any investment, your capital is at risk. This means that your investments may go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest.
Destination Retirement is provided by HUB Financial Solutions, part of Just Group plc. Just are one of the UK’s leading providers of financial products and services for people approaching and in retirement, and have been trusted to manage over £24 billion of people’s retirement savings.
