When you hit retirement
The “Real Retirement Report” by Aviva sheds light on how much, or little, importance pension holders who have not yet retired, give to their pension planning. Results show that, largely, pension holders fail to dedicate real time to managing their pension, which can put them in a weaker position upon retirement.
How do you view pension planning?
As the population are generally living older and many individuals are fulfilling much of their life dreams at various stages throughout their lives, rather than waiting for “retirement day”, the emphasis on retirement planning, particularly pension planning, has been dwindling in past years.
The irony is, of course, the longer you live the more money you need to support a comfortable lifestyle, yet, the less people appear focused on ensuring this will be the case.
Retirement is far away
The general consensus amongst over 45 year old’s is that retirement is still a long way off and therefore doesn’t need their attention.
- 41% – never spend time on pension planning
- 29% spend one day a year, or less on pension planning
- 63% – admit they give little importance to their pension planning
It is understandable that individuals in their twenties and even their thirties aren’t focused fully on retirement. However, what is surprising, based on results from the report, is that still a growing number of those with just a couple of years to go before retirement, don’t prioritise either.
- 25% – don’t prioritise retirement planning, even with just 2 years to go
Is your pension pot being left to chance?
ONS Pension Trends (2014), estimate there are just over 16 million UK pension holders, including those with either an occupational or a private pension scheme.
Therefore, if 63% of these give little importance to their pension planning, this could mean more than ten million pension pots are being left to chance, and are not having the correct maintenance required to ensure the maximum results. Are you one of these?
Darren can help with a full review of your current pension arrangements and advice on the best way forward for your retirement plan.
Simply, contact Darren today to start the process and ensure your retirement will be comfortable and stress-free.
One pension or two?
61% of those surveyed only had one personal pension scheme, which did generally make management easier. 28% had two or more pensions.
Results also demonstrated a proportion of pension holders knew very little information about their pension arrangements, which is going to affect ongoing management.
- 6% – didn’t know the number of pension schemes they had opened
- 9% – didn’t know the types of pension they had
- 27% – of those with just one pension manage their main pot closely
- 33% – paid no attention to their pension pot at all
- 34% – ignored their second pension pot completely
- 24% – also ignored their primary pension pot too!
Of those with two or more pension pots, some have chosen to consolidate their investments, either based on advice from their financial adviser, or to ease management.
Why it is important to act now
Given that only one third (37%) use the routine information, received by the pension provider, to check their pension performance, working with a financial adviser will ensure regular reviews and the correct planning is undertaken.
Pension rules also change regularly so a professional will always be up-to-date with this.
Dental & Medical Financial Services are pension experts for dental and medical professionals. Call to speak with Darren or the team today to get an appraisal of your retirement plan.
Tel: 01403 780 770