Will Your Pension Support Your Retirement: What You Said

Unlike other financial investments, people often neglect their private pension with the expectation that when they come to retire, everything will be ok.

No matter how you picture your retirement, the last thing you want to find is that despite your hard work you’re still left short and cannot enjoy your new-found freedom. At Pension Works, we carried out a survey with Silversurfers to find out the basics of your retirement planning.

Q1. Do you have a Private Pension?

A healthy 74% of you said you already had a Private Pension in-place, meaning you aren’t solely reliant on the state pension. A recent survey by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)*, has suggested that 29% of over 65’s coming to retirement don’t have a private pension, which is worrying. Currently, a full state pension only delivers £164.35 (April 2018) a week or circa £712 a month per person, so it’s becoming increasingly important to have other sources of income like a private pension when you retire.

Q2. When did you last review your pension?

Reviewing your pension often and keeping track of its performance to check it’s delivering is key to a comfortable retirement. Encouragingly 61% of you said you’d had a pension review within the last 12 months. A 2017 survey by ILC (International Longevity Centre) suggested that people taking professional financial advice accumulated on average £27,664 more in pension wealth** than those that didn’t.

You can review your pension at any time, even if you’re looking to retire soon. A couple of tweaks or changes to your pension could have a significant impact on how comfortable your retirement could be.

Q3. Do you feel you have enough funds for retirement?

We’ve all worked hard throughout our careers and hopefully will be able to enjoy our retirement. Following the survey, worryingly, 61% of you are unsure or don’t think you have enough funds to last in retirement. According to Which?͂ An average couple may need £18,000 a year to pay for the basics (i.e. council tax, utilities, food, etc.), added to the average life expectancy could mean a couple could need between £216,000 – £270,000 in retirement assets, that’s without the odd holiday or little luxuries every year. It can be quite surprising how much money you could need.

Making a few changes today could still help when you come to retire. While you’re still enjoying a working income, contributing a few extra pounds to your retirement fund (if you can afford it) can benefit you greatly, plus reviewing your pension regularly could help grow your funds quicker. We recently shared our top tips for Spring Cleaning your pension with Silversurfers, please click here to see what minor changes you could make.

Q4. At what age do you think you can retire?

Whether you enjoy your job or can’t wait to give up work, having a retirement date in mind can help with retirement planning from a financial viewpoint. According to your feedback, 48% think you’ll be able to retire before the state retirement age.

But a word of warning, the earlier you retire, the longer your retirement funds will need to provide you with an income. As we’ve already mentioned, the average couple could need around £250,000 so understanding the value of your pension pot is crucial for retirement planning.

Pension Works Can Help

If you wish to take control of your future, contact Pension Works today for a Free, No Obligation, Pension HealthCheck. Our Pension HealthCheck can review your pension; it’s performance and tells you what it may deliver in retirement. Once we’ve assessed your pension, our Independent Financial Advisers will then offer their expert advice that’s tailored to you, helping you to understand your pension and if there are more suitable policies for your circumstances.

Contact Pension Works today on 0208 164 2664 or click here to start your Free, No Obligation Pension HealthCheck.

Sources

* https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-reveals-findings-from-first-financial-lives-survey

** http://www.ilcuk.org.uk/index.php/publications/publication_details/the_value_of_financial_advice

͂   https://www.which.co.uk/money/pensions-and-retirement/starting-to-plan-your-retirement/guides/reaching-your-saving-targets-at-different-ages

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