How to plan for retirement in your 50s
It’s never too early to start planning for your retirement, however, the decade or so before you reach retirement age can be extremely important to ensure you get the most out of your earnings. The retirement planning decisions that you make today may be critical to meeting your retirement goals no matter what stage you’re at in the process.
Refine your goals and monitor progress
It’s important to start this process by setting your goals as early as possible. Seeking advice from a regulated financial adviser is important as they will help you understand the roadmap to meet the goals you have in mind.
Regular pension contributions are key
Once your goals are outlined, you can understand whether your current contributions are all on track to reaching them, or if you need to make changes to ensure you reach that target. As your 50s and 60s are likely to be your highest-earning years, you may want to contribute regularly and increase your contributions. It’s important to note that the earlier you can regularly contribute the better.
Digital investing can help you reach your goals faster
Investing through a digital platform allows you to not only check your investments against your goals whenever you need to, but it means you can easily and consistently invest in just a few clicks. You can also set reminders to invest regularly so you don’t panic at the end of the tax year to make full use of your tax allowance.
Understand your pension options early
Understanding where your pensions are and what options you have to make the most of your money is crucial when it comes to retirement planning.
Bring your pensions together in one place
It’s likely that you have several pensions in different places, bringing them together means you have them all in one place and only have one company to deal with. This course of action is not suitable for everyone, as some pensions might contain guarantees that would be lost on transfer or benefit from low costs that cannot be matched elsewhere.
Maximise the tax benefits of pensions
Tax relief on pension contributions – There are many tax advantages when it comes to pensions, tax relief on your pension contributions being one of them. To encourage more contributions the government gives tax relief on what you put in (up to a certain limit).
25% tax-free lump sum
As well as this, from the age of 55 (due to increase to 57 in 2028), or when you are eligible to start taking money out of your pension, up to 25% of your fund can be taken out as a tax-free lump sum. Taking your tax-free cash immediately is not necessarily the right course of action as this will reduce the pension available to you. It is worth remembering that a pension is designed to support your lifestyle for many years once you retire.
Monitor your expenditure before you retire
Understanding how much you currently spend will help you to plan for the long term. It’s important to note that your spending habits are likely to change with retirement as you may be mortgage-free or other outgoings may not be needed as you’re not working anymore.
To understand the different elements that go into saving towards retirement, watch:
Get professional financial advice
Retirement planning can be difficult to navigate and there may be difficult decisions to make, which is why it’s best to discuss your options with a professional financial advisor.
At True Potential, we understand that your long-term goals are unique to you, which is why we are on hand to offer tailored advice personalised for your circumstances and aspirations. We can review your plans to make sure they’re aligned with your retirement goals. Whatever you need, we’re here to help.
Your capital is at risk, investments can fluctuate in value and investors may not get the amount back they initially invest. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. Tax rules can change at any time.
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