Category: Retirement Income

I read this little nugget, in an article in one of the technical papers namely Financial Reporter. Good news I thought, but the sting in the tail is that 10% of those polled don’t have any pension savings, just over a third have given no thought to how much they might need in retirement and a quarter don’t know how much money they have set aside.

And that’s where we come in. I was visiting a client last week who 6 years ago fitted that profile exactly. Today, his pension fund stands at over £55,000. As he said to me last week, if it hadn’t been for you, Arthur, I would still have had nothing for my retirement.

The full article in the paper read as follows:

The Retirement Confidence Survey, conducted by Aegon to mark the start of Pension Awareness Week, reveals that people in the UK are feeling slightly more confident about their ability to retire comfortably, than they did two years ago.

Latest figures show just over half now feel confident about their ability to retire comfortably, compared to just under a half in 2017.

However, while retirement confidence appears to be improving, many remain in the dark when it comes to their pension savings and arrangements for funding their retirement.

One in ten (10%) of those polled admit that they don’t have any pension savings.

36% have never estimated their income needs for retirement, putting themselves at significant risk of being unable to maintain their existing lifestyle. While it’s encouraging that this has reduced since 2017 from 43% to 36%, the pace of change needs to accelerate to make a real difference.

A quarter (25%) of those with pension savings said that they don’t know how much they hold in pensions. This is highest among those aged 35 – 54 (30%). And while only 19% of 55-64 year olds don’t know how much they have in pensions at the moment, it’s still significant considering how close they are to retirement.

Steven Cameron, Pensions Director at Aegon, comments:

“It’s encouraging to see an indication of growing confidence over the last two years when it comes to being able to retire comfortably.

“Pensions have frequently hit the news headlines in the last few years. While at times this has been for less good reasons, there have been lots of positive stories such as the success of automatic enrolment and the new retirement flexibilities under pension freedoms which have been built on by initiatives such as the Pensions Awareness campaign from Pension Geeks. All of this has contributed to raising the profile of retirement planning, leading to people taking more interest and action, improving the confidence people have when it comes to being able to retire comfortably.

“But we must remain realistic. Overconfidence carries risks and people mustn’t be lulled into a false sense of security. While auto-enrolment means millions of employees are saving more for retirement, that doesn’t mean they’re on target for the retirement they aspire to or to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living. Furthermore, the growing population of self-employed are excluded from auto-enrolment and can’t rely on an employer to support their retirement funding. Realistically, there’s a lot more required to make sure you’ve saved enough for the retirement you would like.

“It’s also worrying that a significant minority of people don’t know how much they have in their pension. Those in the 30 to 54 age band are in the best position to take action now to make a big difference to their retirement income. Whatever your age or circumstances, finding out more about your pension funds and prospects can only be a good thing.”

Don’t forget that Client I met last week. Maybe I can do the same for you. If you would like a chat, give me a ring. My number is 0141-956 5525.

Have a great week.

The poll, which was carried out by FTAdviser in association with Scottish Widows, asked financial advisers how their clients were receiving an income in retirement.

Income drawdown was the most popular, as 52 per cent of advisers said clients most commonly opted for this approach as a way to access income in retirement.

Some 22 per cent said their clients used a combination of an annuity and drawdown, while 15 per cent of advisers said their clients got their income from cashing in their pension.

Iain Petrie, retirement expert at Scottish Widows, said: “More and more clients are staying invested in drawdown during retirement and are also looking for income sustainability balanced against greater flexibility. This has led advisers to focus on developing sustainable withdrawal strategies which minimise risk, to ensure their clients do not run out of money.”

Steve Pennington, head of wealth planning at Arbuthnot Latham, said: “Drawdown provides an effective inheritance tax tool, as it provides the ability for the remaining pension funds to be passed down to a nominated beneficiary on death, where, if the deceased was under age 75, the inheritor will receive the fund tax free.”

Dennis Hall, managing director of Yellowtail Financial Planning, said: “Advised clients are more likely to be using drawdown because of the ongoing advice relationship.

“With poor annuity rates, clients will be looking for ways to obtain a better retirement income, and drawdown is the mechanism for doing this.”

But Jason Witcombe, chartered financial planner at Progeny Wealth, warned: “The real test for flexi-access drawdown will be during a sustained downturn in investment markets when some people, with hindsight, might wish they had opted for the certainty of an annuity.”

Only 11 per cent of advisers said their clients access their retirement income through buying an annuity alone.

Mr Petrie added: “The poll result shows that there is still a place for a traditional annuity, with a proportion of clients looking for certainty.”

 

Nearly everyone has a dream for their retirement. It often includes leaving work while you’re still healthy enough to be active and independent, planning to buy a boat, or holiday home, or simply spending as much leisure time as possible. And after decades of dedicating most of your waking hours to your work, enjoying the fruits of your labour is a laudable goal.

The stark reality is that far too few of us fully reach our retirement dream, and for a variety of reasons. But when you get right down to it, the vast majority of Pensioners who don’t enjoy an ideal retirement failed to take steps that would have made a big difference. Frankly, they made mistakes that caused them to fall short.

But there’s one mistake above all others at the heart of people’s failure to achieve their retirement goals.  And that mistake is not starting early enough to contribute to their retirement savings.

Time really can be worth more than money

 When it comes to arriving at retirement with the most money, the best thing you can do is start putting away as much as you can as early as you can. It’s truly that simple. The difference between starting young and putting it off can be enormous.

For instance, if you started investing £100 per month in a fund that grew at just 3% per annum at age 20, you’d have about £93,000 at age 60, If you put it off until 40, that same £100 per month would be worth only around £32,000 at age 60. But here’s the rub.  That extra £61,000 would have been generated from only £24,000 out of your pocket.

It’s the extra years in the market that allows your money to take advantage of compounded growth and deliver the big payoff. If you delay to age 40, you’d need to kick up your contribution to around £285 per month — an extra £44,000 — to arrive at retirement with a similar balance.

Time smooths out your returns

But it’s not just about the power of compounding growth. The longer you invest and regularly contribute, the better your odds of capturing the best returns. The market has its ups and downs, and it’s impossible to predict when they’ll happen.

If you start contributing early and regularly and invest through every part of every cycle during your working years, the law of averages will be in your favour. If you keep putting it off, waiting for the next crash, you’ll miss out on a lot of great returns.

Just imagine if you were one of the people who sold at the bottom in 2009 and sat on the sidelines for the past decade, watching the market more than double in value.

Even from the pre-Financial Crisis peak, the market has more than doubled in total returns:

By steadily contributing to your retirement investments for as many years as you can and through every kind of market, you’ll avoid the mistake many people made over the past decade: missing out on an historically profitable bull market while waiting for the next crash. At this point, even if the market falls by half, you’d still be far ahead of its 2007 peak.

Start as soon as you can (that means now)

Even if you’re not 30, start contributing as much as you can to your retirement savings now. Whether it’s maximizing the company contribution, or contributing to a Personal Pension, there’s no good reason to put it off.

The longer you wait, the more money it will take to reach your goals. It’s that simple.