If you remember the 60’s …you and your fellow baby boomers are close to retirement.
Incredible as it may seem, yesterday’s flower power youngsters are today’s retirees. If that’s you, then like most of the post-war baby boomers about to reach retirement, you’re probably looking forward to the new opportunities retirement may bring.
However, if you want to make the most of them, now’s the time to weigh up your savings, investment and retirement options and find the one that will help you to secure the future lifestyle you want. With the right planning, your pension and/or investments can provide a number of retirement options, but what happens when you reach your chosen retirement age?
WHAT ARE YOUR OPTIONS?
Are your investments working hard enough for you?
We are constantly hearing through the financial press that “times are hard”, “inflation is biting in”, “we are entering a period of recession” and “we are all affected by the credit crunch”. These comments, whilst sometimes over-estimated, have a tendency to paint a picture of doom and gloom, particularly when combined with the fact that we are all living longer and can no longer rely on the government to support us.
Planning for today and for the future.
Because we are living longer, we have to consider planning for the future as well as today to make sure that we are able to maintain our standard of living for the long term. Many of us may need to work beyond our chosen retirement age because we haven’t made enough provision or taken enough care to ensure this doesn’t happen. It is also true that we too often leave these decisions too late to make any difference.
But what if you have made provisions for your retirement and the income from your savings, investments and pensions has all but disappeared or reduced dramatically in recent months because of the low returns on offer? If you are already in semi-retirement, or fully retired and are dependent on this income then your standards of living and lifestyle will be effected in one way or another.
Help with the decision-making process
WENZ Financial Planning are specialists in this field and will be able to advise you on the most suitable opportunities and solutions for your circumstances to help you make the most of your money.
SO, HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?
A few simple questions to consider.
If you are thinking of your savings and retirement options, and need some help to simplify the decision-making process, here are a few questions you can ask yourself before talking to an adviser.
By ensuring you are doing the appropriate planning to prevent you from falling into this trap.
There are two main areas to consider:
* What have I done?
* What else should I be considering?
For the planning you have in place, have you considered the following?
* What exactly do I already have in place?
* Have I reviewed it recently?
* If not, am I prepared to accept a FREE financial review, with no obligation?
The end of work doesn’t have to be the end of your current lifestyle, but your answers to these questions will help to determine whether you shape your future, or it shapes you from here on in.
If you really think about it, you have nothing to lose but potentially everything to gain.
Why save or invest now when markets are so volatile?
You may wonder why you should be considering investing now. After all, markets are volatile – isn’t cash the safest place to be?
For those who understand that you need to take slightly more risk to realise more return, volatile markets can provide that opportunity. We are able to offer you opportunities to invest in a spread of asset classes to maximise opportunities and to limit the downside by protecting your capital. This does not necessarily involve a lump sum investment either; by investing on a regular basis, you can potentially take benefit of any further market volatility.
You may feel cash is more secure, but are the returns that you receive even coming close to keeping pace with inflation, and therefore enabling you to maintain your standard of living? Are you aware that under current legislation, only the first £50,000 of any monies held within a Bank/Building Society is protected? Any amount over and above that is not, and given the recent turbulence in the banking sector, is this a risk you’re prepared to take?
These are clearly turbulent times and we would not advocate you taking unnecessary risks and as such we believe that there has probably never been a better or more appropriate time to have a full and comprehensive financial health check than right now – once more, by special agreement our services are open to all SixtyPlusSurfers completely FREE, no strings attached.
It may be that we will complete your review and confirm that what you have in place is perfectly suited to your requirements – this can and does happen.
However, we could as with the vast majority of reviews we complete, end up saving you a substantial amount on your monthly outgoings or potentially improving the return on your savings, investments and pensions policies without risking your capital.
Nobody can predict with complete confidence when markets will begin to recover, but this way you can position yourself to benefit from recovery when it happens and in the meantime benefit from potentially higher returns on your capital than you are at present experiencing.
The importance of advice
To make properly informed decisions, you need professional financial advice. Your reasons for investing may be quite straightforward. However, products and providers and the dynamics of the investment and retirement solutions market can be quite complex. As your potential adviser we have the expertise and insight on product features and service quality that best fits your objectives.
Andrew Wenzel - WENZ Financial Planning