Ten Top Tips for Retirement

My number one tip is live for today with an eye on tomorrow. Not as difficult as it sounds. Have your holidays, enjoy your family but make sure you budget along the way, keeping some money aside for the future. If you do a proper budget you’ll be surprised at how much money ‘slips through your fingers’ and it’s this money that will make all the difference in making savings for the future.

Everything you save has the potential to be for retirement – don’t just think of pensions as being your only route to income in retirement.

Don’t leave things to chance – you need to plan. This is different from your budget and is really the goals in life you want to aim for. Put it into a financial plan and you’ll be surprised what you can achieve.

Review your finances regularly. What may seem like a good plan or investment a few years ago may no longer be meeting targets.

Really know and understand what you are doing and don’t use ignorance as an excuse for putting your head in the sand. Understand what retirement planning is all about and interact with your adviser properly.

Your finances are your responsibility – whilst your employer may operate a pension scheme or some other type of savings arrangement, this does not mean that you don’t also have to make some allowance for the future.

It’s never too late or too early to start planning.

The best plans can still fail – you can only do what you are capable of – if need be take a break from future planning and look after the now.

Find an adviser you can trust, work & stick with them.

Generally speaking you get what you pay for – don’t always be led by costs.