Preparing for retirement: Questions to plan your financial future

Preparation is key in many aspects of life, and retirement planning is no exception. Ensuring your finances are optimised to meet your long-term needs requires careful consideration and foresight.

As you approach retirement, here are some essential questions to help you get ready.

When do you want to retire?

What age would you ideally like to either start winding down or retire in full? Ideally, the longer you give yourself to prepare for retirement, the more options you will give yourself when your dependency on your wealth substantially increases, so understanding your timeframe is crucial.

What does retirement look like?

The shape of your lifestyle in retirement will determine what level of income you need to generate to maintain and sustain your quality of life.

This could include bucket list trips or new hobbies but most importantly, what is the shape of the day to day?

You will have more free time throughout retirement and we have a tendency to focus on the epic experiences, but after this initial whirlwind, life tends to normalise, a routine forms, and have you thought about what you expect your new normal to look like?

This will not only provide an indication of the level of income you will need to maintain your ideal lifestyle but also prepare you emotionally for retirement as suddenly, having a lot more time on our hands can be disorienting.

Ultimately, we want you to get excited about this next phase of life but if you enter retirement emotionally and financially underprepared, this can become a scary and stressful situation.

How will your retirement be funded?

Look at the wealth you have accrued and what you are likely to use as a source of income throughout retirement.

This could encompass, personal or workplace pensions, Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), investments or property. This could also include some planning events such as a downsizing activity to increase your liquidity.

Finally, don’t forget your state pension entitlement. This could mean you have the ability to decrease the level of income you are drawing from your investments when this starts, if you plan on retiring before the state pension age.

You can check the level of state pension you have accrued to date via the link below and transparency around what and where you can draw an income from is absolutely critical on the approach to retirement. Check your State Pension forecast.

Once you have assessed this, does the lifestyle in retirement you are seeking look feasible with the provision you have accumulated to date?

Can you make any changes between now and retirement?

This will depend on your personal circumstances and affordability but on the approach to retirement, there are some considerations which could boost your wealth.

Could you afford to increase your pension contributions?
Could you afford to invest more?
Would you consider working longer?

By making small changes over the longer term can have a huge impact on your wealth, options and wellbeing throughout retirement.

Retirement can be an exciting new chapter, to remove any uncertainty and to ensure your retirement plan remains on track, contact us today.

The above does not constitute individual financial advice and state pension entitlement may vary depending on the individual's circumstances.

A pension is a long-term investment not normally accessible until age 55 (57 from April 2028 unless the plan has a protected pension age). The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up which would have an impact on the level of pension benefits available. Your pension income could also be affected by the interest rates at the time you take your benefits.

Get in touch

Call, email, sign up for our newsletter, or complete our contact us form to arrange a confidential consultation.

Meet our Crowe Financial Planning team

Our team

Our Financial Planning teams are based across our offices in Cheltenham, Kent, London, Manchester, Midlands and Thames Valley.

Disclaimer

Crowe Financial Planning UK Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to provide independent financial advice.

The information set out in this publication is for information purposes only and is based on our understanding of legislation, whether proposed or in force, and market practice at the time of writing. It does not constitute advice to undertake a particular transaction. Appropriate professional advice should be taken on specific issues before any course of action is pursued. Any advice provided by a Crowe Consultant will follow only after consideration of all aspects of our internal advice guidance.

Past performance is not a guide to future performance, nor a reliable indicator of future results or performance. The value of investments, and the income or capital entitlement which may derive from them, if any, may go down as well as up and is not guaranteed; therefore, investors may not get back the amount originally invested.

Investments qualifying for business relief are considered ‘High Risk’ and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. You should not invest into these schemes unless you are prepared to lose all the money you invest.

The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate Trusts, Tax or Estate Planning.