Retirement

CREATE A PROGRESSIVE INVESTMENT STRATEGY

The road to retirement

Financial planning is often described as a journey, and this is especially true for retirement planning. Journeys are typically in two stages – planning, then buying the ticket and enjoying them. Retirement has the same separation – there are many common goals and terms, but with very different objectives and problems to overcome.

Stage 1:

Planning the journey to retirement

Retirement is not at the forefront of most people’s minds when they are young. However, the earlier you start to plan for your retirement, the better – a pound saved early in a retirement plan has more time to gain value than one invested close to a planned retirement date. There is far more to retirement planning than making the most of the pension tax relief allowances offered by the government.

The planning stage needs to be supported by a progressive investment strategy that ensures your savings are working to help you reach your expected retirement plan on time. Our cashflow projections will help you understand whether you are on track, then we’ll develop a strategy with you that incorporates: a pension plan (long-term savings), ISAs (medium / long-term savings) and short-term assets for access in an emergency.

To ensure you remain on track once your strategy is in place, we will look at protecting the income stream that funds your retirement planning. We also issue regular investment reports that clearly demonstrate the performance of your pension investments, so you can check that they continue to meet your expectations and are on track to meet your own personal goals.

Stage 2:

Buying a ticket and enjoying retirement

There are some key factors to consider before you can start to enjoy retirement fully – we refer to this important stage as buying your retirement ticket. How should you take your retirement income? You may have a range of pension schemes to consider, each with different rules. Should you take the tax-free cash, and what about the rest of your savings?

Your William Highbourne wealth manager will start by creating a cashflow forecast using your investment profile to model your retirement plans and savings into a clear retirement strategy. This will take into consideration the effect of taking an income from your savings and how these would be affected by a market shock, as well as the value of your estate should you pass away before expected.

However, your retirement journey can take many twists and turns along the way – economic downturns, marriages, bereavements, estate planning, health issues and long-term care requirements to name just a few. To ensure your investments continue to support these, the strategy for this stage requires the addition of well-known firms to the investment mix, which can produce steadily rising profits.

Today, a pension needs to be carefully managed to ensure investments remain current – and reviewed at least once a year to ensure we understand how your life is changing. The team at William Highbourne places great importance on a regular investment review of your pension income assets to test that they remain capable of maintaining your retirement lifestyle from the very beginning to the end.

For more information, contact us
or call us on +44 (0) 1395 207350.