<\/p>\n
Thinking about pensions sooner rather than later can mean the difference between a comfortable retirement and struggling to make ends meet. Unfortunately, some people put off\u00a0retirement planning\u00a0when they are young because they think they\u2019ve got time on their side. However, the earlier you start saving for your future, the bigger the pension pot you\u2019ll end up with when you\u2019re older.<\/p>\n
7 pension tips for nurturing your nest egg in 2018<\/strong> 1. Consider consolidating your pension pots \u2013 while it might be hard to keep track of pensions with job changes, the Government offers a free Pension Tracing Service. Bringing your pension pots together may help you manage them, but take care to understand the benefits associated with the existing contract, along with any potential risks\/disadvantages of transferring the funds \u2013 and always seek professional financial advice to see if it\u2019s suitable for you.<\/p>\n 2. Make use of your tax reliefs on pension contributions \u2013 when you are able to do this, particularly at higher rates, this can be beneficial. The Government may well revisit pension tax relief post-Brexit to help \u2018balance the books\u2019.<\/p>\n 3. Maximise your workplace pension contributions \u2013 if your employer pays a contribution that is linked to your contribution, see if it\u2019s affordable for you to pay the maximum in order to receive your employer\u2019s maximum.<\/p>\n 4. Invest for the long term \u2013 there have been various moments of uncertainty in the markets \u2013 think back to the \u2018crash\u2019 of 1987 which now looks like a \u2018blip\u2019. Keep an open mind, and don\u2019t panic or have knee-jerk reactions. You must remember that when investing in the stock markets, it is inevitable that there will be times of volatility and you can weather the storm.<\/p>\n 5. Review your State Pension entitlement \u2013 given so many changes, it is worth keeping your finger on the pulse and looking at what you may need to do to top up to the maximum entitlement available.<\/p>\n 6. Review your expected expenditure in retirement \u2013 it\u2019s key that you clearly establish \u2018essential\u2019 and \u2018discretionary\u2019 spending, so in poor market conditions you can always look to reduce income from pension funds if necessary to cut back on discretionary expenditure that can wait for another day.<\/p>\n 7. Ensure your income in retirement is set up as tax-efficiently as possible \u2013 making full use of all available tax allowances\/exemptions is crucial. Don\u2019t forget to look at how different tax wrappers can work for you.<\/p>\n A PENSION IS A LONG-TERM INVESTMENT. THE FUND VALUE MAY FLUCTUATE AND CAN GO DOWN, WHICH WOULD HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE LEVEL OF PENSION BENEFITS AVAILABLE.<\/p>\n PENSIONS ARE NOT NORMALLY ACCESSIBLE UNTIL AGE 55. YOUR PENSION INCOME COULD ALSO BE AFFECTED BY INTEREST RATES AT THE TIME YOU TAKE YOUR BENEFITS. THE TAX IMPLICATIONS OF PENSION WITHDRAWALS WILL BE BASED ON YOUR INDIVIDUAL CIRCUMSTANCES, TAX LEGISLATION AND REGULATION, WHICH ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE IN THE FUTURE.<\/p>\n ACCESSING PENSION BENEFITS EARLY MAY IMPACT ON LEVELS OF RETIREMENT INCOME AND IS NOT SUITABLE FOR EVERYONE. YOU SHOULD SEEK ADVICE TO UNDERSTAND YOUR OPTIONS AT RETIREMENT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Helping you realise your retirement vision We\u2019ve now entered a new age of retirement planning with the introduction of pension freedoms. Your retirement is likely to be the most important time in your life you’ll even plan for – you could be retired for 20 years or more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jalapenoltd.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nResearch shows we\u2019re more likely to achieve our financial goals if we write them down and start with a clear plan of action. Work out what financial goals you want to achieve, then break them down into realistic steps that will lead you there.\u00a0We\u2019ve provided seven pension tips for you to consider to keep your retirement plans on track at the start of the New Year.<\/p>\n