Understanding why your lifestyle makes it more relevant and real

From the old adage of saving for a rainy day to planning for a comfortable retirement, before you can actually define your investing goals you need to ask yourself what you want to achieve.

While deciding on the best fund, tax regime, pension or investment is a necessary part of the financial planning process, it’s crucial to understand what these mean to you – and your lifestyle makes it more relevant and real. Continue reading…

Importance of not losing sight of your long-term savings goals

The UK is entering uncharted territory after the EU referendum, but with relatively few unretired people beyond the age of 55 having started their retirement planning it is important not to lose sight of your long-term savings goals. Changing social, political and demographic factors mean that the outlook for retirement finances in the UK is constantly evolving.

Worryingly, barely one in three (36%) unretired over-55s had started their retirement planning during Q2 2016 – the lowest percentage since Aviva’s Real Retirement Report began tracking this data two years ago, the latest report reveals. Continue reading…

Economic and financial outlook

As a result of the UK voting for Brexit (apart from the political turmoil), sterling has dropped significantly against the US dollar and the Japanese yen – the new safe haven currency it seems. We have a new Prime Minister and cabinet and a clear statement from the new Chancellor of the Exchequer that there will be no ‘Emergency Budget’. The normal Autumn Statement and Spring Budget process will be followed.

Restoring fiscal stability

As to what the Autumn Statement and Spring Budget will deliver, we can’t yet know. Continue reading…

New research outlines typical financial situations

A small number of pensioners are relying on loved ones to help them financially during retirement, and those approaching retirement seem to be in an even worse situation. Yet equally worrying is that people are also far more likely to take financial advice about retirement from friends than from a professional, with more than a million pensioners[1] financially reliant on friends and family, AND the next generation even more stretched, according to the latest research from LV=.

The annual State of Retirement report shows that one in ten pensioners are reliant to some degree on friends and family for financial assistance[2]. While this suggests the vast majority are able to remain financially independent in retirement, worryingly those due to retire within the next ten years are almost three times as likely to be in this situation (27%). Continue reading…

Britons not planning financially for long-term sickness

Only one in five UK people have income protection cover in the event of becoming too ill or disabled to work according to research published by insurer Zurich. This is despite the fact that as many as 42% have experienced income loss in their working lives due to serious illness. The findings indicate that people still have an ‘it won’t happen to me’ attitude despite having suffered the consequences first-hand.

Raise awareness

Only 19% of respondents claim to have a good knowledge of income protection products, suggesting that more needs to be done to raise awareness of the product’s benefit, including swift access to rehabilitation as well as financial support. This lack of understanding also seems to extend to price, with many overestimating how much cover costs. Over a quarter of respondents said they would be willing to spend 5% of their income on it, though such cover can be bought for significantly less. Continue reading…