Money-Savvy Moves Before Retirement

Retirement is something that may feel a long way off, however it’s never too early to start preparing by getting your finances in order. It’s handy to create goals so you can determine what you’d like to do when you retire and work out how much you’d like to save to make this happen.

While some events are unfortunately out of your control, it’s worth focusing on the areas you can control. Recent news about plans to raise the retirement age means that planning ahead is more important than ever so that you can live the type of life you want to live in your old age.

Here are some things you may want to consider.

Retirement plan

It’s always sensible to start with an initial plan before taking action. Set overarching goals, then shape short and long-term financial goals to help you achieve this. Breaking things down into steps like these can help to make the task less overwhelming. It takes a spot of planning in the first instance, but once you’ve decided on what your plan is going forward, it’s a case of following that plan and sticking to it where possible.

Consider what you plan to achieve when you retire. Would you like to have paid off your mortgage? Would you like to go travelling? Think about what your priorities are and plan accordingly.

Budgeting

To put this into action, you’ll need to consider your income and outgoings. You might benefit from creating a budget using an online budget planning tool. The 50/30/20 rule is a straightforward monthly budgeting method that tells you exactly how much to put toward your savings and your living costs each month.

The premise involves:

• 50% of your money going to needs
• 30% of your money going to wants
• 20% goes going to savings

Insurance

You’ll also want to consider which insurance policies will give you added peace of mind in your old age. You can get over 50 life insurance as a guarantee of payout for your loved ones, for example. This payout can go towards funeral costs and be used for other purposes depending on what will help your loved ones when you eventually pass away. There are several types of pension and health insurance plans, so take the time to decide which one will benefit you and your loved ones the most. It’s important to understand the pros and cons of each policy.

Pension providers

Make sure you have a grasp on all your pension providers from previous jobs. You don’t want to have lost out on any money you’ve acquired. It’s handy to keep any documents or emails safe so that you can access them if needed. This includes workplace and personal pensions.