Never in a lifetime…and then they just appear on your doorstep!
02 December 2024I have been to the inner edge of the Arctic Circle, and also to Iceland on a couple of occasions, but I had never seen the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) in my lifetime. Then, all of a sudden, the lights visit the southern part of the UK twice in 2024. Viewing of the colourful vista from my back garden was easy and I snapped a picture or two of the magical night sky.
The Northern Lights were not on my 'bucket list' of things to see or achieve in a lifetime, but to have the spectacle arrive on your doorstep was an unexpected and pleasing event.
I hope the next link is not too tenuous; however, it has reminded me of retirement planning, partly because for most of us, a day will arrive when retirement has your name on it. Hopefully something that is on your 'bucket list' and hopefully planned for, rather than arriving unannounced.
Preparing carefully for retirement usually takes time, effort, and money, saved over a good few years. And retirement plans can change over time, just like the Aurora in the night sky. You might decide to phase retirement, have a fixed date, or arrive at the day through work changes, such as redundancy. Each of us is different, and the sources of retirement income may also vary, combining to create an overall income position. Private and State pensions are two examples of such, and it might also be the overall household income between you and your spouse/partner that provides the overall picture.
Give yourself time to be ready for retirement and to have a feel for what your income and capital position might be, and also where you are now when it comes to incomes and outgoings. Some budgeting may be required, and you may also have a sensible objective of ensuring that any mortgage or loan finance is cleared before you retire, perhaps using pension tax free cash to achieve this.
However you aim to approach your future retirement, start the planning early. By this, we might mean a good couple of years out by bringing together the details of the plans you have and checking the current accrual of your State Pension to ensure you are on target to reach your overall income objective, or otherwise.
The team at Chapters Financial has many decades of experience in helping with retirement planning as you start to reach the end of the accumulation phase (as suggested start early!), and perhaps look forward to drawing down some of the pension benefits that you have accrued over the years.
No individual advice is provided during the course of this blog.
Keith Churchouse FPFS
Director
CFP Chartered FCSI
Chartered Financial Planner
Chapters Financial Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, number 402899
