When you’re under 50, retirement may still seem a long way off and there may be other things competing for any extra money you earn – holidays, children heading off to university or supporting elderly relatives – but putting money away for your future is just as important.
Start by working out how much you already have in savings, investments and pensions to put towards your retirement. Your pension provider or administrator should be able to give you an up-to-date statement of what your pension could be worth at the retirement age you originally selected. You can also find out what State Pension you’re entitled to. As a part of Lloyds Banking Group, Scottish Widows offers pensions and advice. See how they can further help you understand your options.
On average, £24,000 a year is the golden number when it comes to planning for a comfortable retirement.* Our pension options calculator lets you see how much your pension could be worth, which can help you to decide when the time is right for you to retire.
https://www.scottishwidows.co.uk/retirement/retirement-explained/approaching/can-you-afford
When you decide that the time is right to take your money out of your pension, you can:
There’s more flexibility about when you retire than ever before. Generally speaking, if you’ve saved into a workplace or private pension, once you reach 55, you can start taking your money out, but you can also choose to leave it where it is and let it grow a bit more.
As well as financial considerations, other issues may affect your decision, for example, whether you enjoy your job and can physically manage its demands, and your health. You may even find that a phased approach works best for you, reducing your hours from full to part-time.
On average, a person has 11 different jobs over the course of their working life . If you’ve been part of a pension scheme at each job, that means you could have pension pots all over the place. If you’ve been self-employed, you may have different pension pots depending on if you’ve worked for a company or pay into accounts privately. Combining some or all of your pension funds may be worth looking into.
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