{"id":542,"date":"2016-12-19T14:41:01","date_gmt":"2016-12-19T14:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wealthatwork.co.uk\/jpm\/2016\/12\/19\/top-tips-for-those-retiring-in-2017\/"},"modified":"2017-03-20T13:47:31","modified_gmt":"2017-03-20T13:47:31","slug":"top-tips-for-those-retiring-in-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/jpm\/2016\/12\/19\/top-tips-for-those-retiring-in-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Top tips for those retiring in 2017."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/jpm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2016\/12\/2017.jpg\" alt=\"2017\" width=\"270\" height=\"180\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-598\" \/><br \/>\nThose who are approaching retirement and have a defined contribution (DC) pension, now have a lot of decisions to make thanks to the pension changes which came into force in April 2015.<\/p>\n<p>WEALTH at work, a leading provider of financial education in the workplace, supported by guidance and advice &#8211; has created its \u2018Top tips for those planning to retire in 2017\u2019.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>YOU DECIDE!<\/strong> \u2013 The pension changes meant that people now have greater flexibility and freedom over how they access their DC pensions. This is great news, but with responsibility comes risk, so make sure you take your time, fully understand all of your options and that you are armed with all the facts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Collate information on ALL your assets<\/strong> \u2013 Before you start to make any decisions based on your retirement plan, gather up to date information on all of your pensions and savings, and what they are all worth. If you have ISAs, shares, deposit accounts, or any other assets, look at these as other potential forms of income in retirement.<\/li>\n<li><strong>How much income do you need and want?<\/strong> \u2013 Work out how much income you are going to need in retirement, including essential income to meet your day to day living expenses (including household bills), and discretionary income for holidays, hobbies etc. There is a budget planner available on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk\/en\/pensions-and-retirement\/budgeting\">money advice service<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Can you afford to retire?<\/strong> \u2013 Do you have enough put by to be able to afford to retire, or do you need to work a little bit longer, or part time? Research has found that most people live longer than they expect they will, so keep this in mind when working this out.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Income drawdown, annuity, or a combination? <\/strong>\u2013 Income drawdown is no longer the preserve of the wealthy, and really just means that you can choose how and when you access your pension, but you should ideally get advice when deciding<\/li>\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t pay unnecessary tax<\/strong> \u2013 If you go down the income drawdown route, make sure you don\u2019t pay any unnecessary income tax. Usually 25% of your pension is tax free, and the remaining 75% is taxed as earned income. It\u2019s worth looking at your options, for example, you may be better off taking a smaller amount each year from your pension, and top it up with savings from your ISA to use for income, as this is paid tax free.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Make sure your pension beneficiary details are up to date <\/strong>\u2013 In 2015, the Chancellor abolished tax on death on DC pensions for anyone who dies before the age of 75. This means that any remaining pension can pass onto your beneficiaries tax free, subject to you not exceeding the lifetime allowance limit, and providing the company pays out within 2 years of date of death.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Advice can be cheaper than no advice and give you added consumer protection <\/strong>\u2013 Many people are concerned about the cost of advice without realising that when you buy retirement products such as annuities, through for example online brokers, there are commissions to be paid which can cost just as much, if not more, than getting advice. A financial Adviser should look at all your assets, work out the most tax efficient way for you to fund your retirement income, and put the plan into place for you; then you have the benefit of consumer protection for the advice given.<\/li>\n<li><strong>If eligible, consider buying extra state pension<\/strong> \u2013 Women born before April 6, 1953 and men before April 6, 1951 have an opportunity to top-up their state pension by up to \u00a325 per week. Details can be found at: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.uk\/state-pension-topup\">gov.uk\/state-pension-topup<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Scams don\u2019t look like scams \u2013 <\/strong>Scamslook\u00a0and sound\u00a0legitimate, which is why people are hoodwinked. They often have very professional looking websites and literature. Whatever you are planning to do with your\u00a0retirement savings, check before you do anything that the company is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) https:\/\/register.fca.org.uk\/<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Jonathan Watts-Lay, Director at WEALTH at work comments, <\/strong><em>\u201cThe freedoms people now have with their pensions is a good thing, but it can be incredibly daunting. In the past many people automatically bought annuities from their pension provider, even though there may have been better rates available elsewhere, so individuals need to make sure they look into all their options. If they were daunted before, how must they be feeling now with even more choices available?\u201d \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>He continues, \u201cIndividuals need to understand the many retirement income options they now have because of the pension freedoms, and to know that support is available to help them make the most of it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n   ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Those who are approaching retirement and have a defined contribution (DC) pension, now have a lot of decisions to make thanks to the pension changes which came into force in April 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/jpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/jpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/jpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/jpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/jpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/jpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":599,"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/jpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542\/revisions\/599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/jpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/jpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/jpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/jpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}