Let’s face facts; the prevailing economic climate in the UK is forcing pension planning to take a back seat. With inflation peaking at 3% in October and the cost of living continuing to increase at a far faster pace then earnings, it’s becoming extremely difficult for citizens to save towards their future.
So, regardless of your age and where you are in the pension planning process, now is the ideal time to take control and make decisions that help to optimise your long-term wealth.
In this post, we’ll offer some advice on how you can do this effectively and achieve your financial objectives:
Transfer Your Funds into a Self-invested Pension Plan (SIPP)
In terms of realising the potential of your capital and creating an easy to manage pension fund, you may be best served by consolidating your funds within a self-invested pension plan (SIPP).
SIPPs are flexible, low-cost savings vehicles that instantly afford you greater control over your pension funds. Not only do they offer you access to a diverse range of domestic and international asset classes, but they also make it relatively easy to transfer funds and consolidate numerous plans in a single place.
In fact, service providers such as Bestinvest allow you to start the process of transferring pensions online. So long as the combined value of your pension plans (along with any additional contributions) reaches a minimum threshold of £10,000, you can download the requisite paperwork online and complete this to start the process in earnest. This can provide a much-needed kick-start to your financial planning, helping you to improve your outlook and take practical steps towards boosting your retirement fund significantly.
How Else Can You Take Control of your Finances?
Consolidating your pension plans in a single fund is an important step towards taking control of your financial future, as reflects a sense of purpose and a desire to optimise your future savings.
By also leveraging a SIPP, you can ensure that your consolidated capital works as hard as possible, as it will be invested in a diverse and lucrative range of asset classes that can deliver excellent returns.
This enables you to focus on optimising your earnings and earning potential, by considering options such as self-employment (depending on the nature of your work and the labour market) and workplace pension features such as salary sacrifice. The latter can actually reduce your tax burden, and in some instances may leave you better off financially.
Hopefully, this dual-pronged approach should help you to earn more and build a more lucrative pension fund, while also empowering you to take control of your financial destiny.
