Retirement Planning - Dont Put it off for later!

Although planning for retirement is among the most important financial decisions an individual can ever make, it is probably the one that is put off most often. Reirement Plannings is Important and people need to realise that.

Many people are clearly reluctant to deduct a portion of their salary to fund pension contributions. In view of the ever-increasing cost of living, this is understandable but the complexity of pensions must also sholder some of the blame. So why should you consider saving in a pension fund? - Reirement Planning

One of the strongest reasons is the tax efficiency of a pension. All pension contributions are deducted from your taxable earnings, reducing the amount of income tax payable. Also if pension contributions are deducted by an emplyer at source via salary sacrifice, you avoid paying national insurance on the amount contributed. Pension funds are also very broad ranging and enable you to invest in a larger number of different assets including stocks, shares and commercial property. This can be done directly or through collective investments such as unit or investement trusts and, back to the tax issue, any capital gains within a pension are free of capital gains tax. - Reirement Planning UK

So how can you invest in a pension? You can contribute to pensions managed by large financial instituctions or you are also able to invest via self Invested Personal Pensions, or SIPPs. It is though these SIPP’s that you can benefit from greater investment flexibility.

SIIP’s allow you to appoint your own investment manager. To some this may appear daunting, but it is easy to understand that individuals would far rather have their hard-earned pension contributions managed by someone they know and who knows their personal and financial circumstances than by a faceless institution.

By appointing an independent investment manager to manage the assets when Retirement Planning, the pension will not be restricted to a prescribed list of funds, as is the case with the pension offerings of many large institutions. This choice of underlying funds will be much greater, meaning that the pension can hold the “best of the best” at all times. Plan for your Retirement.

Many individuals also find it difficult to unravel the charging structure behind the pensions offered by big institutions and another advantage SIPPs offer is that they have transparent fees, which are agreed at the onset of your Retirement Plan.