PERSONAL SERVICES: RETIREMENT PLANNING

Acuma believes secure retirement planning
strategies are essential, understanding that no two
circumstances are alike.

The retirement planning thought process appreciates
existing arrangements and is geared to realistic,
secure, tax-efficient, flexible solutions to planning for
later life.

The sooner you start saving, the more you’ll have for
retirement. It might seem a long way off right now,
but imagine your retirement as one long holiday. And
the sooner you start planning it, the better it will be
- because you’ll have more money to spend on doing
exactly the things you want.

On the other hand, if you leave it too late you might
not have enough to do everything you hope for. You
might not even be able to afford to give up work as
soon as you’d like. In fact, the cost of delaying starting
your pension can be quite dramatic. Take a look at the
scenarios below to see how much (or little) you
could have by starting your pension at different ages.

John starts saving at 20
As soon as he started his first
proper job at age 20, John
started putting $500 a month
into a pension. As long as he
continues paying in up to
retirement age, he can look
forward to a fund of $1,120,000
when he retires at 60. This would
give him a yearly pension of
$56,000.*
Sue starts saving at 30
Sue thought she’d wait until
she was settled in her career
before starting her pension. Then
suddenly she realised she was
approaching 30 and hadn’t made
any provision. So she started
putting away $500 a month which
could give her a fund of $570,000
when she retires at 60, and a
pension of $28,500 a year.*
Steve starts saving at 40
Steve just never got round to
starting a pension. It meant he
had a bit more to fritter away in
his 20’s and 30’s, but the 20 year
delay in starting means that if he
contributes $500 a month he’ll
have a fund worth only $235,000
when he retires at 60, which will
give him an annual income of only
$11,750.*

*Illustrations assume investment returns are 7% per annum on a single life basis. Source – Skandia International

If you have already accumulated pensions these should be reviewed for a number of reasons.
Firstly to establish how much pension you are entitled to, find out what charges are being levied
and to make sure that they are invested in suitable funds. You will then be able to make an
informed decision as to what is the best action to take regarding your future pension planning.