{"id":1474,"date":"2022-03-29T17:53:41","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T16:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arkenstonewealth.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1474"},"modified":"2023-06-19T15:10:26","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T14:10:26","slug":"retirement-its-ok-not-to-have-all-the-answers-but-you-need-to-start-asking-the-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arkenstonewealth.co.uk\/blog\/retirement-its-ok-not-to-have-all-the-answers-but-you-need-to-start-asking-the-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Retirement – it\u2019s ok not to have all the answers (but you need to start asking the questions)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retirement: It\u2019s ok not to have all the answers – but you need to start asking the questions<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s an expectation that we should know all the answers about our plans for the future. What\u2019s important to us. Where we want to end up. How we\u2019re going to get there.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s especially true when it comes to planning the transition from work to retirement, but for many it can be the most confusing time of life.<\/p>\n

In a simple world, you’d leave school at 16 with your life and work planned out, and immediately start paying into a pension that\u2019ll eventually be enough to sustain you through retirement.<\/p>\n

But you don\u2019t do that. Because you’re 16. And retirement when you\u2019re 16 is light years away. And when you\u2019re 25 you\u2019re busy building a career, and at 35 you\u2019ve possibly got a family to consider, and before you know it retirement is ten years away, or five, and you really need to get a wriggle on with those plans.<\/p>\n

There’s a fair bit to consider when starting to plan for the life you actually want in retirement, but it\u2019s fine to not have all the answers you need straight away.<\/p>\n

Not all retirements are created equal<\/strong><\/p>\n

Typically in these blog posts we like to provide answers. But the thing with retirement is that there are no universal answers. The approach to financial planning and pensions will be different for everyone.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been a full-time employee most of your working life, you might be chomping at the bit to put the stresses, strains and office politics behind you as soon as you can. This means that your pension income needs to be sufficient and ready to go almost immediately after you retire.<\/p>\n

A business owner on the other hand, rarely finds it easy to just to sell up, or walk away from a profitable company (plus it\u2019s their passion and life\u2019s work). The process of retiring for a business owner is usually a more gradual thing, so the pension transition can be slower.<\/p>\n

Either way, you\u2019ll need a financial game plan. And while we can\u2019t give you all of the answers in a blog post, we can share some of the questions you should be asking.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more to planning than \u201chow much will I need?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hit the big question first. \u201cHow much money will I need to have saved for a comfortable retirement<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the first thing you\u2019ll ask. Because nobody wants to suddenly need to reduce their standard of living part-way through their retirement or find they outlive their money.<\/p>\n

The question that should really come before that one should be \u201cWhat do I want for my life in retirement?<\/em>\u201d And this is often a question people don\u2019t think enough about. A retirement spent gardening, golfing and volunteering requires different financial planning to one travelling the world, seeing the sights and eating in the finest restaurants.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s family to consider. \u201cWill I be able to afford to help out my children and grandchildren?<\/em>\u201d \u201cWhat sort of retirement will my spouse have if I\u2019m not here?<\/em>\u201d This can have a large bearing on how you plan for your future.<\/p>\n

And of course, there are the technical considerations of your plan – how much more do you need to contribute, which products should you be investing in, limiting tax on your income, lifetime allowance issues, guarding against inflation, choosing the right investment mix. Even something as seemingly simple as \u201cHow should I draw my income in retirement?<\/em>\u201d will have a different answer depending on your circumstances.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s OK to not have all the answers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maybe you\u2019ve read this blog post with a cup of coffee, five years away from retirement, smiling to yourself because you already<\/em> have all the answers you need. If you do, congratulations!<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t, that\u2019s fine. Because most people don\u2019t. But remember, the longer your head is buried in the sand, the longer you wait to ask the big questions, the harder things get.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve helped hundreds of people answer these big questions over the years (including a few from very left field!) and plan their retirement with more confidence. We\u2019ll be happy to help you too.<\/p>\n

Because it\u2019s never too late to start getting the answers. And it\u2019s never too late to ask for a helping hand<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thanks for reading.<\/p>\n

Simon<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Retirement: It\u2019s ok not to have all the answers – but you need to start asking the questions There\u2019s an expectation that we should know all the answers about our plans for the future. What\u2019s important to us. Where we want to end up. How we\u2019re going to get there. That\u2019s especially true when it … Continue reading “Retirement – it\u2019s ok not to have all the answers (but you need to start asking the questions)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arkenstonewealth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arkenstonewealth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arkenstonewealth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arkenstonewealth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arkenstonewealth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1474"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.arkenstonewealth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1582,"href":"https:\/\/www.arkenstonewealth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474\/revisions\/1582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arkenstonewealth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arkenstonewealth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arkenstonewealth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}