Are you financially in control?

Be realistic about how much you will need to live

When planning your retirement, set yourself a monthly budget equal to your projected retirement income and try to live on it. Be realistic about what your monthly expenditure will be. You may be spending less on commuting daily , but you will have more leisure time and increased socialising normally means more expense! Not to mention that you will now have the time for all that travelling you didn’t quite get round too.
Think about the ‘benefits’ you may be losing such as private health cover and  life insurance- if these have been funded by your employer you will need to check out the costs of buying the cover privately.

Make sure you have a complete picture of your financial situation

Make sure you have a complete picture of your financial situation- ask for current figures on your pension plans to have a realistic picture of what level of income your current pension  will deliver. Worryingly according to the Office of National Statistics It seems that the average pot for 56 year old women living in the UK stands at only £9,100.  This would generate an approximate income of around only £550 a year - could you live on that?
Recent changes to pension legislation also mean that women have to wait longer before being eligible to draw their state pension,  women’s state pension age rises to 65 by November 2018, and then to 66 by 6 April 2020.


Can you afford to fully retire as you had always planned, look at the options available to you- do you want to work part-time?  93% of the new jobs created in the last 12 months are part-time  so in theory this should work to your advantage.
If you need to lo for full-time employment are your skills up to date?  Do you need to attend any training courses- have you budgeted for these? Are there any evening classes you can attend to fill any skills gap you feel you may have?
Also, once you reach state pension age you cease to pay national insurance contributions, giving you an extra opportunity to save!
Even forget retirement would you just like to work part time and are you yearning to be your own boss?
No job is for life these days, so think about taking control as statistics show that more businesses set up by the over 50s succeed  than businesses founded by the under 30s .
It’s never to early to start planning for retirement or just being in control!


So if you are curious, I took control and started working full time on my job whilst working partime on my fortune  - so take a look at this: www.lindadaviescarr.myarbonne.co.uk




This article has been adapted from an article by Ceri Wheeldon