Welcome to the latest issue of our personal finance and investment magazine.
Inside this issue we provide you with quality analysis and information on a wide range of topics to help you make your financial planning decisions with confidence.
Before you can start planning for your retirement, you need to understand how the money you’ve built up in your pension fund will be used to provide you with an income when you retire. On page 5 we look at annuities – one of the options you could choose to invest most of your pension in, and one that will pay you a regular income throughout your retirement years. In the UK more than £10bn is invested in annuities every year.
There are numerous ways of saving for retirement, including various types of pensions. The government views retirement savings as being so important that it offers generous tax benefits to encourage us to make our own pension provision. It is usually also the case that you may be able to contribute to more than one pension – for example, if appropriate, you could contribute to a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) as well as to your company pension scheme. Read the full article on page 4.
In the light of recent market volatility it’s perhaps natural to be looking for ways to smooth out your portfolio’s returns going forward. One way for investors to achieve some peace of mind is through ‘pound-cost averaging’, a simple, time-tested method for controlling risk over time. On page 6 we look at how pound-cost averaging enables investors to take advantage of stock market corrections and how, in this way, you could increase the long-term value of your investments.
A full list of all the articles featured in this edition appears on page 3.
To discuss your financial planning requirements or to obtain any further information, please contact us.