Building cash reserves via ISAs. Im 5 years away from retirement, have built decent SIPPs over 20 years and company DB schemes, however i need to access these in a tax efficient manner and cash drawdown from ISAs will achieve this. Im now focussing on balancing future money into ISA and SIPP.
@MeaningfulMoney Hi. I would certainly consider joining your academy. But I can’t bring myself to do so. Firstly, the discount amount is not transparent. And secondly, and more importantly, I have always avoided any pitch that has a you must buy this now in order to get a saving. I’m talking about the 2 hour counter. I see this as a red flag to a high pitch sales tactic thinking that the underlying product is not as good as it should be. Love your videos. Sorry for my brutal honesty
Thanks for the invugurating speech Pete. Seems you have the bee well and truly between the teeth to get the message across. I know most of 9fnthe default funds are lifestyle led so did initially go with these but will take a look at this on my next revisit. Staying the course of not looking at my investments, crucifying me lol
ISA and Cash reserve outside of pension. I am mid 40's and have been been building my pension since i was 20, putting away 20% (mine + employer) every year. I was overpaying mortgage and would have been mortgage free at 50 and the plan was to put that money into savings and ISA's to build that pot. Unfortunately life changed and I will now be paying mortgage till i retire, the only way to get money outside pension will be in the last few years of my working life.
I ticked the boxes for the first three. However, three is due to two due to having regular savings accounts (no complaints about 7.5% guaranteed interest). No problem with four, although I have absolutely no intention of paying higher rate tax so with the fixed tax thresholds will be paying more and more into my pension until I retire in about five years.
Good to hear a man that listens to his wife, the only reason to sell a house is if you have more than one and also if you probably have a project at hand to invest in
Very true! I sold a house in Texas with my brother because we didn’t want to invest in real estate anymore as we were advised there were better options in the stock market…now we make approximately 900k per year on return working a licensed advisor… really amazing
They are so many licensed advisor that you can work with but I work with mrs Emily Lois Parker .. heard of her from a colleague at work and it has been very productive… look her up and see if you are satisfied, as for me, it can barely get better than this…
I’m closing in on retirement, and I'd love to move from Minnesota to a warmer climate, but home prices are ridiculous now.. do I look at other assets and wait for housing crash, or go ahead with house purchase anyways?
Agreed, instead of panic or being indecisive, I simply adopted the service of a financial planner early 2020 amid covid-outbreak, and so far, I've attained my most significant financial milestone of over $650k after a couple 100,000 invested.
I take guidance from a Pennsylvania-based wealth advisor 'Nicole Desiree Simon' you're most likely going to find her basic info on the internet, she's firmly established and well qualified.
Thanks for this. I curiously searched for her full name and her website came first. I looked through her credentials and did my due diligence before contacting her. Once again many thanks
I'm 48, sad to say I made terrible money decisions growing up which I'm presently paying for, been dedicating every waking hours towards my retirement and I'd really love to retire to Portugal with atleast $3million by, the market up and down is not helping at all.
I asked my pension company to turn off my life styling and they said they can’t, I can do it on line but I have to pick where all the pension should be moved to………….. and advised me to advice before doing ir, so it doesn’t seem that straight forward as just 5urning it off… Pete, please help
Hello, this is an informative and focused video. Very helpful, my question, which you probably are not going to answer is: the fees for financial advice are not for ordinary mortals. I am a full time teacher, earning about 2400, paying a mortgage and saving 500 each month into employer's pension. I had several initial consultations with advisers but each of them tells me that a fee for a proper tailored guidance is about 1000. I am constantly thinking about retirment, planning, saving, I have given up holidays, trips, eating out etc but still it would be impossible to pay this fee. Shouldn't financial advisers be available to ordinary people, not just millionaires?
@@vinay4886 If it's got to THAT late a stage, another few years' working probably won't make any difference, anyway. Shrouds don't have pockets in them.
Worth noting that under the last point your DC scheme has a legal obligation to provide £500 that you can spend on Advice. I could not find this in any literature from my scheme and had to write to them specifically before they sent the criteria to enable me to claim. Also on a seperate note while I work in Finance (albeit took my exams many moons ago) seeking Advice helped my partner to understand our Financial situation and the Advisor could explain things a lot better than I could
I follow all your rules exceptpt the last one. I am confident of my approach but as noted by others an IFA would take many £1000’s from me just to validate or question my approach. Where are the fixed price advisers.
I'm not comfortable putting in huge pension contributions at my age. I plan to increase at each milstone if I stay healthy. So minimum payments it is until I hit 50. Imagine having hundreds of thousands put aside and you die before you get to enjoy it? I don't have kids so I guess I can be a bit more selfish.
I've got fifteen years of detailed data to understand my spend, 9 months to retirement and invaluable in estimating my requirements and achieving the required cashflow as it has been for many years. How to do it? Use a simple piece of forecasting and book keeping software specially designed for home use. I use Acemoney, but have used others in the past Microsoft Money (now not available in UK version) and others. Time taken - a little over an hour a month. 11:10
I wouldn't mind consulting an IFA if they will just provide advice on a £ per hour basis. They just seem to want a % of the pension pot. I'm not going to pay someone £5K for some very basic 'second pair of eyes' advice just because I have a decent sized pension pot. Size doesn't equate to complexity.
I completely agree with you, I am frustrated that the IFA's I have contacted have only ever been interested in an ongoing % charge for 'managing' my retirement pot(s). I would happily pay for a one off advice session alowing me to expalin my current position and to then ask specific questions, but I cannot find anyone willing to do that.
Yes i think the Government need to look into this.Why should i pay twice as much as someone with half my 'pot' for the same advice.Not happening. I got caught out as a naive first time buyer with mortgage.You get steered towards what is the best commission for them not you. I am very wary.Of course there are decent advisors out there but how would you who they are.It's not as if there is a league table.
You get the best people that are solely interested in making you Monday so they make you money. If you paid an hourly rate that was more in you pot there is the downside
Yes the charges are prohibitive, 0.5% annually and then low and behold when you want to retire there is an extra 2 to 3% charge. Yes I accept there is more work required by the IFA compared to the usual annual (its doing fine) visit but after a 40 year relationship to treat the funds that we have sacrificed so much to build up like some kind of lottery wine is disgraceful, especially when your pension funds are quite limited. Convert these percentages to an hourly rate and it would be shocking!
Can you please do a video on what happens if you choose or have to reture early bue to ill health, like if i have to take my pension at 57 with a pension pot of 200k whats the best annuity as im un well so not up to keep checking or drawdown or a mix of both? How is an early pension annuity calculated?
Hi Pete, I am really enjoying your videos as usual. I was wondering whether you could run through the new rules relating to the uncrystallised lump sum over the LTA at marginal income rates? Thank you
Thanks once again. I wondered if you could ever do a pod/RUclips video in what to do with a company DC pension at retirement. Eg: After payments stop. 1. Should we move it into a dipp for lower charges and more flexible options 2. Leave where it is etc..
Paul I was in this situation as was made redundant so the pension which was a company scheme just became my personal Pension with no further employer contributions
I've ranted elsewhere about "lifestyling", which is usually the default type of fund you are put into when your pension fund is set up (at age 59, mine was 60% in bonds). The vast majority of people never investigate how their pension money is being invested, and stay in the default fund. Having said that, how would they know what to do? I dread to think how many people have unknowingly lost money close to retirement due to the recent fall in bond values. Good video, as always, and a nice shirt 🙂
I would say about 90% of pensioners. Pete has raised this in the past you sign up to the pension when you start with the company normally, list your partner as a beneficiary and sign yes for them to manage the money. I have moved mine away from the consolidation fund as it was losing money hand over fist. While I hope to retire next April at 64 my larger DC pot I want to leave for another 5 years before I access it.
@@guyr7351 I'm only a little younger than you, and hit state retirement in 7 years. I guess when we both started, the norm was to retire with an annuity, whereas I think the norm now is to do drawdown (or perhaps some combination of drawdown and annuity). I've transferred the majority of my pension to a SIPP - I have to leave some with Royal Life, because my employer contributes. I'm nervous, though, about taking all that money and investing it in even a global fund. So much could go wrong in 7 years that I wouldn't have much time to recover from.
Well Matt I am someone who's pension pot suddenly lost over £30K just a few weeks before my retirement date. On phoning my provider they would not explain why or how and just told me that it is a risk involved with private pensions. I am not happy to say the least and it is impossible for an individual to do anything about it as I am finding out !!! It seems to me that this whole industry only looks after itself.
@@richardsmith6613 that’s horrifying. It will be quite a common issue in the coming years, I think, given what happened to the value of bonds in particular. We’re you invested in a lifestyle fund?
Wow Pete, not seen you this animated for a while! Great content, I am absolutely dead centre when it comes to who your 'typical' viewer might be as I'm early 60's and still working but love the advice, I am going to look into my own DC Pension Lifestyling plan with Scottish Widows tomorrow! Keep smiling...!
Thanks for the video! I have a question about pitfall 4. I put 20% of my salary into my workplace pension and plan to put as much as I can into an ISA. Your video suggests I should drop the pension contribution and maximise the ISA. As I am a higher rate tax payer and my pension only works with base rate. As i pay higher tax I can request a a tax rebate for the missing 20%, which I can then put into my isa. Question is…. is it better to drop the pension contribution, lower the tax rebate as the ISA offers better long term value?
Make sure you are aware of the charges pension funds are deducting. NEST workplace pensions are charging a scandalise 1.8% plus 0.3% on the funds deposited.
Aren't tech index funds also an option..I'm with moneybox...but other robo firms are available and usually have preset risk options...safe , medium, risky...my main pension is DB but based on modest salary...using S&S isa...monthly build up.3 years..hoping to partly retire in 3/4 years...I believe the fees are slightly higher with robo firms
Am I the only one watching this with no pension? Almost 50 working in the construction industry and previously divorced. My failing body will struggle to get to 67 for the state pension.😮
Chris that’s 17 years until state pension. Depending on your circumstances you would be amazed at what money saved regularly each month when your paid would grow to over that timeline. Is there not a company scheme or are you self employed? Don’t forget every £1 from taxed income becomes £1.25 with the tax relief if invested into a Pension
A lot of British Steel employees took advice from financial advisors, and look at the chaos which ensued. Don’t tar them all with the same brush, but there is a lot of “self interest” in advisors. Let’s hope Consumer Duty has an impact!
Also interesting to see that the FCA has contacted over 1,300 firms in relation to the retirement income advice they issued. Just last week they wrote to selected firms asking them to provide details of individual advice transactions that involved withdrawal recommendations. They would go to such lengths if they didn’t have concerns.
@@Pengranger I think the rules around pensions and good advice mean a lot of advisors steer clear of pensions as there is the risk of being sued / made to compensate if their advise is found to be poor
Hi pete! Im self employed and have just bought my first home, i plan on extending and upsizing until retirement when i can downsize and add the funds to my pension pot. i currently pay into an investment isa which will hopefully top up my state pension. But other than that, i dont have a pension. Are there any pension schemes for self employed that top up your account similar to being employed? Thanks for the helpful videos!
No. You need to open a SIPP with the likes of Vanguard or Interactive Investor and then pay contributions which will be taken out of your self-employed revenue before tax is taken.
Pete - what about the LTA ‘confusion’; HMRC aren’t collecting for ‘23-‘24 but still the calcs are done. Theoretically a change of government and budget before April ‘25 could backdate any changes (ie reinstatement of LTA) to April ‘24. Is that a correct reading of where we are? Worth a video?
I’m a bit confused about the ISA advice. Yes, they are tax free on the way out but anything I put in my ISA has already been subject to 40% income tax. I can now put up to £60k PER YEAR into my DC pension. That’s £24k of tax avoided. I’m over 55, so when I access it, that £24k provides £6k lump sum immediately, tax free going in, tax free coming out. Or maybe I’m missing something.
What is confusing about the ISA? Taking tax free money from an ISA pot to supplement your retirement income, will reduce the amount you need to take from the pension, subsequently reducing your tax liability from the pension. Also, if you are paying 60k into your pension, it pushes a significant amount of your earnings over 50k into the 20% tax bracket, so your isa contributions will not have been subjected to 40% tax at all. That’s not even including the 12.5k tax free allowance….
Money outside of a pension would be an interesting video, especially in the context of a £60k annual pension allowance. Not many people can put away £60k of pension and £20k of isa
True Rob but people’s circumstances do change inheritance etc mean you can get a lump sum and invest more. Don’t forget the annual allowance is £60K or 100% of your salary if that is less.
Can you explain more about lifestyling in another video? You say turn it off, however recent events from COVID and Ukraine have shown significant shocks to the financial system. How can you protect against this?
You can’t is a simple answer if your invested in stock markets vis pension fund then your at risk. Now if it was possible to take your pot and put it into a bank savings account and draw down on it then the fund would have some stability although limited growth rate
A lot of people are complaining about IFA charges. What I would say, as someone who uses an IFA, is that the savings in charges by the different funds that he is able to negotiate more than make up his charge albeit that I/you may not choose the same funds as an IFA.
Seeking advice is not a risk. We would all welcome informative advice, but not when it's costs a % of your pension pot. Why lose 3, 4, or even 5% of your pension to someone who potentially knows no more than myself.
Can someone explain why ISAs are a must (as what has been suggested) as you approach retirement over the growth with pension funds? I know no tax is paid on growth so there is this benefit. It is mentioned it helps with where and how you take your money to live at retirement. I have a very small ISA fund compared to my pension funds. I understand pensions are generally are better way to grow wealth than ISAs especially if you are a higher rate taxpayer and so get the relief. If the benefit is where and how you take your money to live at retirement, then surely you can put some of the drawdown into an ISA and manage it that way. Any thoughts on this? I am just looking for a text reply here. thanks.
I agree with you regarding the pension option. Investment initially occurs gross, which will aid compounding. The tax you pay in most situations from drawdown never catches up with the growth achieved in the pension. It does depend on your tax bracket too though, and how near retirement you are when your starting to save for retirement. In addition if you're in a salary sacrifice scheme the case for investing more in pension is stronger still due to the NI saving. One should also consider the recent changes in removal of LTA cap for the 55% tax charge, which further support the idea of just saving it initially straight to the pension... in future you'll just pay the rate attributed to your drawdown value at the corresponding 20 or 40% or 45% rate of income tax.
My logic is that pensions are tax efficient on the way in but you will probably have to pay some tax when you draw the money out. ISAs are funded from post tax income, but once in there you never pay tax on it again. So once inside the ISA tax wrapper the money can grow and grow over the years and you won't have to pay any tax on that profit when you draw it out. Think of it as tax free passive income when you retire. I put money in my pension first because for me it's an automatic 45% return from not paying tax on the salary. I put money in an ISA as well as I plan on using that as a tax free income stream if I manage to retire early, or to supplement my annual pension draw down so that I can take a smaller pension income every year to stay in a lower tax bracket
If I had a pension pot 4 example was 77 thousand over the last (3 years )has stayed more or less the same should I be worried? I no the stock markets have been but funny since covid
If the implication of pitfall 4, is that it would be a good idea to reduce your pension contributions in order to put money into ISAs during your accumulation phase, I am not sure I totally agree on that, especially if you are a higher rate taxpayer, and expecting to be a basic rate taxpayer in retirement - surely the additional tax relief on the way in is going to be better in the long term? I can see why if you just take that explicit point in time that you want to retire, it's desirable to have money outside the pension, but this doesn't take into account the additional tax relief on the way in?
Whilst i understand the statement about Lifestyling, for some company pensions if you are not in the lifestyle fund you would have to have an idea as to what fund to choose as an alternative....Hmmmm only 10's of funds to try and not loose money on? On the topic of spread your investment, most of us are not going to max out on the 60K that can go into a pension each year, at what amount per year would it be suggested you switch from loading up pension to choosing an ISA instead? thx
Thank you again Pete, excellent advice that has put my mind at ease as I approach this stage of life. Watching your videos awakened me to face the reality of my situation head on only to find out it wasn't as bad as I feared but was hiding from. Much appreciated.
Well as you say Pete, starting point is what are your outgoings and commitments. That gives you a minimum requirement but no breathing room or buffer I would say add £400 on top of your monthly commitments as a minimum.
As a higher rate tax payer, i was going to cash in most of my ISAs and push the money into my pension, as when drawing down fromy pension I'll probably pay tax at the lower rate. Is that a good idea?
Hi, sorry I don't understand what 'offplus' is that you refer to, typed it into Google and doesn't recognise anything. You mention it at about 7.00 mins
UFPLS - Uncrystallised Funds Pension Lump Sum. Search the channel for other videos on it. It's a way of taking money out of a pension in lump sum form.
Interesting and really pertinent for someone like me potentially 1 year away from retirement. I'm also coming out of my company lifestyle plan right now as I don't think it matches my needs. One question - how do you feel about the typical 60/40 equity/bond split for someone approaching retirement (at 60)? The IFA I've consulted is strongly pointing me to this to de-risk my portfolio, whereas I've historically been over 80% in equities, which has been fortunate with the recent decline in bond & equity value.
I'm against it too. being one year from retirement simply means you should be looking at how you will fund your expenditure needs, not adjusting your investment approach wholesale. Demand a justification from your adviser as to why they are suggesting de-risking if your money needs to last 30-40 years more...
They say to de risk as that’s the standard procedure. Move it into gilts and bonds as they are more secure. Problem is that as with any investment markets and conditions change and currently that’s an area struggling. Conversely I have just moved money into a building society bond offering 6% over one year, and unlike pension funds that can go down this won’t I also moved funds from my Aviva consolidation fund as this was heavy into bonds / gilts into a growth fund. This has subsequently grown where the consolidation fund was losing value
@@MeaningfulMoneythank you. That's absolutely my feeling too. I am being forced to change some investmentments due to company scheme changing but I'd sooner go for something like 80/20 or max 70/30 and keep a cash buffer of a couple of years spending incase there is a crash. I hope that will avoid the worst of sequencing issues.
That advice to derisk may have made sense when the only game in town was to buy an annuity on your 65th birthday. But now you don't need all your money in one go when you retire. I stopped work 4 years ago and I hold three years non-discretionary spend in cash and the rest in equities. Every now and then I sell a small slice of equity to top up the cash pot.
Hi Pete, Like other commenters, I find #4 contradictory. You've spent many episodes extolling benefits of pensions - particularly for higher tax earners. You'd need a lot of money in your pension to end up subject to 40% tax, even when you're drawing state pension, plus you've got 25% tax free. Agreed - if you're over the Lifetime allowance for 25% tax free cash I can see an argument, and over 67 State Pension will mop up most of your personal allowace.... but you've still got the IHT benefits in a pension to consider so I'm unclear on what point you're really trying to make.
Agreed. I am going to be paying more and more into my pension to avoid paying higher rate tax. My company pension is actually salary sacrifice so a £500 reduction in take home gets me about £1000 into my AVC.
The complexities of the UK tax system cut in at a lower and lower level of income these days. And of course that £1000 a year of tax free interest has been sailed through by many of us this year. I have never had to keep detailed tax records before and quite frankly I am terrified.
Hi Pete I don’t know if you have covered this previously I’m sure you will have. There is all this talk about consolidation of pension funds but little then said about what the safeguards are if the company goes bust. If you have three funds with a company say Aviva is each fund guaranteed to £85K or are you only covered to £85K with the one institution?
Geeez. Scary informative video 😂😂😂. A very nice presentation... but no where near the average Joe's capabilities. Think outta the box. I live half the year in the central colonial highlands of mexico.. The other half in Thailand. No one can predict the future. Get out and ENJOY life! I do.. and on a monthly budget of 1500 to 2000 USD per month! I'm currently living in a beautiful one bedroom condo ON the beach in Krabi Thailand.... my rent is 400 month... I could easily find a nice place away from the beach for 250 month. Fully furnished... nicely with all modern amenities. My electric bill in Thailand.. Using aircon.. Is about 40 usd per month.... México is much less.. No aircon needed in San Miguel de Allende. Stop worrying about not having enough. Enjoy your retirement. Good wishes you all.
Love your videos and style. Need a financial advisor as I hit retirement but my experience has been (1) self serving people selling products that make them rich, or (2) not telling me anything I didn’t know for a fee, or (3) somebody cold calling me offering a “free” session. Help welcome. 😢
08:29 my personal experience of financial advisors (not 3 steps removed) is 1) my advisor getting 5% of my pension contributions on the way in for years, basically taking 1000's out of my pension pot in todays money 2) advising people to move out of defined benefit schemes into DC schemes 3) Advocating for specific investments based on kickbacks and back room deals (Hargreaves Lansdown anyone). So yes there must due to the law of averages some good advisors and I believe you are one Pete, however the bell curve says most advisors fall into the tosser category with 95% confidence
Your previous intro used to be so catchy and got you in the mood for some serious financial advice. Your updated intro with the "spot" is just boring and so "oh, yawn yawn.. Another financial video". Thanks very much.
Thank you this is so helpful as always, especially as I am coming up to retiring early in August. I switched out of the lifestyle plan with my work pension and into equity index options so I am very happy with number 1. Just wish there was some music in this video though 😆
Long time podcast listener but first RUclips video- really enjoyed it, thank you 😊 What would you consider ‘the run up to retirement’? When would this meaningful Acadamy course be most beneficial? 1 year before? 2 years? 5 years?
Hi Pete, firstly thank you for all the great videos. I just wanted to ask about Pitfall 4, although I do save into a Stock & Shares ISA I prioritise paying into my Workplace Pension & SIPP because of the tax benefit when doing so. I seem to remember you made a video previously which explained that in the long run you'd be better off paying tax on a pension draw down (due to compound interest earned on the tax benefit of a pension) rather having an ISA and not paying tax. Whereas this video seems suggest slightly contrict that. I do understand the need for a S&S ISA, for example if you want to retire before you can access your pension etc, but I always thought the tax benefit earned in a pension meant that most people should priortise paying into that. Is there a suggested ratio for Pensions to ISA? Currently I only have around 7% of my retirement fund in a S&S ISA, the rest is in Pensions and I don't planning on retiring until I can access my pensions.
It was Pete who swayed me away from ‘target retirement funds’ after i asked for his opinion on the Vanguard’s target retirement funds he just gave a typical ‘chartered financial advisor’ response but I read between the lines and opted for Vanguard lifestrategy100 fund what sounds similar but they’re a bit different. So yea thanks Pete 👏 I’m glad I got it sorted out whilst I’m still young 🐣
Indeed Pete, as you stress your a financial planner and have rules you need to adhere to. Same as Martin Lewis will tell people about how to save money, banking saving offers etc he stands back when asked about investments
Which of these 6 pitfalls is the one you need to work on the most? What will you do today?
Building cash reserves via ISAs. Im 5 years away from retirement, have built decent SIPPs over 20 years and company DB schemes, however i need to access these in a tax efficient manner and cash drawdown from ISAs will achieve this. Im now focussing on balancing future money into ISA and SIPP.
@MeaningfulMoney Hi. I would certainly consider joining your academy. But I can’t bring myself to do so. Firstly, the discount amount is not transparent. And secondly, and more importantly, I have always avoided any pitch that has a you must buy this now in order to get a saving. I’m talking about the 2 hour counter. I see this as a red flag to a high pitch sales tactic thinking that the underlying product is not as good as it should be. Love your videos. Sorry for my brutal honesty
Thanks for the invugurating speech Pete. Seems you have the bee well and truly between the teeth to get the message across. I know most of 9fnthe default funds are lifestyle led so did initially go with these but will take a look at this on my next revisit. Staying the course of not looking at my investments, crucifying me lol
ISA and Cash reserve outside of pension. I am mid 40's and have been been building my pension since i was 20, putting away 20% (mine + employer) every year. I was overpaying mortgage and would have been mortgage free at 50 and the plan was to put that money into savings and ISA's to build that pot.
Unfortunately life changed and I will now be paying mortgage till i retire, the only way to get money outside pension will be in the last few years of my working life.
I ticked the boxes for the first three. However, three is due to two due to having regular savings accounts (no complaints about 7.5% guaranteed interest). No problem with four, although I have absolutely no intention of paying higher rate tax so with the fixed tax thresholds will be paying more and more into my pension until I retire in about five years.
rent has to be the biggest opposing factor of retirement in my opinion…. Glad I took my wife’s advice to not sell our house
Good to hear a man that listens to his wife, the only reason to sell a house is if you have more than one and also if you probably have a project at hand to invest in
Very true! I sold a house in Texas with my brother because we didn’t want to invest in real estate anymore as we were advised there were better options in the stock market…now we make approximately 900k per year on return working a licensed advisor… really amazing
Pls who handles your investment? I love the big numbers I hear and want to be a part
They are so many licensed advisor that you can work with but I work with mrs Emily Lois Parker .. heard of her from a colleague at work and it has been very productive… look her up and see if you are satisfied, as for me, it can barely get better than this…
Just found her.. thanks for info
I’m closing in on retirement, and I'd love to move from Minnesota to a warmer climate, but home prices are ridiculous now.. do I look at other assets and wait for housing crash, or go ahead with house purchase anyways?
diversification is key to good investment strategy, consider talking to an advisor about which market sectors to focus your portfolio on
Agreed, instead of panic or being indecisive, I simply adopted the service of a financial planner early 2020 amid covid-outbreak, and so far, I've attained my most significant financial milestone of over $650k after a couple 100,000 invested.
nice! once you hit a big milestone, the next comes easier, who is your advisor pleas, if you dont mind me asking?
I take guidance from a Pennsylvania-based wealth advisor 'Nicole Desiree Simon' you're most likely going to find her basic info on the internet, she's firmly established and well qualified.
Thanks for this. I curiously searched for her full name and her website came first. I looked through her credentials and did my due diligence before contacting her. Once again many thanks
Nice t-shirt colour! There are plenty of good reminders here on what to do before retirement, and what to avoid. Thanks.
As you dropped the music I subscribed to your channel - thanks for listening to the feedback!!!
I'm 48, sad to say I made terrible money decisions growing up which I'm presently paying for, been dedicating every waking hours towards my retirement and I'd really love to retire to Portugal with atleast $3million by, the market up and down is not helping at all.
I asked my pension company to turn off my life styling and they said they can’t, I can do it on line but I have to pick where all the pension should be moved to………….. and advised me to advice before doing ir, so it doesn’t seem that straight forward as just 5urning it off… Pete, please help
Hello, this is an informative and focused video. Very helpful, my question, which you probably are not going to answer is: the fees for financial advice are not for ordinary mortals. I am a full time teacher, earning about 2400, paying a mortgage and saving 500 each month into employer's pension. I had several initial consultations with advisers but each of them tells me that a fee for a proper tailored guidance is about 1000. I am constantly thinking about retirment, planning, saving, I have given up holidays, trips, eating out etc but still it would be impossible to pay this fee. Shouldn't financial advisers be available to ordinary people, not just millionaires?
Excellent, thank you (not flummoxed in the slightest). Nice T shirt too 😊
Lol - thank you!
Great content, just missing some background music 😂
Pfffff!
No-one who retired ever said, "I wish I'd spent more time in the office". Whatever you do, don't delay retirement indefinitely!
But people do wish they had more money saved up for retirement- where would that money come from?🤔
@@Nousmourronsseuls Here's another cliche: don't end up being the richest man in the cemetery.
@@vinay4886 If it's got to THAT late a stage, another few years' working probably won't make any difference, anyway. Shrouds don't have pockets in them.
@@Nousmourronsseuls Yes - enjoying work? "He doth protest too much".
You guys...!
“Turn lifestyling off”.
I’ve listened to you and I *still* don’t understand what is meant by this 🤷🏻♂️
Worth noting that under the last point your DC scheme has a legal obligation to provide £500 that you can spend on Advice. I could not find this in any literature from my scheme and had to write to them specifically before they sent the criteria to enable me to claim.
Also on a seperate note while I work in Finance (albeit took my exams many moons ago) seeking Advice helped my partner to understand our Financial situation and the Advisor could explain things a lot better than I could
Does that apply to the big SIPP providers offering SIPP products like Vanguard and Interactive Investor?
I follow all your rules exceptpt the last one. I am confident of my approach but as noted by others an IFA would take many £1000’s from me just to validate or question my approach. Where are the fixed price advisers.
I'm not comfortable putting in huge pension contributions at my age. I plan to increase at each milstone if I stay healthy. So minimum payments it is until I hit 50.
Imagine having hundreds of thousands put aside and you die before you get to enjoy it?
I don't have kids so I guess I can be a bit more selfish.
I've got fifteen years of detailed data to understand my spend, 9 months to retirement and invaluable in estimating my requirements and achieving the required cashflow as it has been for many years. How to do it? Use a simple piece of forecasting and book keeping software specially designed for home use. I use Acemoney, but have used others in the past Microsoft Money (now not available in UK version) and others. Time taken - a little over an hour a month. 11:10
I wouldn't mind consulting an IFA if they will just provide advice on a £ per hour basis. They just seem to want a % of the pension pot. I'm not going to pay someone £5K for some very basic 'second pair of eyes' advice just because I have a decent sized pension pot. Size doesn't equate to complexity.
Same with lawyers and estate agents etc etc
I completely agree with you, I am frustrated that the IFA's I have contacted have only ever been interested in an ongoing % charge for 'managing' my retirement pot(s). I would happily pay for a one off advice session alowing me to expalin my current position and to then ask specific questions, but I cannot find anyone willing to do that.
Yes i think the Government need to look into this.Why should i pay twice as much as someone with half my 'pot' for the same advice.Not happening.
I got caught out as a naive first time buyer with mortgage.You get steered towards what is the best commission for them not you.
I am very wary.Of course there are decent advisors out there but how would you who they are.It's not as if there is a league table.
You get the best people that are solely interested in making you Monday so they make you money. If you paid an hourly rate that was more in you pot there is the downside
Yes the charges are prohibitive, 0.5% annually and then low and behold when you want to retire there is an extra 2 to 3% charge. Yes I accept there is more work required by the IFA compared to the usual annual (its doing fine) visit but after a 40 year relationship to treat the funds that we have sacrificed so much to build up like some kind of lottery wine is disgraceful, especially when your pension funds are quite limited. Convert these percentages to an hourly rate and it would be shocking!
Can you please do a video on what happens if you choose or have to reture early bue to ill health, like if i have to take my pension at 57 with a pension pot of 200k whats the best annuity as im un well so not up to keep checking or drawdown or a mix of both? How is an early pension annuity calculated?
Hi Pete, I am really enjoying your videos as usual. I was wondering whether you could run through the new rules relating to the uncrystallised lump sum over the LTA at marginal income rates? Thank you
I thank you! I am far from this point but value your advise invaluable!
Glad it was helpful!
4:53 Came for the financial advice. Stayed for the color of the tee shirt. 💙👍 (and subbed already)
Thanks once again. I wondered if you could ever do a pod/RUclips video in what to do with a company DC pension at retirement.
Eg: After payments stop.
1. Should we move it into a dipp for lower charges and more flexible options
2. Leave where it is etc..
Paul I was in this situation as was made redundant so the pension which was a company scheme just became my personal
Pension with no further employer contributions
I've ranted elsewhere about "lifestyling", which is usually the default type of fund you are put into when your pension fund is set up (at age 59, mine was 60% in bonds). The vast majority of people never investigate how their pension money is being invested, and stay in the default fund. Having said that, how would they know what to do? I dread to think how many people have unknowingly lost money close to retirement due to the recent fall in bond values. Good video, as always, and a nice shirt 🙂
Thank you on both counts, Matt!
I would say about 90% of pensioners. Pete has raised this in the past you sign up to the pension when you start with the company normally, list your partner as a beneficiary and sign yes for them to manage the money. I have moved mine away from the consolidation fund as it was losing money hand over fist. While I hope to retire next April at 64 my larger DC pot I want to leave for another 5 years before I access it.
@@guyr7351 I'm only a little younger than you, and hit state retirement in 7 years. I guess when we both started, the norm was to retire with an annuity, whereas I think the norm now is to do drawdown (or perhaps some combination of drawdown and annuity). I've transferred the majority of my pension to a SIPP - I have to leave some with Royal Life, because my employer contributes. I'm nervous, though, about taking all that money and investing it in even a global fund. So much could go wrong in 7 years that I wouldn't have much time to recover from.
Well Matt I am someone who's pension pot suddenly lost over £30K just a few weeks before my retirement date. On phoning my provider they would not explain why or how and just told me that it is a risk involved with private pensions. I am not happy to say the least and it is impossible for an individual to do anything about it as I am finding out !!! It seems to me that this whole industry only looks after itself.
@@richardsmith6613 that’s horrifying. It will be quite a common issue in the coming years, I think, given what happened to the value of bonds in particular. We’re you invested in a lifestyle fund?
Wow Pete, not seen you this animated for a while! Great content, I am absolutely dead centre when it comes to who your 'typical' viewer might be as I'm early 60's and still working but love the advice, I am going to look into my own DC Pension Lifestyling plan with Scottish Widows tomorrow! Keep smiling...!
Thanks for the video! I have a question about pitfall 4.
I put 20% of my salary into my workplace pension and plan to put as much as I can into an ISA.
Your video suggests I should drop the pension contribution and maximise the ISA.
As I am a higher rate tax payer and my pension only works with base rate. As i pay higher tax I can request a a tax rebate for the missing 20%, which I can then put into my isa.
Question is…. is it better to drop the pension contribution, lower the tax rebate as the ISA offers better long term value?
Make sure you are aware of the charges pension funds are deducting. NEST workplace pensions are charging a scandalise 1.8% plus 0.3% on the funds deposited.
Correct the 1.8% being for the government and their costs in making it compulsory for firms to offer such schemes
Much better audio! 👍
Aren't tech index funds also an option..I'm with moneybox...but other robo firms are available and usually have preset risk options...safe , medium, risky...my main pension is DB but based on modest salary...using S&S isa...monthly build up.3 years..hoping to partly retire in 3/4 years...I believe the fees are slightly higher with robo firms
Hi great video,why do you not like it when people have loads of property and not much else? What are the downsides?
How can you value a property in the current market ?
Am I the only one watching this with no pension? Almost 50 working in the construction industry and previously divorced. My failing body will struggle to get to 67 for the state pension.😮
Never too late to start Chris! You've got 7 years to save in a SIPP till it could be accessed.
Amen, Celia - preach! NEVER too late, Chris. You'd be amazed what you could amass with some laser focus...
Chris that’s 17 years until state pension. Depending on your circumstances you would be amazed at what money saved regularly each month when your paid would grow to over that timeline. Is there not a company scheme or are you self employed? Don’t forget every £1 from taxed income becomes £1.25 with the tax relief if invested into a Pension
Great video Pete
Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it - thanks for watching!
A lot of British Steel employees took advice from financial advisors, and look at the chaos which ensued. Don’t tar them all with the same brush, but there is a lot of “self interest” in advisors. Let’s hope Consumer Duty has an impact!
Also interesting to see that the FCA has contacted over 1,300 firms in relation to the retirement income advice they issued. Just last week they wrote to selected firms asking them to provide details of individual advice transactions that involved withdrawal recommendations. They would go to such lengths if they didn’t have concerns.
@@Pengranger I think the rules around pensions and good advice mean a lot of advisors steer clear of pensions as there is the risk of being sued / made to compensate if their advise is found to be poor
Hi pete! Im self employed and have just bought my first home, i plan on extending and upsizing until retirement when i can downsize and add the funds to my pension pot. i currently pay into an investment isa which will hopefully top up my state pension. But other than that, i dont have a pension. Are there any pension schemes for self employed that top up your account similar to being employed? Thanks for the helpful videos!
No. You need to open a SIPP with the likes of Vanguard or Interactive Investor and then pay contributions which will be taken out of your self-employed revenue before tax is taken.
Many thanks for this. Can you do a video about short term or temporary annuities please?
Noted - thanks for watching
Pete - what about the LTA ‘confusion’; HMRC aren’t collecting for ‘23-‘24 but still the calcs are done. Theoretically a change of government and budget before April ‘25 could backdate any changes (ie reinstatement of LTA) to April ‘24. Is that a correct reading of where we are? Worth a video?
How crazy that the pension system is at risk of the political parties
Tax free accounts "that means ISA's" or classic cars :)
Good stuff thank you
I’m a bit confused about the ISA advice. Yes, they are tax free on the way out but anything I put in my ISA has already been subject to 40% income tax. I can now put up to £60k PER YEAR into my DC pension. That’s £24k of tax avoided. I’m over 55, so when I access it, that £24k provides £6k lump sum immediately, tax free going in, tax free coming out. Or maybe I’m missing something.
What is confusing about the ISA? Taking tax free money from an ISA pot to supplement your retirement income, will reduce the amount you need to take from the pension, subsequently reducing your tax liability from the pension.
Also, if you are paying 60k into your pension, it pushes a significant amount of your earnings over 50k into the 20% tax bracket, so your isa contributions will not have been subjected to 40% tax at all. That’s not even including the 12.5k tax free allowance….
Money outside of a pension would be an interesting video, especially in the context of a £60k annual pension allowance. Not many people can put away £60k of pension and £20k of isa
True Rob but people’s circumstances do change inheritance etc mean you can get a lump sum and invest more. Don’t forget the annual allowance is £60K or 100% of your salary if that is less.
Downsizing would be a factor here, releasing some equity and benefiting from tax relief at source on pension contributions
That TRT has given you more energy. #jazzhands
Ha! You got me!
Can you explain more about lifestyling in another video? You say turn it off, however recent events from COVID and Ukraine have shown significant shocks to the financial system. How can you protect against this?
You can’t is a simple answer if your invested in stock markets vis pension fund then your at risk. Now if it was possible to take your pot and put it into a bank savings account and draw down on it then the fund would have some stability although limited growth rate
A lot of people are complaining about IFA charges. What I would say, as someone who uses an IFA, is that the savings in charges by the different funds that he is able to negotiate more than make up his charge albeit that I/you may not choose the same funds as an IFA.
Is there a link to a vid about how to find financial advice? I may have overlooked it
Seeking advice is not a risk. We would all welcome informative advice, but not when it's costs a % of your pension pot. Why lose 3, 4, or even 5% of your pension to someone who potentially knows no more than myself.
Chapters…Niiiiice
Its a mind field !!
Can someone explain why ISAs are a must (as what has been suggested) as you approach retirement over the growth with pension funds? I know no tax is paid on growth so there is this benefit. It is mentioned it helps with where and how you take your money to live at retirement. I have a very small ISA fund compared to my pension funds. I understand pensions are generally are better way to grow wealth than ISAs especially if you are a higher rate taxpayer and so get the relief. If the benefit is where and how you take your money to live at retirement, then surely you can put some of the drawdown into an ISA and manage it that way. Any thoughts on this? I am just looking for a text reply here. thanks.
I agree with you regarding the pension option. Investment initially occurs gross, which will aid compounding. The tax you pay in most situations from drawdown never catches up with the growth achieved in the pension. It does depend on your tax bracket too though, and how near retirement you are when your starting to save for retirement. In addition if you're in a salary sacrifice scheme the case for investing more in pension is stronger still due to the NI saving. One should also consider the recent changes in removal of LTA cap for the 55% tax charge, which further support the idea of just saving it initially straight to the pension... in future you'll just pay the rate attributed to your drawdown value at the corresponding 20 or 40% or 45% rate of income tax.
My logic is that pensions are tax efficient on the way in but you will probably have to pay some tax when you draw the money out. ISAs are funded from post tax income, but once in there you never pay tax on it again. So once inside the ISA tax wrapper the money can grow and grow over the years and you won't have to pay any tax on that profit when you draw it out. Think of it as tax free passive income when you retire. I put money in my pension first because for me it's an automatic 45% return from not paying tax on the salary. I put money in an ISA as well as I plan on using that as a tax free income stream if I manage to retire early, or to supplement my annual pension draw down so that I can take a smaller pension income every year to stay in a lower tax bracket
I've got a retirement plan its called poverty
Trying to find out about annuity’s
you'd be surprised how many providers I have talked to have no idea what UFPLUS is.
It's the people working there that don't get it, but the training must be shocking...
If I had a pension pot 4 example was 77 thousand over the last (3 years )has stayed more or less the same should I be worried? I no the stock markets have been but funny since covid
If the implication of pitfall 4, is that it would be a good idea to reduce your pension contributions in order to put money into ISAs during your accumulation phase, I am not sure I totally agree on that, especially if you are a higher rate taxpayer, and expecting to be a basic rate taxpayer in retirement - surely the additional tax relief on the way in is going to be better in the long term? I can see why if you just take that explicit point in time that you want to retire, it's desirable to have money outside the pension, but this doesn't take into account the additional tax relief on the way in?
Whilst i understand the statement about Lifestyling, for some company pensions if you are not in the lifestyle fund you would have to have an idea as to what fund to choose as an alternative....Hmmmm only 10's of funds to try and not loose money on? On the topic of spread your investment, most of us are not going to max out on the 60K that can go into a pension each year, at what amount per year would it be suggested you switch from loading up pension to choosing an ISA instead? thx
Just downloaded your book on audible. Looking forward to listening to it 👍🏻
Hope you enjoy it - thank you!
Thank you again Pete, excellent advice that has put my mind at ease as I approach this stage of life. Watching your videos awakened me to face the reality of my situation head on only to find out it wasn't as bad as I feared but was hiding from. Much appreciated.
Could you do a video on ISA's. Multiple ISA's and transferring etc.
ps - I didn't notice the music 😂
Many people did notice it! Good shout on that subject, actually. Watch this space...
At the current moment, how much is classed as decent pension annually??? Just wondering 🤔 💭
Depends on your outgoings. There's no 'optimal' pension size, really...
Well as you say Pete, starting point is what are your outgoings and commitments. That gives you a minimum requirement but no breathing room or buffer I would say add £400 on top of your monthly commitments as a minimum.
As a higher rate tax payer, i was going to cash in most of my ISAs and push the money into my pension, as when drawing down fromy pension I'll probably pay tax at the lower rate. Is that a good idea?
Keep some ISAs for sure, but there is definitely merit in getting the uplift from the pension contribution.
I think I am flummoxed !
Hi, sorry I don't understand what 'offplus' is that you refer to, typed it into Google and doesn't recognise anything. You mention it at about 7.00 mins
UFPLS - Uncrystallised Funds Pension Lump Sum. Search the channel for other videos on it. It's a way of taking money out of a pension in lump sum form.
Interesting and really pertinent for someone like me potentially 1 year away from retirement. I'm also coming out of my company lifestyle plan right now as I don't think it matches my needs.
One question - how do you feel about the typical 60/40 equity/bond split for someone approaching retirement (at 60)? The IFA I've consulted is strongly pointing me to this to de-risk my portfolio, whereas I've historically been over 80% in equities, which has been fortunate with the recent decline in bond & equity value.
I am against de-risking. You could live 40years into retirement - let it grow…
I'm against it too. being one year from retirement simply means you should be looking at how you will fund your expenditure needs, not adjusting your investment approach wholesale. Demand a justification from your adviser as to why they are suggesting de-risking if your money needs to last 30-40 years more...
They say to de risk as that’s the standard procedure. Move it into gilts and bonds as they are more secure. Problem is that as with any investment markets and conditions change and currently that’s an area struggling.
Conversely I have just moved money into a building society bond offering 6% over one year, and unlike pension funds that can go down this won’t
I also moved funds from my Aviva consolidation fund as this was heavy into bonds / gilts into a growth fund. This has subsequently grown where the consolidation fund was losing value
@@MeaningfulMoneythank you. That's absolutely my feeling too. I am being forced to change some investmentments due to company scheme changing but I'd sooner go for something like 80/20 or max 70/30 and keep a cash buffer of a couple of years spending incase there is a crash. I hope that will avoid the worst of sequencing issues.
That advice to derisk may have made sense when the only game in town was to buy an annuity on your 65th birthday.
But now you don't need all your money in one go when you retire.
I stopped work 4 years ago and I hold three years non-discretionary spend in cash and the rest in equities.
Every now and then I sell a small slice of equity to top up the cash pot.
Is that Man City Blue?
Hi Pete, Like other commenters, I find #4 contradictory. You've spent many episodes extolling benefits of pensions - particularly for higher tax earners. You'd need a lot of money in your pension to end up subject to 40% tax, even when you're drawing state pension, plus you've got 25% tax free. Agreed - if you're over the Lifetime allowance for 25% tax free cash I can see an argument, and over 67 State Pension will mop up most of your personal allowace.... but you've still got the IHT benefits in a pension to consider so I'm unclear on what point you're really trying to make.
Agreed. I am going to be paying more and more into my pension to avoid paying higher rate tax. My company pension is actually salary sacrifice so a £500 reduction in take home gets me about £1000 into my AVC.
on point 6: When is the best time to speak to an advisor? 2, 5, 10, 30 years before retiring?
The complexities of the UK tax system cut in at a lower and lower level of income these days. And of course that £1000 a year of tax free interest has been sailed through by many of us this year. I have never had to keep detailed tax records before and quite frankly I am terrified.
Hi Pete I don’t know if you have covered this previously I’m sure you will have. There is all this talk about consolidation of pension funds but little then said about what the safeguards are if the company goes bust.
If you have three funds with a company say Aviva is each fund guaranteed to £85K or are you only covered to £85K with the one institution?
Pete has done a previous video on this subject, on this channel. Search for ‘Losing Money - How does the FSCS work?’.
Geeez. Scary informative video 😂😂😂. A very nice presentation... but no where near the average Joe's capabilities. Think outta the box. I live half the year in the central colonial highlands of mexico.. The other half in Thailand. No one can predict the future. Get out and ENJOY life! I do.. and on a monthly budget of 1500 to 2000 USD per month! I'm currently living in a beautiful one bedroom condo ON the beach in Krabi Thailand.... my rent is 400 month... I could easily find a nice place away from the beach for 250 month. Fully furnished... nicely with all modern amenities. My electric bill in Thailand.. Using aircon.. Is about 40 usd per month.... México is much less.. No aircon needed in San Miguel de Allende.
Stop worrying about not having enough. Enjoy your retirement. Good wishes you all.
Love your videos and style. Need a financial advisor as I hit retirement but my experience has been (1) self serving people selling products that make them rich, or (2) not telling me anything I didn’t know for a fee, or (3) somebody cold calling me offering a “free” session. Help welcome. 😢
08:29 my personal experience of financial advisors (not 3 steps removed) is 1) my advisor getting 5% of my pension contributions on the way in for years, basically taking 1000's out of my pension pot in todays money 2) advising people to move out of defined benefit schemes into DC schemes 3) Advocating for specific investments based on kickbacks and back room deals (Hargreaves Lansdown anyone).
So yes there must due to the law of averages some good advisors and I believe you are one Pete, however the bell curve says most advisors fall into the tosser category with 95% confidence
Your previous intro used to be so catchy and got you in the mood for some serious financial advice. Your updated intro with the "spot" is just boring and so "oh, yawn yawn.. Another financial video". Thanks very much.
Noted, Charles. Been thinking about a change anyway…
You've reminded me that I need to find a dentist! 😊
Good luck! Hope the toothache isn't so bad...!
I got some Indica, Sativa, Ruderalis and some Kush... too many pots? 😟
Yes, I did Google those names
Thank you this is so helpful as always, especially as I am coming up to retiring early in August. I switched out of the lifestyle plan with my work pension and into equity index options so I am very happy with number 1. Just wish there was some music in this video though 😆
I feel like you're shouting at your audience?
It's known as enthusiasm! 😊
@@alexm7310 I think you're right. I'm personally drawn to calm and chilled voices :)
@@cooper8t do you know PensionCraft? Ramin is very calm & chilled. I follow both - they're quite complementary in that way 😊
@@alexm7310 I do follow Ramin, used to be in the membership tier when I first started investing/ during Covid. Yeah, he's very chilled which I like
Long time podcast listener but first RUclips video- really enjoyed it, thank you 😊
What would you consider ‘the run up to retirement’? When would this meaningful Acadamy course be most beneficial? 1 year before? 2 years? 5 years?
Hi Pete, firstly thank you for all the great videos. I just wanted to ask about Pitfall 4, although I do save into a Stock & Shares ISA I prioritise paying into my Workplace Pension & SIPP because of the tax benefit when doing so. I seem to remember you made a video previously which explained that in the long run you'd be better off paying tax on a pension draw down (due to compound interest earned on the tax benefit of a pension) rather having an ISA and not paying tax. Whereas this video seems suggest slightly contrict that. I do understand the need for a S&S ISA, for example if you want to retire before you can access your pension etc, but I always thought the tax benefit earned in a pension meant that most people should priortise paying into that. Is there a suggested ratio for Pensions to ISA? Currently I only have around 7% of my retirement fund in a S&S ISA, the rest is in Pensions and I don't planning on retiring until I can access my pensions.
Is he talking with his hands too much?
I don’t know. Am I?!
Pete, can we have the elevator-music back please....I'm sure no one will mind.....
YOU LIE!
Correct - self serving.
465 other videos tell a different story.
It was Pete who swayed me away from ‘target retirement funds’ after i asked for his opinion on the Vanguard’s target retirement funds he just gave a typical ‘chartered financial advisor’ response but I read between the lines and opted for Vanguard lifestrategy100 fund what sounds similar but they’re a bit different. So yea thanks Pete 👏 I’m glad I got it sorted out whilst I’m still young 🐣
I have to be careful what I say on this platform in case it is seen as advice. What you read between the lines is up to you 😜
Indeed Pete, as you stress your a financial planner and have rules you need to adhere to. Same as Martin Lewis will tell people about how to save money, banking saving offers etc he stands back when asked about investments