This BBC article explores some of the problems and stresses facing people retiring in the current economic situation, and how their annuities are being affected by the volatility of the traditional share based pension schemes.

The gentleman in the first example is interesting for the comments he made around SIPPs. Although true that to transfer his funds would have cost somewhere in the region of what he said, they have come down drastically of late and in some cases are even waived when set up in conjunction with certain investment products. He also states that his fund has dropped 10-12% which is considerably more than the fees he mentioned even if he changed products regularly, plus the yearly "Management" fees tend to less with a SIPP. 

The general message in the media at the moment is that traditional share based, managed pension funds are not delivering on the promises of 20 years ago. This coupled with an apathy towards contributing to them, lack of ability to have input and lets face it that they just ain't sexy means that there are going to be a lot of unhappy older people around in the very near future. 

The fact is there are other options out there, more interesting, dare I say more sexy options that you can have input to yourself that may not ultimately do any better than what you already have but at least you can blame yourself. The final fact is the later you leave it the less options you will have.

This blog is opinion and does not constitute advice. We always recommend seeking professional advice before making financial decisions.

The article below supports what we have found ourselves over the past 18 months, most of our clients come to us with pension pots valued at between £20,000 & £50,000. The average being approximately £36,000, myself as prime example, I'm 42 and had a pension with a value of £35,000 which was projected to give me approximately a £1000 a year, YES A YEAR!!, when I turned 65.

Of course you can do something about it, and I don't just mean saving more now, as in the current climate that's not always possible. You can take some action yourself though. Our clients are taking control of what they do already have and doing something with it, they are moving their money away from the big pension providers and putting it into SIPPs (Self Invested Pension Plans). This means that you can, within certain parameters, invest your money where you want, where you believe you will get the best returns.

Pensions: Age-Gap "Widens" for Retirement Savings

Below are a couple of links to the problems facing many women on retirement, but they equally apply to us all.

I have written in previous blogs my views on why we don't save for retirement, the big thing for most of us is to make it more immediate, to reward ourselves sooner for our investment. Read these articles and do something, if you have a small pension that you have paid into, then look at how to maximise it or if you haven't, start saving something. Another approach is looking at how your money can work for you. Having a passive income (which is all a pension is) is something that can be achieved long before retirement if you take some action now!

Young women facing a poor retirement

Retirement just seems so far off

Click on the following links to two straight talking articles about the state of pensions in the UK

The Ticking Time Bomb

The Retirement Conundrum

Platinum, as part of it's ongoing desire to to support it's clients, with the best the market has to offer, has just joined forces with a Tax Strategy Company to bring you the latest ways managing your money.

This service will be fully launched in the New Year,but in the meantime there is an urgent date on the horizon -

29th November is the Governments Pre Budget Statement which is likely to include major changes to several areas of Tax legislation. It is believed that they will become legislation from that date although not enacted until the Budget next year.

This gives individuals and companies a small window of opportunity to make the most of current legislation. If you are are a director of a company which is likely to make pre tax profits of in excess of £70k this yea,r then give us a call and we will put you in contact with a Tax Specialist to evaluate your best course of action.

All paperwork must be in by the 22nd November so act now!

Investors are loosing thousands of pounds in fees and commissions on private pension schemes, check out this, BBC article

From my own experience it's no wonder SIPPs and alternative ways of investing that money are becoming more popular. 20 years of opting out of SERPs and I had approximately the same amount as had been invested. A quick calculation showed that the fees taken during that time was about the same amount as the fund! I wouldn't have minded so much if they had done a brilliant job with it over that time but they hadn't. Now my money is in a SIPP now they still have charges but a lot less than managed funds and if it looses money it's because of me no one else.

On average 50% of working age people in the UK don't adequately save for retirement. BBC Article 

Why is that? In my opinion after working with numerous clients, around them obtaining their business goals and financial outcomes,there are 2 major factors that contribute.

1. The way the human mind works, retirement as a goal is too far distant to focus on and keep motivated to achieve. From a coaching point of view most goal setting exercises are set in 3 month chunks or steps contributing to a bigger goal, set at anywhere between 1 and 5 years. This keeps focus, and linked with motivation plus the release of endorphins that comes with the pleasure of success, sustains momentum.

2. Most people don't want to retire! People want to have choice as to whether they work or not, what they work on and with whom. They also want it sooner than 65 but would be quite happy with working longer than that, as long as it is their choice.

This is a real eye opener, most people that have pension pots don't even realise that this is all they will get!

Have a look at this article then give us a call....

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/pensions/most-private-pensions-worth-pound2000-a-year-or-less-1995689.html

From reading this article it is understandable why more and more UK residents are looking at other ways of investing their pension pots.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10263977.stm