Autumn is a good time to take stock.
The summer holidays are behind us, Christmas is slowly appearing on the horizon and, before we know it, we’ll be looking ahead to another year.
For those approaching retirement, it’s also a useful time to step back and ask:
Is my retirement plan still on track for the life I actually want?
Here are five questions worth asking yourself this autumn.
1. Do I know how much income I’ll actually need?
This sounds obvious, but it’s one of the hardest questions to answer.
Your spending in retirement might look very different from your spending while you’re working.
You might spend more on travel, hobbies and experiences in the early years. You might want to help children or grandchildren. You might have plans for the house, a new car or finally ticking off the places you’ve always wanted to visit.
Later on, your priorities and spending could change again.
So rather than starting with:
“How big does my pension need to be?”
Start with:
“What do I want my retirement to look like?”
From there, you can start working backwards to understand what level of income might be needed to support it.
2. Do I know where my retirement income will come from?
For most people, retirement income doesn’t come from just one place.
You might have a combination of:
- The State Pension
- Workplace pensions
- Personal pensions
- ISAs and investments
- Savings
- Property or other assets
- Other sources of income
Understanding how these different sources fit together can make a big difference.
For example, when should you start taking your State Pension?
How much should you take from your pension?
Should you use cash savings before investments?
Should you leave some pension funds invested for later?
These aren’t necessarily questions with a one-size-fits-all answer.
They’re decisions that should fit into your wider financial plan.
3. Do I know when I can afford to retire?
Retirement isn’t necessarily a case of working until a particular age and then stopping completely.
For some people, it might mean retiring at 60.
For others, it could mean working until 65, reducing their hours, changing roles or gradually winding down.
The important thing is knowing whether your finances can support the decision you want to make.
A retirement plan can help you understand how long your money could need to last, how much income you might require and how different decisions could affect the years ahead.
And if your ideal retirement date isn’t quite achievable yet, knowing that sooner gives you more options.
You might decide to work for another year.
Increase your pension contributions.
Change your spending.
Or simply adjust the plan.
That’s much better than finding out when you’ve already handed in your notice.
4. Have I thought about the unexpected?
A good retirement plan isn’t just about the things you expect to happen.
It’s also about having some flexibility when life doesn’t follow the script.
What happens if your spending is higher than expected?
What if markets fall shortly after you retire?
What if you need to provide financial support to family?
What if your health changes?
What if you decide you want to travel more than you originally planned?
Retirement can last 20, 30 years or more.
It’s difficult to predict exactly what those years will look like.
That’s why flexibility matters.
5. Does my retirement plan still reflect what I want from life?
This might be the most important question of all.
Your financial circumstances can change.
So can your priorities.
Perhaps you’ve always planned to retire at 65, but now you’re considering finishing work earlier.
Maybe your plans for travel have changed.
Perhaps you’ve received an inheritance, sold a business or paid off your mortgage.
Or maybe the retirement you imagined five years ago simply isn’t the retirement you want anymore.
Your financial plan shouldn’t be something you create once and put in a drawer.
It should evolve with you.
Retirement planning isn’t just about a pension pot
There is a lot of focus on pension values, investment returns and retirement income figures.
And, of course, those things matter.
But the bigger question is:
What do you want your money to make possible?
That’s the heart of Lifestyle Financial Planning.
It’s about understanding the life you want to live, then building a financial plan around it.
So, how did you do?
If you answered “I’m not sure” to one or more of these questions, that’s okay.
In fact, that’s exactly why reviewing your retirement plan can be useful.
You don’t need to have all the answers before you start.
You just need to know which questions you need help answering.
If you’d like to understand whether your current plan is on track for the retirement you want, we’d be happy to have a conversation.
