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2008 was a bad year. It was the year of the global financial crisis. It was a year that saw £3.3 TRILLION wiped off the value of private pension funds.
State pension pots also came under immense pressure, particularly in the west.
The whole notion of pensions being a safe nest egg started to come into question. In fact, fourteen years on from that pension shock of 2008 and the UK’s state pension scheme was derided as “not fit for purpose” despite there being a number of government safety measures in place with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
Worse still, many find themselves dipping into their pensions to meet the cost of living expenses. At one point, it was estimated to be as many as 6 million UK savers, potentially losing £15,000 by the time they retired and started drawing from their pension.
Once upon a time, people could just leave it up to the state or their chosen financial institution to look after their pensions.
That is no longer the case.
The worry for many is… will my pension be enough to see me through each year after I’ve retired?
How can I accrue more money if I am not “working” for it? One answer is to take a look at ways to boost your pension by making the most of various little “hacks” that can eke out your pension pot and maybe add a bit to them.
7 Ways To Give our Pension A Boost
#1 Quite an easy one… start saving as early as possible. Why? Because the longer you wait, the LESS you will save.
You also will miss out on the hugely powerful effect of compound interest, which is simply interest on the interest accrued on your savings each year on top of the initial sum invested.
It’s very powerful because over time it builds up significantly, some (like Einstein) might say miraculously!
#2 Keep an eye on your pot.
As mentioned earlier, in times past you could just forget about your pension until the day you retire. After all, you start a job, your career, you don’t want to be thinking about when you’ve reached 65 or 70, especially when you’re young.
But now? Given the volatility of the economy and money markets, it’s wise to take control of your pension. Keep an eye on what is happening with it year-on-year or even more frequently.
#3 Fees/Charges
Not a long book but the knowledge within it is awesome.
Keeping an eye on these is also a good thing to do because maybe you’re not getting the service you should be and therefore not the value of expertise or support that will keep your pension on track or better still, make more money for you.
#4 Are you relying solely on your property?
It could be a mistake. Putting all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea. What is more, the property market is not as “safe as houses” as the saying goes. As with pensions, property market crashes are not one-offs.
Nothing is safe or guaranteed any more.
That is why the word DIVERSIFICATION is a key one to get to know and keep in mind. In other words, if your retirement years all hinge on anticipated property profits in the future that is a very risky approach to saving and you need to be looking at other means to ensure your retirement is comfortable at the very least.
#5 Banking on inheritance?
As with property, if you are relying solely on an expected inheritance windfall to fund your retirement, is that really a good idea?
No matter how much you think your family love you and what you believe you may receive, there is absolutely no guarantee it will work out that way – especially when care of the elderly costs are always rising.
Besides, they may suddenly come up with a pretty expensive bucket list that they then go on to tick off leaving little for anyone else. The only thing that is certain is that people are unpredictable as is life and life expectancy!
#6 Employer pension contributions
If you are at work and are paying into a pension automatically through your workplace accounts department, then your employer should be contributing to it as well as you.
However, paying in through an employee scheme is a choice and maybe you are not doing so in order to have more of your earnings for now instead of tomorrow.
If you are in this scenario, then it may be a good time to rethink that strategy and start a workplace pension.
If you are already in one, you could think about putting more in. Your employer might do likewise.
#7 Time to take a taste of SIPPS?
Did you know you can take control of your pension fully by making use of a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP)?
With a SIPP, you can make use of thousands of different shares, unit trusts and investment trusts and select them yourself or let an advisor do it for you with their ready-made portfolios.
There are charges to pay, but these are usually relatively small. Again, SIPPS is an example of being diversified as you can have as many pensions as you like and is an opportunity for you to take control, which can be fun as well.
How much these suggestions can actually add to your pension is not possible to say, but there are some less obvious ways to add to your wealth and increase it considerably – through investments and trading.
But isn’t that what my pension plans are based on, investments?
Yes, they are.
Things like stocks and shares; REITS (Real Estate Investment Trusts); Unit trusts and OEICs (Open Ended Investment Companies) and Spread Betting and CFDs (Contract For Difference), to name a few.
But there is a different way to use investments and trading as a means to make more money: by learning about trading investments and being in control of them yourself.
Yes, contrary to belief, you do not need to be some fat cat from the city to be an investor and trader.
You can learn to do it yourself, with the right training, learning and know-how passed onto you by genuine experts with vast experience in trading investments.
There are not too many providing that kind of service, but here at Investment Mastery, it is all we do… and are known for. In fact, our success and track record speak for themselves.
You can discover more, here.
