Category archives: Pensions & Retirement

According to the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA)1, a ‘moderate’ standard of living that includes £55 per week on groceries, a two-week all-inclusive holiday, £10 a week on takeaways and £100 a month to take others out for a meal, could cost a single person £31,300 a year, which is £8,000 more than last […]

Research1 has revealed that the ultimate retirement dream is actually very simple – financial security for the rest of your life.  This is according to a survey1, which questioned 2,000 respondents aged 50 and over on their aspirations for later life.  Hopes and dreams  Nearly all the respondents to the survey (94%) said that financial […]

Just to be clear, we’re not talking about your physical health here (that’s the doctor’s remit). We’re talking about a check-up to assess your financial wellbeing.  And we’re asking because nearly one in six people aged between 45 and 54 are now making significant financial sacrifices to ensure their pension pots are up to scratch […]

If you’re losing sleep over your finances, you’re not the only one. According to research1, nearly half (45%) of UK adults are lying awake at night because they’re worrying about money.  The squeeze on people’s finances caused by the cost-of-living crisis is understandably a large part of this wave of insomnia, with those surveyed saying […]

Paying a lump sum into a pension can be a particularly effective way to save for your future. If you have accumulated extra money from a windfall, work bonus or through saving, now could be the ideal time to power up your pension with a single contribution.  Above and beyond  One-off pension payments are permitted […]

Over the past 12 months, the cost-of-living crisis has put significant pressure on household budgets and knocked many people’s confidence in their future financial prospects. Research, however, shows that planning is a key driver of positivity about our financial futures; so, as a new year dawns, now seems the perfect time to take stock of […]

With the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicting modest UK economic growth of 0.7% this year and 1.4% in 2025, during the Autumn Statement Chancellor Jeremy Hunt outlined 110 growth measures intended to get more people into work, cut business taxes and raise business investment, to get the economy “back on track.” Contrary to speculation, […]

Many of us dream about retiring early so we can devote more time to things we enjoy; but financial realities inevitably mean few of us actually realise those dreams. A growing number of people though are turbo-charging their chances of early retirement success by embracing the FIRE principles of investing.  We didn’t start the fire  […]

More pension savers want to exclude oil  New analysis1 has revealed an increase in the number of pension savers who would like to see the oil sector completely excluded from their pension investments, up from 15% in 2022 to 21% in 2023. Of the remaining 79%, almost half said they would only continue to invest […]

Cost of raising a child soars  Recent research1 has found that the cost of raising a child has increased by 10% over the last year, with the average UK family spending £223,256 in their offspring’s first 18 years. This works out at over £12,000 a year per child. The research looked at the different costs […]