My financial advisor came to see me today. I'm not exactly sure why I've got a financial advisor, it sounds very grand, like I'm loaded and need someone to advise me how best to invest my squillions but the truth is I don't and so it all feels a bit of a nonsense.
The history is that as a career my father was a financial advisor but despite this he spent the very minimal amount of time advising my sister and I in the way of finances. In fact his inability to converse with us ironically led to some less than satisfactory advice. But one of his top bits of advice was to start putting money into a pension as early in your working career as possible "as you'll only have to pay peanuts but the return will be huge". In addition he assured us that if we chose a retirement age of 50 but didn't take our pension then a that point the value of it would double every few years.
I took my fathers advice and began contributing to my pension as soon as possible but within a few years I found I was paying up to £600 per month into this future pot. It felt crazy, so after quite a few years I stopped. So much for paying peanuts.
When my father retired he sold his "practice" to someone else in his company who in turn inherited me. Finally I was getting at least an annual meeting with someone who could talk to my language on the same level as me and between the two of us have begun making tentative financial plans.
In hindsight I regret stopping paying my pension contributions but the truth is I couldn't afford it. Pensions are a strange concept to anyone in their 20's or 30's as old age and retirement seems, and is, a lifetime away. But the time passes quickly and without proper planning, be it pension or succession or selling then you could find yourself faced with a major lifestyle change once your income stops.
And that's what people don't realise. I know lots of people who have made literally no plans whatsoever. They're merrily going along their way living hand-to-mouth, either hoping to win, inherit or I guess get lucky somewhere down the way. I've got other people who own their own one-man-band business who have made no plans once they want to stop work.
Will the government's pension provide the quality of life that you've become so used to? 100% no.
At some point you have to take responsibility for your own life and your own retirement. It may seem like a long way away but believe me it's not. I chose a retirement age of 50, that's now less than 5 years away. And I it feels like I made that decision only a heartbeat ago. Unfortunately I stopped contributing so I'm having to make new plans but the fact is that time passes, and it passes quickly.
Don't do nothing, do something, after all something is better than nothing.
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