To use the App, all you need to do is input some simple details about yourself and your pension plans.  It will then calculate the level of retirement income you could expect.

If you want to know how to achieve the retirement you would really like, simply change the contribution levels and see how the income changes.

Don’t leave it until retirement to find out if you can afford to live; take a look now while there is time to plan ahead and do something about it.

To download the app, go to the iTunes App store.

When you’ve decided it’s time to take action, give us a call and we’ll provide all the advice you need to plan for the retirement you want.

Many people I meet require a managed fund.  They want the security of knowing that an’ expert’ is looking after their money and making all the day to day decisions.  Managed funds have been around for many years.  Increasingly, these days they tend to be risk rated, enabling an investor to be matched with a suitable fund.  In recent years, there has been much innovation in this area.  A good example of this is the Prudential’s PruFund, which was launched on 25th November 2004.

Volatility

Some investors can get very concerned about the volatility of their investment funds.  They fret about the right time to invest and whether their fund is up or down.  With increased information about fund values on the internet and through the media, this can become quite a preoccupation for investors.

Smoothed returns

PruFund has a unique smoothing process which is designed to help protect your investment from some of the daily ups and downs of direct investment.  Broadly speaking, this smoothed return is achieved by the application of an expected Growth Rate.  This is applied to your fund every day.  The fund is then reviewed quarterly, when it might be adjusted up or down to compensate for any large movement in the underlying assets.

Management Team

It is reassuring to know that this fund is managed by the Prudential Portfolio Management Group comprising 20 members, including economists, strategists, analysts and mathematicians.  These are the same people who manage the long standing with-profits fund with its enviable reputation.  In fact, the PruFund assets are held in the same pool as the globally diversified multi-billion pound with-profits fund.

Risk Managed Funds

The Pru have now taken things a step further by introducing the Risk Managed PruFund.  There are now four version of PruFund.  They all invest in the same assets, but importantly the weighting of each asset class is managed according to your tolerance for risk.  This enables you to simply switch into a different risk managed fund if you want to take more risk to achieve greater potential growth, or reduce risk in order to secure against losses.  This could be particularly useful if you are approaching retirement.

These funds can be used for both pension and investment.

If you want to know more about these funds and whether they may be suitable for you, please get in touch.

This article is for guidance only and should not be taken as advice.  Please remember, that investment returns may go down as well as up.

If you need a ‘Back-up plan’, why not speak to us.  We can set this up for you using Unum, who are a perfectly good income protection provider, or with someone else if there is a better alternative for you.

Income Protection – ‘Because everyone needs a back-up plan’.

Visit Unum’s website

Heart Towns is a new scheme where communities come together to help beat heart disease.  Heart Towns benefit from a range of resources and education programmes, so that everyone can take practical steps to improve their heart health.  Heart Towns also host a wide range of events and activities, such as Heart Town rides, walks or runs.  For further details of this initiative, please see the British Heart Foundation website.

We are supporting the British Heart Foundation, as follows:

At Professional Wealthcare, we provide Critical illness Cover to provide you with a lump sum in the event of various serious illnesses, including heart related medical conditions.

We will be donating £50 to the British Heart Foundation for every critical illness plan set up during 2012 that comes to us via this article.  For your plan to qualify, simply quote ‘British Heart Foundation’ when you contact us.

We trust this will not only give you the financial protection you require, but also go some way towards combating the effects of heart disease.

Depending on your medical situation, an enhanced annuity could give you up to 40% higher income than a standard annuity, guaranteed for life.

When you are retiring and taking benefits from your pension scheme, you have some very important decisions to make.  Once you have set up an annuity, there is no going back.  The decisions you make will be irreversible, so you need to be sure to get it right.

There are many options available to you when it comes to choosing how to take your income.  If you have any history of ill health, then you should certainly consider the benefits of an enhanced annuity.

Speak to us.  We can guide you through your options.

However, it is important to remember one of the fundamental reasons why pensions should be the investment of choice for retirement planning.

When you contribute to a pension, everyone can receive basic rate tax relief – currently 20%.  Yes everyone!  Even a non-taxpayer, as long as the contribution is £3600 per year or less.  So you could for instance invest £100 per month into a pension scheme and your investment would be immediately enhanced to £125 per month.  There really is no other investment quite like this.  There are other investments that also have tax efficiency, but the position with pension contributions is truly unique and should not be overlooked.

For a high rate tax payer, the situation is even better.  An additional 20% can be reclaimed.  Therefore it will cost just £75 per month to invest £125 per month.  All high rate tax payers should see this as an extremely attractive deal.

Some high earners are now paying 50% tax.  Clearly the advantages to those are greater still.

There are limits on how much you can contribute to a pension.  Some of our clients use pensions to recover as much of their high rate tax as possible.  After all, why pay so much tax when you don’t need to.

We all need to finance our retirement somehow and this inevitably necessitates tying some money up until retirement.  Why not speak to us about a strategy for your retirement.

Please note that this article is based on current taxation and legislation.  Please be aware that funds can fall as well as rise in value.

The above is for guidance only and should not be construed as advice, as financial planning takes into account your personal circumstances.

For instance, more people have pet insurance than health insurance.  Read more

The above facts are accurate at September 2011.

You might be surprised to find that Statutory Sick Pay is only £81.60 a week.  These days, that’s just about enough to fill up the average family car.  Read more.