Getting Advice

calcotti

Albermarle said:
I appreciate you will most likely work with an IFA, so you might think that means you do not have to look into the subject yourself. However the more you understand about pensions and investing, the more you can have an informed discussion with the IFA. It is like when you go to a garage and talk to the mechanic.

Understood - I think its one of the reasons I've put it off because I know I need to put the input in.

Albermarle said: It is like when you go to a garage and talk to the mechanic. It is better when you have some basic knowledge about cars, rather than just blindly agreeing to whatever they suggest.

When it comes to cars I am clueless but when the car needs fixing it has to be done - hard to put off.

xylophone

That's a site I hadn't found so will definitely look. Unfortunately the "ringing round for initial discussions on services/fees etc" is the off putting and tedious bit!

But it cannot be avoided unless you just want to print out  the names, close your eyes and stick a pin in the list....

And "procrastination is the thief of time....."

I know I need to update because many of my old policies will only allow funds to be drawn as annuities and have none of the modern flexibilities.

With regard to the RACs, had you seen

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pensions-basics/how-retirement-annuity-contracts-work

calcotti

Thanks for that, xylophone. I hadn’t seen that.

cfw1994

calcotti said:

cfw1994 said: That ‘tedious bit’ is the most important thing you can do at this stage.

I know that's the reality.

cfw1994 said:
Figure out *your* number, so you know what you want to live on.  Start anywhere on this thread for ideas!

Think I've got a fairly good idea on that. I have spreadsheets of exactly what we spend every year, what our income is etc (although I do need to update things for current rates of inflation). Fortunately I know I have enough.

cfw1994 said:Try to picture how your might hope the next 20-30 years to look, and in particular have a 5 year plan for the immediate future.  

Not going to last that long which is why I need to deal with it and make it easier for those that follow.

Appreciate the input.

Sorry to read that last bit 😔
Good to be able to at least plan for those that follow, as you put it.  That is a good thing you are doing: will make those tedious bits well worthwhile 👍
Best of luck finding a helpful IFA 🤞