Starting Over Again - At Least Trying To!

Watty1

Bear with me I feel very ill informed.   It has been a hell of a year and I find myself at 62 mortgage free but with inadequate pension thanks to having spent 30 years with a somewhat financially controlling partner.  I've learnt a lot about the law and cohabiting and am aware that I was foolish to trust a man I lived with but was not married too.  Still I am where I am, single and working out how to plan a future for me.

I need to think about planning for retirement and I have a clear idea of my income needs.

I have checked my state pension. I have enough years for a full state pension.

I have a Scottish Widows Retirement Fund that my  company pays £2000 a month into.  I would like to understand more about this fund so, where can I do this?  I can log in and see where the fund is invested (I set it up some years ago without the ex knowing and with the help of a long vanished financial adviser).   My accountant suggested I pay in more than £2000 a month to reduce my corporation tax but I'm not sure this fund performs ok so i think I should research it before paying in.  I might be better with another option.

So where do I start?  What do I read?  How do I find out how my fund performs?

  

xylophone

It has been a hell of a year and I find myself at 62 mortgage free 

Take comfort from that - you are in a better position than many.

I have checked my state pension. I have enough years for a full state pension.

What exactly does your SPF (accessed here https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension) show under




Estimate based on your NI record up to 5 April 2023?

I have a Scottish Widows Retirement Fund that my  company pays £2000 a month into.  I would like to understand more about this fund so, where can I do this?  I can log in and see where the fund is invested (I set it up some years ago without the ex knowing and with the help of a long vanished financial adviser).   My accountant suggested 

Had you considered taking advice from an Independent Financial Adviser with expertise in pension planning?

You could try here

https://adviserbook.co.uk/

Tick "confirmed independent", "pensions and retirement" and other options required when the menu comes up.

amanda1024

Can you see for example how much you currently have invested in the fund? This might help you think about how much more you or your company would need to put in to have enough to live on when you retire (‘enough’ being a fairly subjective term). Then you can think about when you’d ideally like to retire and work backwards. £2,000 per month sounds like a decent amount, but if this has only been for a few years you’ll still have a shortfall.

Does your online account show how well the fund has performed in recent years? You could compare that to eg inflation over the same period to see whether your investments are growing in real terms.

squirrelpie

Watty1 said:

I need to think about planning for retirement and I have a clear idea of my income needs.
  

Congratulations on sorting out your domestic situation. If you know how much money you need, you're half way there. To a first approximation just think in terms of present-day money values. Also ignore interest or investment growth. Subtract your state pension from your desired income (after it starts, of course). Assume you will live to 90 or 100 (depending on your own health and optimism). Decide when you want to retire. Calculate how much money you need over and above your state pension to fund your retirement. That's how much you need to save (for this rough approximation). Work out how much a year that is until you retire. Then if it all looks like you can afford it, you can stop worrying. If not, then think about how to replan things.

As to your Scottish Widow investments, the best place to start looking for information is Scottish Widows! Find out exactly what investment or investments you have and read whatever they have to say about it/them.

Albermarle

I have a Scottish Widows Retirement Fund 

Do you have a more detailed description/ some idea what sort of investments are in it ?

LHW99

Albermarle said:

I have a Scottish Widows Retirement Fund 

Do you have a more detailed description/ some idea what sort of investments are in it ?

If you can give the exact name of the fund(s), someone here may be able to make some more informed comments

Watty1

LHW99 said:

Albermarle said:

I have a Scottish Widows Retirement Fund 

Do you have a more detailed description/ some idea what sort of investments are in it ?

If you can give the exact name of the fund(s), someone here may be able to make some more informed comments

thanks..  I've just looked the fund up. It is SW Consensus

Watty1

amanda1024 said:

Can you see for example how much you currently have invested in the fund? This might help you think about how much more you or your company would need to put in to have enough to live on when you retire (‘enough’ being a fairly subjective term). Then you can think about when you’d ideally like to retire and work backwards. £2,000 per month sounds like a decent amount, but if this has only been for a few years you’ll still have a shortfall.

Does your online account show how well the fund has performed in recent years? You could compare that to eg inflation over the same period to see whether your investments are growing in real terms.

So this was helpful.  The fund has £375,446 in it.   In the last 12 months it has had some spectacular growth and falls obviously linked to the stock market but the average rate of growth was 14.329%  and if I deduct the £24,000 I put in this year then the rate of growth, i.e. if I put nothing in but just left it would be around 7%

MallyGirl

Hi
you say that you know what you need to live and feel you have an inadequate pension. £375k in a pension is more than most so you might want to give a bit more detail.
At a 'safe' withdrawal rate of 3.5% that should give an income of £13k, then you add the £10.5k of state pension to give £23.5k. With no mortgage that isn't a bad amount.
if you are talking about corporation tax then presumably you have a company - are you the sole director, do you have money held in the company? Do you have other savings/investments/ISAs?

Watty1

MallyGirl said:

Hi
you say that you know what you need to live and feel you have an inadequate pension. £375k in a pension is more than most so you might want to give a bit more detail.
At a 'safe' withdrawal rate of 3.5% that should give an income of £13k, then you add the £10.5k of state pension to give £23.5k. With no mortgage that isn't a bad amount.
if you are talking about corporation tax then presumably you have a company - are you the sole director, do you have money held in the company? Do you have other savings/investments/ISAs?

I get that sounds a very respectable pension so now we have a full confession - I have 3 horses and a large dog and the house is old.  £23,500 sounds good but I would like another £10,000 at least to fund my lifestyle - and the lifestyle is not outrageous it just is that the 3 horses are expensive and the house is not cheap to run. (I have no attachment to the house and I do have a plan for it that might be a way out but there is little point on working on "ifs and maybes")

I have no other savings or investments - I had to use everything to pay off the ex and he only settled because I got an injunction!

I am the sole director of the company and I have working capital held in the company of around £50,000

I'm very aware that I am very well off but I really want to keep my horses until they pass so I can't afford to downsize for around 15 years (I have a plan for the horses if I die before then).

So as my fund is short (although respectable) I need to really understand what I have and options moving forwards

LHW99

Watty1 said:

LHW99 said:

Albermarle said:

I have a Scottish Widows Retirement Fund 

Do you have a more detailed description/ some idea what sort of investments are in it ?

If you can give the exact name of the fund(s), someone here may be able to make some more informed comments

thanks..  I've just looked the fund up. It is SW Consensus

There seem to be (at least) 3 consensus series from Scottish Widows, see forexample:

https://documents.feprecisionplus.com/Factsheet/SWPOC/FS/OV37_SCN.pdf

https://documents.feprecisionplus.com/Factsheet/SWPOC/FS/OV95_TCN.pdf

These two (series 2 / 3) seem similar to each other in composition, but with different Launch dates. Does your SW consensus have a Series No?

Given the performance figures loook the same, they possibly are essentially the same "under the bonnet", and seem to be compared to a mixed 40-85% equity benchmark.