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In our last blog we focused on the key question you need to ask yourself: how much is enough to support your lifestyle, without the fear of running out of money? But once you have identified your desired lifestyle, the next step is to establish how you will fund it, which brings us on to financial planning. Many people think that financial planning is all about pensions, investment funds and life assurance. That is probably because that is what the financial services industry has led them to believe, so they can sell them more products. The Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments describes financial planning as: “A professional service for

It can be easy to disengage when you see the statistics about how much you’ll need for a comfortable retirement, especially when you’re working hard and the demands of life, both financial and family, take precedence. It can make saving enough into your pension feel completely unattainable.   The pandemic shifted priorities for a lot of families – making memories, enjoying life and spending time together now feels more important than ever. In some cases, this is reinforced by expectations of an inheritance from Baby Boomer parents, but this is not something you can rely on. With changing tax rules around pensions and Inheritance Tax, you may inherit less than you expect, or later than you expect, making it even more important to stand on your own two feet financially.   At the same time,