As we go through life, there are many milestones that affect the way we think about retirement and pensions. They also affect how much we can save and the way in which we do it. When you get your first job, get married, buy a home or have children, your outlook and your outgoings may change radically.

As your circumstances change, you should look at your long and short term savings and make any adjustments. If you move from a job with a company pension scheme to one without all contributions to your fund will stop. A pension can’t be looked at in isolation. It has to be balanced against your other financial affairs, your changing expectations and your responsibilities.

That’s why your retirement planning needs to be reviewed on a regular basis.

If you have moved jobs several times you could have a number of pension arrangements with a number of different providers. Is this the right situation for you? It could be the funds in which these pensions are being invested no longer fit within your attitude to investment risk.

The amount that your pension arrangements will return to you will depend on 3 factors:

1. The amount that you contribute into them
2. The amount of charges taken from your fund in order to run the scheme
3. The investment performance i.e. what the return is on the assets that you choose to invest in

Factors taken into account with our research

• Your attitude to investment risk
• The tax effectiveness of any plan recommended
• Your tax position now and potential tax position in retirement
• The degree of access that you require to your fund throughout the term of your investment
• The diversification of investments / fund choice available within any plan
• The strength and security of any provider

We have helped many clients to review their existing pension arrangements and have made changes that have the potential, although no guarantee, to provide a larger fund at retirement than had no change been made.