We recently wrote about some of the Pros and Cons where it comes to Workplace Pensions versus Personal Pensions. For those that missed that article, you can find it here - https://voyagefinancialplanning.co.uk/what-is-the-difference-between-a-workplace-pension-scheme-and-a-personal-pension/
Workplace pensions are set up for those who qualify/meet the auto-enrolment requirement which means those in employment have already started preparing for their retirement without even realising it! These people are already off the starting line.
For those who aren’t automatically off the starting line due to meeting the auto-enrolment qualification can fall through the cracks if they personally don’t do something about it.
As of August 2023, there are no stipulations for self-employed individuals or directors of their own limited company to set up any form of pension scheme. Unless addressed appropriately, these people could be sleepwalking into a retirement nightmare.
As of June 2023, In the UK, there are 4.31 million self-employed individuals. 69% of those don’t have any form of pension savings and what makes this stat even more shocking is 86% of them aren’t contributing towards their retirement at all. This means that at present, circa 4million self-employed individuals in the UK are not preparing for life after work.
We are sure if you asked those 4.31 million who are self-employed if they intend to work forever, a large proportion will state they do not. The problem they have is that they haven’t considered how they will achieve their retirement goal.
When it comes to our own retirement goals, we must be pro-active rather than re-active, very much like if we want to achieve something then we work hard towards the goal.
Let’s add retirement planning to our goals/objectives and start preparing so we can enjoy a financially care free retirement.
