Seeing a financial adviser might seem like an unnecessary expense, but expert advice on your pension can make a huge difference to your quality of life in retirement.
An adviser will take an objective look at your savings goals, and help you plan so that you can have the retirement you want.
They will ask you questions about your salary, any dependents, whether you plan to take early retirement and how inclined you are to take risks with your money.
They will then be able to recommend the right pension product for you.
People often think that you need to be a very high earner to benefit from financial advice but in fact, those on lower incomes can benefit massively. When you don’t have a huge income to play with, you really need to make your money work for you, to maximise your pension pot.
The different types of pension scheme (Link to pension schemes blog) can be confusing, and different retirement products have different benefits.
It’s hard to know whether you should look into, for example, flexi-access drawdown, or different types of annuity, or even how big your pension contributions should be.
Whilst you might save money not forking out for financial advice in the short term, the long -term effect of buying a product which is unsuitable for your circumstances could significantly reduce your retirement income, or potentially see you pay more tax than you need to.
Using an adviser can give you access to a wider range of options than you might have realistically found yourself, and help you understand which ones are best for you.
An adviser will also have the expertise and knowledge to find the most suitable options, and some products are only available if you go through an adviser.
Pensions are probably the most important investment you’ll ever make, so you need to understand the type of fund you are investing in, and any associated risks.
There are also some circumstances in which it’s best to seek advice – for example if you are looking to merge different pension pots.
The more information you have ready to show your financial adviser, the more you will likely get out of seeing one.
There is more information about what a financial adviser might ask you on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) website.