ARE YOU ON TRACK WITH YOUR MONEY?
I have been having a look round at recent surveys and discovered some interesting stats, well they are interesting to me!
In a survey carried out in May 2010, by www.unbiased.co.uk, they found that of the advice needs people had, Personal Retirement Planning and Investments & Savings advice came out top.
In April 2009 The Mental Health Foundation published a paper entitled “In the face of fear” and it found that “49% of people get anxious about money with 66% experiencing some degree of fear or anxiety about the current financial situation”.
A survey conducted in May 2010 and published in June by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America found that outliving your money was feared more than death, indeed in excess of 90% of baby boomers in the US who took part in the survey were said to “have a limited understanding of how much they’ll need and fear they’ll outlive their income”.
So are you on track? Here are ten questions to consider and while they might not all be relevant, they could help to get you thinking…
1. Do you know exactly where all your money is invested, whether in cash, pensions, investments, property or your business?
2. Are you able to tell whether you are on track to meet any financial goals you may have, such as retiring at a particular time, passing assets on to your beneficiaries, or making your income work harder?
3. Are you using the right tax wrappers where possible, such as ISAs or pensions?
4. Are you comfortable with what you already have in place or do you feel that they are either too aggressive for you or even perhaps too cautious?
5. Do you believe that the charges taken from your products are reasonable or have they been set up for some time and could be too high compared to what is generally now available?
6. Do you feel that your investments are in the right holdings, do you have the right spread and are the returns on track?
7. Did the recent budget raise any issues that you have yet to address, such as the increase in Capital Gains Tax?
8. Do you have a mechanism in place whereby you can review your finances at least every six months or do you have someone who will do that for you?
9. Have you made preparations for later life events, such as Power of Attorney or Inheritance Tax?
10. Do you enjoy spending time on your financial products, or would you prefer someone else to handle all the paperwork and reviews for you?
I feel that there are enough worries in this world but managing money should not be one of them, which is why most people need an adviser, perferably fee-based and definitely Independent.
Philippa.