The Covid 19 pandemic will have impacted everyone to some degree, whether it’s related to health, finance or other factors. It certainly appears to have given many people time to contemplate on where they are in life and frequently that is on financial grounds. Am I doing ok? Am I on track?

It’s difficult to judge without some context, but I wanted to outline some things for you to consider and use to help reflect.

Firstly, do you have a goal or ambitions? They don’t need to be grand. Think about goals in the short, medium and long term and then you can consider how you might be able to afford them.

To help you make the most of your money, you should be utilising tax efficient wrappers, namely ISAs and Pensions, in their various forms. You’ll save tax and even get some free money from the government in the form of tax relief.

If you have time on your side and it’s appropriate for your goal, you can consider investing your money, rather than leaving it in an account receiving negligible interest. You’ve worked hard for your money, so you should make it work for you too. There are some great DIY platforms and online providers to help you get started.

Do you know what pensions you have, who they’re with and what they’re worth? Most people will have had more than one employer and therefore accumulated more than one pension. Dig out that paperwork and take a look. Remember, the chances are that you’ll have a retirement of 20+ years and you will need to fund that largely yourself. The State Pension currently provides a basic level of income, but often below that of what you’re used to. You’ll get tax relief on your pension contributions too, so you really should try and utilise that benefit.

We’re generally good at insuring our stuff (cars, houses), but all too often, neglect to insure ourselves and our family appropriately. Take interest in what you have through your employment (if you’re employed), but either way, consider

• What would happen if you or your spouse
  • were to, worst case, pass away?
    • Can you afford the bills?
    • Can you keep working?
  • Got a serious illness and unable to work for a long period of time
    • You may have sick pay from work, but only covers, say 6 months
    • What happens after that?

I don’t want people to dwell on negative thoughts, but we need to be realistic. The Office for National Statistics suggests life expectancy is around 81 – we’ll need to fund that. Cancer Research suggests 1 in 2 of us will get some form of cancer- we need to think about how we could cope with that, including financially. These are only statistics and we’re all different, but is it not better to think about these things and plan accordingly?

If you’d like to chat about where you are and whether you’re on track, feel free to get in touch for a no obligation chat.

Thanks for reading.