Have you been putting off thinking about your personal financial situation? You’re not alone. The good thing is, that you’re reading this blog!!

Please stop naval-gazing. Think about the future. That could be next year, five years, thirty years or more – it’s thinking about your future. What do you want to do? It might be

• To try and ensure you can enjoy a comfortable retirement
• To save for a rainy day
• To build a pot to give to your children, grandchildren or a charity
• To save for a house deposit
• Just to get by and survive

It’s likely that the values involved to achieve those goals will be differ, but the way to get there will be similar. E.g. utilise your tax allowances, utilise the tax ‘wrappers’ available (i.e. ISAs & Pensions) and try and get into a habit.

You won’t build wealth and savings quickly – it’s a game of patience and consistency.

Having some goals is really the place to start. From there, you can think about what you might need to do in order to achieve it.

For example, if you are thinking about a comfortable retirement – perhaps that might be an income of £20,000 per year. But when do you want to retire? What does retirement look like to you?

Hopefully you’ll get the full State Pension, worth around £9,000 each, today. That means you’d need £11,000 per year, from other sources. Don’t forget you’re likely to live into your 80’s, meaning your money needs to last for a long time and you’ll need a sizeable pot to fund that, but equally, if you’re thinking ahead, you have time on your side.

ISAs can be a fantastic place to start – adults can put in up to £20,000, per year, each. Any interest, dividends or growth in the value of the assets are TAX FREE.

Pensions are equally interesting – you get tax relief on your contributions. For basic rate tax payers, you put in £80, the government put in £20. FREE money! You can also normally take 25% of the pot in future, TAX FREE. Why wouldn’t you want that?

Pay attention to your finances – it’s never too late, but the sooner you take interest and think about what you want to do, the sooner you can get on the road to a secure, financial future.

We’re more than happy to talk through some ideas with you, with no obligation. Please don’t leave it to chance.

Thanks for reading.