As conversations about mental health and wellbeing become more prevalent, you may be more aware of your anxiety levels and the underlying causes of stress. For many people, financial concerns are top of the list.
According to IFA Magazine, 62% of UK adults have some form of money worries. Of these, 79% said that their financial concerns affected their mental wellbeing.
These financial worries might relate to short-term expenses, as the rising cost of living puts pressure on your budget. However, new research shows that concerns about your long-term financial stability can have a significant effect on your stress levels.
Read on to learn more.
Those who don’t have a clear retirement plan are 4 times more stressed than those who do
Your retirement plan helps you decide what kind of lifestyle you want to lead in your later years and, most importantly, how much you need to save to pay for it.
With this goal in mind, you can set your monthly contributions and rest easy in the knowledge that you have a savings strategy for retirement.
However, research reported by the Actuarial Post shows that 30% of people in the UK have no plan for funding their retirement.
Crucially, those without retirement plans are more stressed about their future. The survey found:
- 46% of people without a retirement plan feel stressed and 57% worry about running out of money
- 11% of people with a clear retirement plan feel stressed and 22% worry about running out of money.
This means that failing to have a clear retirement plan could leave you around four times more stressed about the future than if you had a strategy in place.
Fortunately, working with a financial planner could help you secure your retirement plans and reduce stress.
4 ways a financial planner gives you peace of mind about your retirement
1. Helping you set your savings target
Understanding how much you need to save for retirement is the first step. To achieve this, we can help you create a retirement budget detailing what you’re likely to spend each year. Then, by considering when you plan to retire and your average life expectancy, we can arrive at a savings target.
This specific goal brings clarity about your retirement plans.
2. Understanding your current position
It’s difficult to know whether you are on track to achieve your dream retirement if you aren’t sure how much you currently have saved. We can review your pensions and other savings to see what progress you’ve already made.
This may include tracking down old pension pots you might have forgotten about. Finding these lost pensions could provide a valuable boost to your retirement savings.
3. Reviewing your pension contributions
Once you have an idea of what you need to save and how much you already have, we can review your pension contributions. We may find that you’re paying in enough to reach your savings target. However, we might discover you’re likely to have a shortfall when you reach your chosen retirement age.
Luckily, if you’re proactive with your pensions, you can adjust your contributions to keep you on track to achieve your dream retirement. We’ll discuss this with you to make sure you’re saving enough for retirement without sacrificing your quality of life in the short term.
4. Using cashflow planning to understand your future
Cashflow planning software is one of the most powerful tools for providing peace of mind about your retirement.
We can input information about your current level of savings, monthly contributions, and planned spending in retirement. The software then gives us a clear picture of how your retirement pot might grow over time, and whether you’re likely to reach your savings goal based on your current contributions.
Additionally, we can model the effects of various scenarios on your retirement plan. For instance, cashflow forecasts will account for inflation and likely increases in your average spending, incorporating these factors into your savings target. We might also consider how various levels of investment performance could affect the size of your pension pot.
Equally, you might have certain goals you’d like to achieve, such as financially supporting family members or purchasing a holiday home. We can show how spending a certain amount of wealth now could affect your retirement fund in the future.
Overall, cashflow forecasts take much of the guesswork out of retirement planning because you can see your progress in clear terms and prepare for different scenarios. This gives you peace of mind that you are on track to achieve your desired retirement.
Get in touch
If you’re stressed about your retirement, we can support you.
Please give us a call on 01276 855717 or email info@braywealth.com today.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.
The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate cashflow planning.
A pension is a long-term investment not normally accessible until 55 (57 from April 2028). The value of investments and any income from them can fall as well as rise and you may not get back the original amount invested.
HM Revenue and Customs practice and the law relating to taxation are complex and subject to individual circumstances and changes which cannot be foreseen.
Approved by the Openwork Partnership on 11/11/2025
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