Even Farmers need to be Retirement Savvy

Do you recongnise the faces?

I used one of those age-apps so this is what Hubster and I may look like in 20 years time.

It’s not very nice viewing is it? Well, neither is approaching retirement with the prospect of no money and that, is what may be the reality for my generation.

We are living in a throw-away society where no one thinks of tomorrow.

We are living longer and, a person my age for example, would have to work until they are 68 before they would get a State Pension and, let’s face it, in 30 plus years, will State Pensions even be around?

Skipton Building Society are trying to get us all to be more retirement savvy.

In the farming community, many farmers don’t bother with pensions because their farm businesses and land are seen as their pension funds but what about their spouses?

I got my first ‘proper’ job when I was 22, after university and I have stayed there ever since. I started paying into a company pension scheme, pretty soon after I started because I was trying to be retirement savvy myself.

However, two maternity leaves and going from full to part time work there will severely affect my pension so I really need to start planning something else. I can’t rely on the farm in my old age because it is my husband’s retirement fund, not mine.

What if, God forbid, Hubster died before me? I may be forced to leave the farm. No one knows what will happen and, while these subjects are not easy to think about, but think about them we must, in order to be prepared.

Thankfully, the website. Retire Savvy is really easy to navigate.

I’m not going to lie, when I usually see numbers and figures, I switch off. They don’t interest me at all but Skipton’s website is not like that. It is bright, easy to navigate and goes easy on the jargon.

The three questions which have resonated with me are as follows and I think everyone should ask themselves the same:

How much income do you want in retirement?
How much do you want to contribute?
When do you want to retire?

My answers are obviously £5000 a week, contribute nothing and retire now but that’s not going to happen is it?

Estimates show you need two thirds of your normal salary to ‘live’ in retirement but, as I have learnt on maternity leave, sometimes you need more because you have more time to go out and we all know that you only need to step out of your proverbial front door and you spend money.

Think about it now. Do not rely on something turning up tomorrow or you may end up sad and poor in your old age.
Surely working all of your life, you should have some sort of reward in your retirement?
Make your pension your reward today.