Boosting your pension pot

Informed Choice chartered financial planner Nick Bamford was quoted in the Daily Express today, in an article looking at different ways to boost your pension pot at various stages of your life.

Talking about the end to compulsory retirement at age 65, Nick said:

“But just because most people will have to work for longer, it doesn’t mean they should delay making decisions about pensions and retirement savings,”

For people in their 20s, Nick had this to say:

“If it turns out that you should be putting away £200 a month but actually you can only afford £70, the worst thing you can do is to think that it is pointless saving anything at all,” says Bamford.

“Put away the £70 a month if you possibly can: it’s worth it.”

He also advises people who are currently in their 20s to ignore the warnings they hear about the volatile stock market.

“If you have decades to go until retirement then you should be putting 100 per cent of your investments in equities, not cash,” says Bamford.

“Yes, investments can go down as well as up but they’re still likely to give you better returns over a long period.”

For people in their 30s, Nick had the following words of wisdom:

“We all need to return to the old values of not spending more than we earn,” says Bamford.

“People are living for longer and sometimes you need to rein back spending and save for the future.”

You can read the article in full here.