Money and Budgeting

Last year we helped over 80,000 wild birds and animals like Rudolph

Please help me get better

Not only do we treat more hedgehogs than any other wildlife hospital, but our caring teams save lives every day. Our aim is simple, to treat injured British wildlife, then return them to the wild. Like Rudolph, who arrived badly injured at just five days old. Our specialist care saved this little deer and he is now facing a brighter future. But it is only with your support we can help casualties like Rudolph; please remember Tiggywinkles in your Will.

Our late friend Dame Thora Hird actively encouraged others to help us secure funding for our lifesaving work. In her words "All the little wild creatures and I thank you so very much".

For more information please contact:

Jenny Babb, Tiggywinkles, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire HP17 8AF 01844 292 292

mail@sttiggywinkles.org.uk www.tiggywinkles.com

Registered Charity No. 286447

Come and have a look around our Visitor Centre. Opening times can be found on our website www.tiggywinkles.com.

is the busiest wildlife hospital in the world.

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0800 525 184 www.girlings.co.uk Money and Budgeting

Retirement is the reward for a hard-working life – but while you may be ceasing work, you should not allow your money to retire as well. It is important that it continues to work hard for you, so that you’ve got the financial security and flexibility you need. There are many money-related decisions to be made when you retire: get them right, and your income could increase year by year; fail to plan, and you might be faced with making personal cutbacks at a time when you should be relaxing and enjoying yourself.

With people living longer, secure pensions from salary-related pension schemes fading fast and new pension freedoms that have reduced the use of annuities, more pensioners are directly exposed to the three great risks of retirement; longevity (outliving your savings), inflation risk (the buying power of your money falling over time), and investment risk (being exposed to the ups and downs of the stock market).

Inflation means a sustained rise in prices – not just a temporary hike in the cost of coffee or petrol, but the relentless upward drift of prices over time that means your money buys less today than it did in the past. Even low rates of inflation have a big impact on prices over a long period: for example, if inflation averaged 2 per cent a year (the official target for the UK), £100 after 25 years would buy only the same as £61 today, meaning you’d have to cut your spending by over a third. Aviva (an insurance and pensions provider) suggests that over three-quarters of pensioners are worried about the rising cost of living and having to continue working to make ends meet. Obviously one way of increasing the problem is to bury your head in your hands and do nothing.

So, what steps can you take to avoid being strapped for cash Doing the sums budgeting once you retire? Whether you are close to giving up work or are several years away from retirement, the most important thing to do is carry out a serious review of your retirement plans. This will help you work out what options there are for maximizing and With the current economic climate causing difficulties for so many, the ability to manage your money and know how to budget is important. sustaining your future income. Budgeting can help you in two ways:

There are many ideas on what makes a good financial plan, • UNDERSTAND YOUR CURRENT FINANCES. but the core elements are the same. In order of priority, a typical Knowing how much you spend, and on what, is essential. person should normally aim to: While you have records of formal bills, it’s very easy to 1.Sort out any problem debts. overlook casual and ad hoc purchases. A tip some people 2.Stay in your workplace pension scheme. (Since your employer must contribute on your behalf. Opting out is like turning down part of your pay!) If you are not an employee, save through your own personal plan. recommend is keeping track of your expenditure by means of a ‘spending diary’. Whether you use a notebook, a spreadsheet or an app on your phone, the result is the same. Put down everything you spend over a period of, say, one month, so you can see what you are spending 3.Get term life assurance if anyone is financially on and how much; it’s then quite easy to see if these are dependent on you. essentials and/or whether they are costing too much. 4.Build up at least three months’ worth of outgoings • PLAN YOUR FUTURE FINANCES. in accessible savings, such as cash Individual Savings Armed with your current budget, you can project how

Accounts (ISA) to cover emergencies. your income and spending may change in retirement, 5.Buy a home if you are ready to settle somewhere. or as retirement progresses. Don’t forget that there are 6.Save and invest to achieve other goals. some ‘retirement freebies’, which are well worth taking Everyone’s circumstances and resources are different, so you may have a slightly different plan and, if you’re already retired, maintaining a stable income from your pensions will often be your second highest problem after sorting out problem debts. In some situations, you may need to get professional advice to help you. If you have problem debts, advantage of: various things you become entitled to once you’ve passed a certain age. These include travel and entertainment concessions, some health benefits and help with fuel bills. Its surprising how much these small things add up. To ensure you have a comfortable retirement, you will need to carry out a full financial health check you should urgently consult one of the free, independent money Once you have gathered objective advice agencies, such as Citizens Advice, nationaldebtline.co.uk data about your income and spending, or stepchange.org. these impartial, non-judgemental organisations you are armed to analyse and improve can efficiently help you deal with your creditors, without stigma, your finances n and identify any additional sources of income you may be eligible for. Debt problems get worse if you ignore them, so be honest with An extract from yourself that there is a problem. Warning signs include borrowing The Good Retirement Guide to buy day-to-day essentials and taking out new loans to pay off edited by Jonquil Lowe is ©2021 old ones. and reproduced with permission

To ensure you have a comfortable retirement, you will need to from Kogan Page Ltd carry out a full financial health check. If you are still pre-retirement, this involves looking ahead to your income and likely spending in retirement. If you are already retired, you should be repeating this health check on an annual basis to get a clear view of your current financial position and how it may change in future. For pre-retirement planning, you should get a State Pension statement (which says how much State Pension you are currently entitled to once you reach State Pension age and whether there is any scope to improve this), and check the benefit statements you receive from pension schemes you belong to now and have done in the past. If you don’t have recent statements, contact the employer or pension provider concerned to ask for one. The government is backing an industry initiative to introduce ‘pension dashboards’ – online apps that will let you automatically see all your pensions in one place. Once that’s up and running (maybe in 2021), it will take a lot of the legwork out of this part of doing a financial health check. But until then, you will have to rather laboriously gather up all these pension statements for yourself. If you’ve lost track of old pensions, there is a free government service, The Pension Tracing Service, gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details, which can help. (Be aware that commercial firms with a similar name charge).

Factor in any other sources of retirement income, for example, from non-pension savings you have built up, to give you a complete picture of your budget from the income side. Once you’ve done that, work out how much you are likely to need to spend in retirement. Bear in mind that, if your income is high enough, some of it will go in income tax. Be as realistic as you can about your spending – for example, how much you are likely to save once you are not travelling to and from work. Remember to factor in holidays and repayments on any debts you may have.