Christmas Special: How to be successful with money in 2019
You’ve worked hard to earn your money and want to do everything you can to both protect it and make sure it works hard for you in retirement. Justin chats with his colleague Rian about how to avoid being negatively impacted by poor pensions advice and financial scams, and ensure you’re maximising your State Pension as you head into the New Year. The impact on the UK economy of financial scams is estimated at £5 to £10 billion a year. Rian shares his retail banking experience and highlights the most common banking scams, copycat websites and how you can protect yourself. 100,000 people are transferring out of their defined benefit (or final salary) pension schemes each year but recent research shows only 47% of these transfers are suitable. Justin explains how to get the right advice so your lifetime savings can provide the income you need throughout retirement. It’s important to check your National Insurance record, what your State Pension forecast is, whether you have any gaps and can make up missing years. My video series also explains how. Making your money work hard is equally important: As you head into 2019, make sure you’re getting the most from your savings, consider taking advantage of ‘packaged accounts’ and guidance on the best ISA rates. Consider ‘haggling’ with utility providers to get on average a 20% reduction in tariffs or earn money as you shop with cash back websites. Take these tips on board in episode 006 of The Retirement Café Podcast and start 2019 with a positive approach to your money and your financial health.