How I Finally Got My Pension on Track
The Future is looking Bright for Me…
I’m happy to report that finally, I’ve got my pension on track. And by on track, if I continue at the rate I’m going, I will retire with the availability to give myself a generous ‘salary’ until the end.
Why am I so happy about this? Well, not too long ago, it felt that this was near impossible. After all, you hear about the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, it can seem like you’ve never going to achieve this so what’s the point? Well, I’m happy to share some secrets and also my tips on how I’ve ticked off this goal (and something that I manifested on my vision board this year) and have managed to get a huge financial weight off my shoulders.
Give Your Older Self a Persona.
Sounds strange but it works. After all, imagining yourself as young as you are, as an older person, it’s hard. So give your older self a persona. Mine is called Valerie, after my grandma. Now I imagine the life I would want my grandma to live, and boy, do I want to save everything up for her.
Just turning your 80-year-old self into a character, takes the realism out of it and having that vision to save up seems more fun. Sounds counter-productive, but try it for a few months and see how you do.
Time to Do the Maths.
Another thing I did to get my pension on track was to figure out exactly how much I needed to save. The basic maths is to times the salary you think you can live off by 25. Now that’s a large number but you have to think about compound interest. This is a gorgeous thing in which you gain interest on interest on your initial investment. Now how do you do that calculation? Well, you could do that maths, or you can look at some of the tools out there that can do the predictions for you. Mine was the Moneybox pensions calculator. That was how I worked out what I needed to do next to be on track.
Increase Your Savings, Even By a Small Amount.
This is the one that is always the hardest. However, even increasing your pension contributions by a percentage can make a massive difference. For me, it was turning up my pensions from 8% total to 10%. Now, I’m not paying the full amount, my company matches my contributions. But that 2% jump has made a difference.
My advice would be to push it by a percentage for three months and see if it makes a difference to your daily budgeting. If you don’t even see a difference, then keep increasing. You’ll be surprise on how far you can push it without realising.
Consolodate Your Pensions.
Probably the one that is the most painful, because it involves a lot of time and effort. However, it’s so worth it at the end of the day. Carve out some time to sit down with your laptop and some snacks and hunt out any odd pensions that you may have from previous jobs. Move them into one place and sit back and relax. Trust me, it’s going to be 100% worth it.
Don’t Give Up.
Finally, don’t give up. Even in the hard times, it’s going to be worth it for your older self. If you’re feeling the crunch, even a little bit is going to be worth it. Remember, it’s a marathon not a race, so this is going to take time. But your 80-year-old is going to love you for it.