We all want to have a good retirement. It’s essential to secure a good income after stopping work and traditionally this was to make sure that you had a good pension, usually through your employer. But how much can you fully rely on your employer to have set up the correct pension or for there not to be some disaster with the scheme, which has happened with many big employers in the past. So it can’t be a bad idea to make alternative investments and diversify your retirement planning options. Let’s have a look at some of these methods of saving.
Stocks & Shares
Putting your money into stocks and shares can be a relatively safe option or a particularly risky one depending on what type of investments you make. How it works is you are buying a part (or share) of a company and depending on how the company is performing the price of the shares will rise or fall. If you want to be adventurous and invest in new or experimental companies be aware that you are taking a bigger risk but the potential reward is much larger
Savings & ISA’s
You can go down the traditional savings account route but although putting money away in this fashion is still an investment the returns will be lower as interest rates are not as good as they used to be. The upside is that the cash is more accessible, depending on the type of account, should you have an unexpected need for cash quickly.
Property (Including Buy To Let)
Property is mostly a safe bet, especially once you have paid the mortgage off. Obviously you need to have somewhere to live and if we are talking about your own home then there are limited ways you can use this equity in retirement but there is the option of down-sizing or you can release equity from the house by using an expert firm such as Key ton be able to do this for you. In addition to your own property you could also consider buying a property to rent out, this requires you to get a buy to let mortgage, landlord’s insurance and can be a great income generator in two ways you collect rent and also are accumulating value in the equity in the property.
Physical Assets
It may seem a little old-fashioned these days but there is a lot to be said for investing in physical artifacts. One clear advantage is that you can see and hold your investment, it’s not subject to external influences except the fall and rise of its value. Typical items are gold, other precious metals, antiques and collectibles such as stamps, coins, etc.
Your Own Business
If you run your own business it can be considered an asset. You will have the physical assets of the business and also the re-sell value of the business as a going concern. You should have your business properly valued so that you are not making a personal guess or estimate of it’s worth.
