How Much Will You Need to Retire? - Hot Topics Q&A

A. This is a common problem faced by many in your age group.

You should be applauded for taking action with your investments, and now is the ideal time to take action and get your affairs in order. Here's what we suggest (if you want to do it yourself):

1. Work out what income you'd like assuming you'd retired TODAY. If you're good at using excel, you could inflate the figure to give you the value in future terms.

2. Calculate what resources you have in terms of assets that could produce you an income in the future (NHS Pension etc). Work out how much this would produce. Again, you'll need to project this forward.

3. Decide how much risk you want to take with your current and future investments.

4. If you have an income shortfall, you'll need to decide where to invest additional monies towards the future. You'll also need to decide whether to invest in a pension or non-pension investment. 

To do this exercise successfully and accurately, you'll really need to know what you're doing. If you get the sums wrong it may cause more damage to your situation.

The alternative is to speak to a Financial Planner that offers a financial planning service. You don't want to see a product transaction based adviser as it's unlikely they will have the resources (software, skills etc) to help you. THIS IS CRUCIAL. The majority of advisers work in the transactional way, so do enough research until you find the right type.