True cost of pension folly

THE pension freedoms have left savers with one key question: is financial advice really worth the price?

Do you go it alone and trust yourself to make the best decisions for your money and future? Or do you pay someone else a significant slice of your life savings to do it for you?

The research we report on Pages 37 and 38 today suggests this choice simply isn’t good enough. There has to be a better way for savers to get the best out of their pension pots.

If you do decide to go it alone, one wrong move and you could be hit with a huge tax bill, have your savings swallowed by fees, or even run out of money completely. Financial advice looks pretty cheap in comparison.

The pension freedoms generation has a lot to lose. On the one hand, they are pioneers with newfound freedom to spend their own money however they want. On the other, they are canaries down a coal mine.

Their retirements will certainly be a lot different to their parents’ who could rely on generous finalsalary pensions that paid out a rising rate until death, and then some to their surviving family.

But now, pension pots are smaller and retirees are living longer, so the money has to last longer, too.

and to make that money last, savers have to decide for themselves when and how to invest it, and how much to withdraw and when. The choice can simply be overwhelming for some.

Your first step to a financially secure retirement is always to start saving into a pension. But the work doesn’t end there. You need to save hard, invest smart and monitor its performance against your goal.

The more you engage with your pension now, the more prepared for retirement you will be.

Organisation and planning will always help you make your money go further. and the more you know about your finances, the better positioned you will be to take action before it is too late. We all want to relax in retirement. Getting your pension right will take a big weight off your mind.

Blanked cheque

HOW many cheques will have to be thrown away because of lockdowns? I missed my chance to bank £15 last year because the cheque expired. I could not easily get to a Nationwide branch and, when I finally did, it was too late. I would have to get it rewritten.

Some banks now have clever apps to help you make deposits online, whereas others will let you bank a cheque at the post office.

Yet many of us are not online and, in the midst of a lifethreatening pandemic, won’t want to brave a trip to a busy post office.

Would it be so much to ask for the banks to give us longer to bank our cheques?

Buy now, debt later

MONEY MaIl had concerns that the buy now, pay later craze would lead to shoppers spending more than they could afford at Christmas.

However, I was stunned to see the research last week that suggests Britons spent £2.3 billion using the checkout loans. That’s 40 pc of all Christmas shopping.

That is also all avoidable debt. Buy now, pay later has become a real threat to sensible spending. How long will the regulator wait before it acts?

Fraud fightback

FRaUD is now so endemic that many of us have simply accepted attempted theft of our life savings as part of everyday life.

Of course, it should not be like this, and it is outrageous that fraudsters can so easily reach us in our homes with impunity.

But until the police, banks and regulators get their act together, it is brilliant to see the Great British Public fighting back in their own way — whether it be with withering wit or eardrumbursting sirens. So thank you to all who sent in your letters and emails about how you handle those dreadful cold callers.

In the meantime, let’s hope the authorities can find a novel way of stopping fraud sometime soon.