Your financial circumstances are likely to change when you reach your 50’s and your priorities will be shifting. For example, you may be close to paying off your mortgage and be beginning to think about your retirement.
Here are some things that you will need to consider when you are reviewing your finances in your 50’s.
Create a list of your assets
You may realise that you do not know exactly how many assets you have. Below is a checklist for you to get your finances in order:
- Do you have any debt?
- How much (if any) of your mortgage is left?
- How much is your house worth?
- How much is your car worth?
- Do you have any other large assets that are paid off?
- How much do you have in savings?
- How much money do you have invested?
- How much is in your pension pot?
Do not worry if your finances are not looking as good as you hoped as there are many ways that you can restructure and grow your finances when you are in your 50’s.
Pay off your debt
When you are in your 50’s, you cannot continue to build or have debt as this will affect your lifestyle when you retire because your monthly outgoings will be high. You should be strategic about paying off your debt, for example you should prioritise paying off the debt with higher interest first.
Pay off your mortgage
One of your biggest monthly outgoings is likely to be your mortgage. By the time you are in your 50’s, you are likely to be close to paying it off. You could increase the monthly payments to pay off your mortgage quicker. This will reduce the amount of interest you pay overall. When your mortgage is paid off, you will have more financial freedom and be able to use the money that you used to use for your mortgage to save for other financial goals.
An alternative option is to downsize your house in order to pay off your mortgage.
Reduce the amount of risk you are taking
When you are in your fifties, it is important to review your investment portfolios and reduce the amount of risk you are taking. At Four Wealth Management, our Portfolio Management service can help you to do this. A Financial Adviser will review your current investments and take into account your attitude to risk when creating a balanced and diversified portfolio suited to your needs. They will review the portfolio for you annually to ensure it is still on track to help meet your goals.
Find out more about our portfolio management service
Increase the amount that you save each month
Investing and saving is important throughout your life, however you are likely to earn more in your 50’s than you did when you were younger which means you will have more disposable income. It is also likely that any children you have are becoming financially independent which will reduce your outgoings. This means that your 50’s is an ideal time to begin increasing the amount that you save for the future.
Review your pensions
Saving into a pension is one of the most tax-efficient ways that you can save for your future. When you start increasing the amount that you save each month, you should look at investing more into your pension pot.
It is also important that you review your existing pension pots and see if they are on track to provide you with the amount of income you will need when you retire.
At Four Wealth Management, our Financial Advisers are experienced at retirement planning and calculating how much you will need to save in your pension before you retire in order to provide you with sufficient income.
Find out more about retirement planning
Protect your finances
We can help protect your finances from the unexpected.
For example, have you considered what would happen if you were to fall ill and were unable to work for a long period of time? Do you have enough savings to cover your expenses? You may want to consider an income protection policy to protect your monthly income if you are unable to work because of injury or sickness. Alternatively, critical illness cover may be more suitable for your circumstances, which provides you with a tax-free lump sum if you are diagnosed with certain conditions.
Find out more about protecting your finances
Life insurance
Do you have a life insurance policy in place to help your family cope after you die? Life insurance policies can be tailored to your individual circumstances, for example, they can be used to pay off any outstanding debt or your mortgage so your family do not have to deal with any financial burdens. Alternatively, your family could receive a lump sum.
If you have an old life insurance policy, it is important that you review it to ensure that it is still suitable for your circumstances.
Contact Four Wealth Management to set up appropriate cover and review any existing policies
Discuss finances with your family
Once you have your financial planning in order, it is important to let your family know where your financial documentation and records are stored. At Four Wealth Management, we provide a ‘My Documents’ folder where you can detail all of your financial records discretely and let your family know where this folder is kept.
This is important as when you pass away, this will reduce stress and save your family time and help make sure they know the details of all of your policies that are in place.
At Four Wealth Management, we work with many clients on intergenerational financial planning and can recommend tax-efficient ways to transfer wealth that are suitable for your individual circumstances.
Find out more about passing on wealth to loved ones
Make a start on your financial planning
Arrange your no-obligation financial review to start organising your finances by contacting Four Wealth Management today.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select and the value can therefore go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested.
The levels and bases of taxation, and reliefs from taxation, can change at any time. The value of any tax relief depends on the individual circumstances.
