One of the things that has happened recently and has probably gone unnoticed by many is that the female State pension age has been raised. This will have a profound effect on many people’s pension planning – both individuals and married – and we would guess that not many people actually know about it, let alone do anything about it.

Pensions are basically a long-term savings plan with tax relief, and because of this long-term effect, you cannot change things easily. A person should put away as much as they can afford into a pension and get the relevant amount of tax relief. If this satisfies what you are likely to need when you get to retirement age, fine.

But what is satisfactory? Here is a sample estimation:

Say your parents and older siblings died at age 90, meaning you could very well need 25 years of pension if you retire at 65. Furthermore, you are likely to £15,000 per year in retirement. This means you will need a pension pot of about 25 x £15,000 = £375,000.

You then need to do a cumulative growth calculation for the years you will be saving and how much you can save per year. Using our cumulative growth tables, if someone aged 23 put £3,000 away per year and got 6% growth on this, at age 65 they should have around £375,000.

Pension planning is something everyone should do but is not a straightforward process. So why not contact MAP and we can assist. You can call us on 0345 241 1808 or e-mail us at enquiries@mapfinances.co.uk.