<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Planning for retirement should be an exciting time in your life. You’re able to give up work and focus on the things you enjoy. But what if your aspirations and financial expectations don’t line up with your partner’s? Creating a balance can help both of you feel fulfilled in the next stage of your life.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s not uncommon to find that partners have conflicting views of what they want retirement to look like. While you’re both working, you may have discussed ensuring you have enough saved or even talked about some of the things you’d like to do. However, most of us don’t start considering retirement in great detail until the milestone isn’t too far off. Discussing your plans can help make sure you’re both on the same page as you move forward.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Before you start the conversation, it’s worth both of you separately thinking about the retirement lifestyle you’d like:</span></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Are there any ‘big ticket’ experiences you’d like to enjoy?</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">What would your ideal day-to-day lifestyle look like?</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">What are your priorities for retirement?</span></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Understanding what you’d like, can help you identify shared aspirations and where you need to strike a balance between two views. Often when we first think of retirement, it’s the experiences we want in the initial years after giving up work that is the focus, such as travelling or helping to raise grandchildren, but your daily routine as you settle into retirement is just as important.</span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;"><b>Understanding retirement finances</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">While couples may often discuss household expenditure, the same can’t be said for retirement finances. In fact, 24% of couples have never discussed their retirement income. It can mean you have widely different expectations for your income and approach to managing money as you enter retirement.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">As with lifestyle goals, discussing with a </span><a href="https://claritywealth.co.uk/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">financial advisor Leeds</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> what you want is important.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The first step should be to understand what income and assets you expect to have to fund retirement. This may include the State Pension, Final Salary pensions, Defined Contribution pensions, savings, investments, and property.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">But understanding assets isn’t the only thing you need to do; you also need to understand how both of you approach retirement finances:</span></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">What assets will create your base income?</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">How would you create a financial safety net to cover the unexpected?</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">What level of income do you need for the day-to-day lifestyle you want?</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">How do you feel about investment risk and what impact would it have on your goals as you enter retirement?</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">What kind of legacy would you like to leave behind for loved ones?</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Do you want to support charitable causes during your lifetime of leave a charitable legacy?</span></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The answers to these types of questions will be linked to the lifestyle you want to achieve. However, they can highlight the differences in how you view money, even if it’s something you’ve agreed on before. In the past, you may have been happy investing in mid-risk funds to grow your wealth but in retirement prefer stability and financial security. Your partner, on the other hand, may be keen to increase investment risk as outgoings reduce and you have a base income for essentials. Looking at financial views now can help you strike a balance and understand the short and long-term impact of the options.</span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;"><b>How financial planning can help</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Financial planning can ensure your goals and finances align. But the process can also help you understand what your priorities are too.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">A key part of financial planning is talking to clients to set out goals, lifestyle aspirations and more. We ask what it is you want your savings to do for you. It’s a chance to think about what is most important as you start planning for retirement. Having an outside perspective go through your retirement plan can help you see what your priorities are.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Where retirement goals don’t match up perfectly, there are often solutions that can ensure both of you are happy and confident as you give up work. Getting your finances in order can give you the freedom to do more without having to worry about the uncertainty of the long term. If you’d like to start your retirement planning with us, please get in touch.</span></p>

Retirement Planning As A Couple: Balancing Different Goals
