Why the 5 Years Before Retirement Are So Important (You’re closer than you think!)

Retirement could be closer than you think. It all hinges on those final few years before retirement and making the most of the tools you have available.
Salary Sacrifice Calculator
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I am a Chartered Wealth Manager and Partner in a financial planning practice based in the UK. If you would like to find out more about our services, please follow this link: go.novawm.com/getintouch
DISCLAIMER:
This channel is for education purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Any opinions or assessments expressed are James’ own opinions or assessments, which are not affiliated with any third party. Any representations stated as facts or views based on such facts are relevant to circumstances applicable at the time of publication. This information should never be relied solely upon to make decisions, and James accepts no liability for any investment actions undertaken by viewers. Please seek regulated financial advice or an advisor if you require assistance. The value of an investment and the income from it can go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amount invested.
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[@petermorris3665]

At 56 years old and still working full-time this was just the video I needed.

[@SlowCarToChina]

Same 👍

[@stuwhite2337]

check your investments. They won't have grown much, if at all in the past 2 years if you exclude additional contributions

[@michaellewin9339]

@@stuwhite2337yep my overall pension investment has dropped in the last 2 years by around 8%. I’m 56 and was hoping to finish by 58. If this trend continues then this will be unlikely.

[@alrightdave6135]

@@stuwhite2337no shit Sherlock

[@stuwhite2337]

@@alrightdave6135 the point is your cash would have

[@rls5907]

Einstein once said: “half the quotes that are attributed to me online are false”

[@sallyannemcintyre9801]

Love it

[@liamcleal2804]

Congratulations 🎉 100k never miss a video, very informative keep it up mate 👏🏻

[@alexm7310]

Excellent advice. Thank you 😊

[@Dr.JubairsFinance]

Congratulations on 100K! Very well deserved

[@beantonking758]

Really useful! Would be great to see how the process of using the money works and any possible pitfalls 😊

[@matthewashton1975]

I really enjoy your videos James, you’re very entertaining, knowledgable and easy to watch.

[@neilshirley]

Fantastic video, thank you.

[@bandolero5068]

Great video, James.

[@barrypotter6437]

Congratulations on 100k subscribers. Well deserved 👍🏻

[@xz9904]

Great video as always.

[@spartacusptolemaida]

James you've no idea how much I appreciate your videos. I've learned more from your channel in 2 years than 15 years of school studying. God bless you and your family.

[@MikesGlitch]

Another excellent video 🙌

[@andrewowens4124]

You know your stuff mate! Advice that will help the everyday working man. Well done!👍

[@ChrisShawUK]

I can attest to this in practice. I stopped work in 2019 and it really was those last 5-6 years that pushed me over the line. I maxed out my pension contributions at 40k for me and 20k for my wife. Using a combination of earnings and previous cash savings. COVID then slashed my fund by 35% and now we have rampant inflation. However, the secret is, you don't need to withdraw all your money at once. I keep a cash buffer of three years to smooth out the volatility

[@StuartBramall-eg1hu]

Very good video, I’m 53 and started watching your vids last year. I have always put a good proportion of my salary into the pension but have received some shocking returns over the past 20 years

[@Salakazam]

great vid, thank you, maybe a second vid on how to boost the pension on the last years before retirement (though to a lesser degree I presume, ha) when paying off of the mortgage is not in the near future (lets say beyond retirement age, 65+)?

[@markfogel3682]

Thanks for another great video James!

[@JamesShack]

My pleasure!

[@creators1000]

Great video James. Even better when the graph starts at my age... compounding FTW

[@1707Android]

Thanks James. The scenario you gave is very similar to my own. This has been food for thought indeed.

[@peterrogers3085]

Great advice, already at 22% AVC and hoping to up it to 31% next year, there is one thing you missed, you can use any future wage rises to increase your AVC each year you get a pay rise.

[@keithbrown339]

100 % this sort of worked me the at one point putting 70% of my earnings into my pension. Just a side point my boss was not trust worthy in any shape of form and did not make my pension contributions for 3 plus mouths before folding the company yes it is being claimed back but in my experience you can not trust smaller companies to make payments to your pension on time even though they are quick with the deductions. Best to check your pension contributions very carefully. Keep up the good work James.

[@DavidAinsworth37]

Once again essential and useful advise, thank you for sharing this information.

[@chrispc71]

Very helpful thanks. I'm early 50s and this has given me a bit more optimism following what's happened in 2022.

[@johnjones6890]

I love watching your videos, as they are greatly comforting to me and good for my mental health when I stay to stress about these issues. Thank you

[@JamesShack]

I’m glad they help!

[@guyr7351]

Well I was on plan for this with a company allowing salary sacrifice and diverting bonus into my pension. Sadly redundancy and a newer job at a lower salary scuppered this. Also a mortgage going 8 years beyond pension age but overpayments also being made on that. Ultimately have re worked mortgage saving money which also has been saved so aiming to retire early next April

[@kenmcconnell4148]

Omg its so complicated & over optimistic but great videos thanks i wish i could get my head around it as well as you have

[@carlkeeling]

Love this one James, thanks 😂

[@steveradstock]

What about if you have a Defined Benefits pension? I would love to put it all in a DC scheme now, but the company pension is making it harder to do. I am about 9 years from when I retire.

[@kimmykero2421]

Great video! Your examples/illustrations make it easily understandable and appreciated by the most. Thank you.

[@johncarter6040]

This is a very relevant video with essential information for those near to retirement to turbo charge their pension and give themselves the best possible retirement pot and it is free advice ! It does however depend on individual financial circumstances, but if you can afford to do so and have a DC pension with salary sacrifice then try and ramp up your pension contributions especially if you are a higher rate taxpayer. In addition, move any monies from taxable savings or investments into a SIPP if you are very close to or over the age in which you can take your SIPP. Fortunately, i was given the above ideas when in my late 40's by a very knowledgeable work colleague who was at retirement age. Thanks to him, I retired at age 55.

[@jonnyboy4340]

Another great video..

[@stevegeek]

I’m lucky enough to get a reasonable bonus each year (nearly £20k) and for the last 5 years I’ve had this paid into my pension as salary sacrifice. This has made a big difference to my pension pot (almost x2) and saved losing a big chunk of my bonus in tax. I wish I’d done this many years ago.

[@JamesShack]

It really adds up!

[@NoNonsenseJohnson]

You will be laughing during retirement mate. Good luck 👊🏽

[@owensmith7530]

I've done the same with my bonuses and share options, my pension funds have really taken off.

[@stevegeek]

@@owensmith7530 Nice. Shame I only started doing this when I turned 50! When I was younger the idea never crossed my mind, but then retirement seemed far away 😉…time flies!

[@Yetifur003658]

Does your employer allow you to pay your bonus directly into your pension? Wish I had that option. I could take the bonus and increase my monthly pension contributions, I suppose. Just takes a little bit more discipline...

[@RobS-ef5bn]

Encouraging video James. I’m early 50s and feeling behind just as you’ve described. Thanks for showing there is a way to succeed over the next years. Encouraging!

[@JamesShack]

That’s good to hear! To be honest, I was watching this back getting motivated myself! It’s nice to have a short term target like that to aim for.

[@joso7228]

Behind?! I haven't even started yet....

[@grzegorzjones2629]

​​​@@JamesShack Many thanks for this video James. I found it amazing that we actually came up with a similar tactic. You in your video, and me guy in his 40s who likes investing and eagerly takes control of his own finances. James a quick question for you. As I mentioned my strategy is slightly different so I wanted to ask you what do you think of the following tactic. Instead of waiting until someone is in his 50s, I suggest person should be putting as much as possible into ISA. Preferably into dividend paying stocks and ETFs. The idea being: build a second stream on income so by the time you are in your 50s you can salary sacrifice max of your employment income, which in practice means leaving you with a salary at the level of National Min Wage/National Living Wage and everything above that threshold gets directed into pension. This means you can effectively pay very little tax and NI conts whilst the rest gets accumulated in your DC pot (assuming that you are a member of DC pension scheme). It should be possible to do if you have a second income from your ISA (dividend payments) that are tax free too... Obviously by the time you can start doing it, you need to have your mortgage fully paid off and your monthly expenses kept on a short leash. What do you think James ?

[@MrKlawUK]

this is a really eye opening and inspiring video - thank you! I have three years to close out the mortgage and then plan to push heavily onto the pension using salary sacrifice as you say. My wife only has a small auto-enroll pension but does have a small ISA building up alongside. I'll look at her using that into her pension to get the tax benefit back too.

[@LiamHamilton.]

Are you able to make a video on mortgages and amortization? With the equity not being paid off much in the early years, how does this work when looking to remortgage or sell for a new house? Is the fact you've been paying off mostly interest taken into consideration on the new mortgage as it seems that there's not much chance to ever actually build up equity?

[@fitnasmeansresults1437]

I am self employed and 62. Have private pension but not sure if it's better to shop around as had taken my 20 percent last year.. and now in a retirement pension.

[@LivingYourBestLife2023]

Thanks James for another great video.

[@lovingmywatch5988]

Hi James , your are an excellent dynamic presenter who has a real impact.. Keep up the great work...😊

[@JamesShack]

Thank you! Will do!

[@user-ev8bb1fp4e]

I presume you mean ‘paying off your mortgage’ (not pension) - otherwise I thought this very good - you’re right financial literacy is so important

[@seannash6384]

James I love your explanations in these videos. Hoping you can do a video explaining types of high to low risk funds and markets.

[@ploppy193]

Best video yet.

[@Fable3000]

Hi James just came across you channel and found it very informative and brutally honest, which I think is great, just a quick question for you, what’s your take on Discretionary trust?

[@geztinsdale]

Great advice BUT don't forget the annual pension allowance and also the maximum 25% you can take at retirement without paying back the tax you saved...

[@jontuckett2391]

Informative as usual but have you overlooked the impact of salary sacrifice on life insurance cover amount?

[@JamesShack]

Generally it’s not affected, nor are other salary based benefits but always worth checking.

[@user-vg2ul1zc3k]

Very interesting video but only if you are not tapered which is likely to happen at the end of a career… is ISA saving the only option then?

[@minimad8793]

Thanks James for the stats. I still have a few years before the magic 55 mark and on course to be mortgage free before this. So would you say throw more into the pension vs the ISA? or carry on as I am doing splitting, the deposits equally but use some of the ISA to clear the mortgage earlier?. I will watch your next video shortly so may shed some light. Thanks again.

[@hadphild]

The quicker you can do what he say in the video the better.

[@UbiquitousBooks]

I think the weird economic circumstances of the last 15 years are changing the life journey for a lot of people. Instead of the 50s being a time when they are free of mortgages and kids, many "millennials" have found that they were saving for a house until middle age and, consequently, didn't have kids until their late 30s or early 40s. So the late-career time of high saving potential is truncated. But, on the other hand, if they made the right sacrifices, they had a chance to build up some savings in the their 20s/30s (while their parents were busy with kids and houses). Thanks to the miracle of compounding, modest savings from those early years can pay-off big time while they are busy spending middle age on child-rearing. At least, that's how I'm hoping things work out! This could also be a reason why it's more important than ever to start saving early and consistently, even if only modestly.

[@scottgibson4735]

Hi James, brilliant video and like many comments already made, it's just in time for me. One question I have is you seem to jump from in the explanation about John between his personal pension and a reference to workplace-based pensions, you say: "7.31 instead ask his employer to sacrifice 7:34 his salary directly into his pension 7:36 before he receives it". Could you tell me if you're referring to his personal pension? You go on to say. "only possible if your employer uses a 7:59 salary sacrifice pension, but this is the 8:01 most common type of pension"............ Now, we appear to be referring to a workplace-based pension, not his personal pension...... I hope you are okay with me asking about this. I am hoping any additional clarity helps me and others! I really appreciate any help you can provide.

[@daveharruk]

Salary sacrifice simply refers to the method used by your employer to make deductions from your pay to the pension scheme and can apply to either a personal pension or a workplace pension. In my experience larger employers more often support salary sacrifice than not. Unfortunately though I don't think it is very common for employers to allow the use of salary sacrifice with a pension scheme of your choice such as a SIPP.

[@fly1ngf1sh]

Great video, thanks James! If someone has used up their annual pension and ISA allowances (and carry over), and comes into a sum of money, is it still worth paying more into a pension, or are there better ways to save it for retirement?

[@marissakeynes2532]

If u've already used up ur annual pension allowance then u cannot pay more into it.

[@fly1ngf1sh]

You can, but you don’t get any tax relief on it

[@mangalsingh4036]

Great Video James. I didnt realise that you could move your ISA money into your SIPP. I was always under the impression, you could only put your earned income from your salary into a SIPP. Im due to get my frozen DB pension at 55, so can i put some of that monthly income from my DB into my SIPP aswell to boost my SIPP further. I'll still be working part time elsewhere, so wont need to use my full income from the DB.

[@mikerodent3164]

If you put all ISA money into a pension pot... are you aware of the irksome and horrible fiscal reality that PENSION INCOME IS TAXABLE? So that is a way to turn tax-free money into taxable money (unless when retired you will be living on under £12k per year, including the State pension).

[@doriangray6985]

​@@mikerodent3164would have been good if James had replied to you.

[@Koala260]

Difficult to see how any current UK pension fund with a medium risk level will achieve this increase. Mine has the same value today as it did nearly 2 years ago even after paying In around 15k.

[@chrisharris4223]

Think about it as a good thing. Increases are never linear, there are always swings both ways. I always think I’m buying at ‘a good rate’ when my ISA or Pension takes a dip. Then I don’t feel so bad! 😂 Ideally of course you want you pension value low until the moment you want to draw from it, then you want it to go crazy. Stay the course, it’ll work itself out!

[@marissakeynes2532]

Compare to other similar funds to see if it's underperforming. U may also need to think about increasing ur risk depending on how far from retirement u are.

[@davidhouston7721]

Great video once again James.

[@Sherminator2010]

James this is a great video thank you. QQ - Can you safely assume that pensions are performing at a 7% YoY return?

[@JamesShack]

That depends on how your pension is invested. If you're invested in a global index fund then 7% is a conservative long term estimate.

[@stuwhite2337]

5 years isn't long term though is it@@JamesShack

[@wannabemusician7849]

I’m disillusioned ( and affected by) by the whole financial system… pension transfer values halved, share of funds drying up , the property rental ( retirement plan ) model obliterated and sooooooo heavily taxed at every turn…. At this point I admire the individuals that spend as they go .. as soon as everyone puts their cash into banks for the safe attractive 5% returns then the government will tax that as well .. Sorry for grumping… thanks for doing your uploads.. they are helpful and informative

[@ChrisBird1]

We can still have a rental property ,especially with no mortgage they do OK , Tax free ISA allowance is £20k per annum ,so smash the limit of this for 10 years and you've got £200k tax free to draw off (PLUS INTEREST ),Put a few quid into a private pension to get the 20% allowance..Add a 2 bed Rental paying £700 a month AND a state pension @67 ,small private pension and £200k Tax free Stocks and shares ISA to draw off .. Boom ,Not so bad ? thats a nice Tax free passive income of over £2000 a month . Thats how I see it anyway .

[@markbennion8151]

Hi James. I invested a small amount into bitcoin a few years ago. It had grown quite nicely but not enough to retire from. Do you have any advice as to how I could roll that over into a pension at in getting near to that landmark. Cheers

[@NicholasEJones]

First vlog that make sense, thank you 🎉

[@marissakeynes2532]

First?! 😂

[@sofia_bows]

Hi James another great piece of content. How could I directly speak with you or your team to discuss my retirement plans?

[@Trigger1973]

Hi James, great video as I’m fast approaching that time and it sharpens the focus on strategy. I’ve seen the 3 bucket strategy on The Money Guy and Joe Kuhn. Is it a workable retirement strategy in the UK and if so would you be able to do a video on this please? Many thanks

[@dedge12858]

Well that was extremely helpful and thought provoking. I hadn't appreciated the extra saving of NI contributions that salary sacrifice provides.

[@Fataxman]

Salary sacrifice pensions really is the most effective and efficient way to operate a company scheme. As a qualified tax advisor I am always surprised how many employers who could benefit still fail to utilise it. Get your employer to speak to their accountant if they are not using it

[@TomsPersonalFinance]

It really is amazing to see how quickly it can double. Great video, similar but different to all those "importance of the first $100,000" videos. You certainly are much more imformative!

[@jonathanmcstay9082]

There’s a lot of basic ideas that people don’t seem to be aware of. I’m 51 now taking it easier than ever based on this sort of investment plan. The ISA > pension I hadn’t thought of though - thanks

[@stewartmclean625]

Your good mr shack thanks mate 👍

[@pataleno]

Great video James. I can relate to this. I’m 54 and only a few years ago didn’t have a lot invested. Now I’m up to around 500K and hope to have 1 million at around 63 which is when I plan to retire. At the moment I have a well paid stress free 9-5 job home every night and weekend so will stick this out until it’s time for me to call it a day maximising my isa and pension as much as possible. Even a few hundred in a pension goes a long way.

[@kaxar6954]

Don't know you managed that. Care to share assuming if you had nothing invested at 50, how are you now up to £500?

[@pataleno]

@@kaxar6954 yeah I pretty much max'd out my ISA and Pension. This yeah I've paid 60k into pension and ISA from my salary. I have cut back on spending for the next 5 years. It's doable.

[@jra55417]

@@kaxar6954”didn’t have a lot invested” isn’t nothing. Maybe he had 200k and felt it wasn’t that much at his age

[@marissakeynes2532]

​@@kaxar6954​ Maybe had another source of income say from rental property and had paid all the salary into their pension.

[@marissakeynes2532]

​@@kaxar6954By doing that they can reduce their self assessment tax bill by using their personal tax allowance.

[@tomwestcott4036]

hi james, please can you make a video discussing the pros and cons of defined benefit pensions? as a public sector worker the majority of my pension is in DB schemes id love to know what i should be doing along side my workplace pension to make the most of my income in retirement keep up the good work!

[@geztinsdale]

Im in a DB but top up each month with AVC's - check if your employer offers this through salary sacrifice but just make sure your total AVC pot plus any lump sum you want to take isn't more than 25% of your pension or you will have to pay tax when taking it out when you retire. Also note the annual allowance currently £60k a year, above this and again you will have to pay tax back

[@davem.4003]

I think you should be able to transfer AVCs into a SIPP and then you would be allowed to take 25% of the SIPP value, as well as 25% of the DB value, tax free. If your AVC value is less than, or equal to, 25% of the combined pension pot (AVC + main DB pension), then you may be permitted to take the AVCs as the tax-free lump sum, leaving most, if not all, of your DB pension to be taken as an annuity. Even if your AVCs are greater than 25%, if you are allowed to use them to fund the tax-free lump sum, then you may be allowed to make a partial transfer-out of part of the AVCs, as mentioned previously, to have this work to your advantage. It sounds as though you need to do some investigation, or pay an IFA to investigate and to provide advice. Edit: if you transfer-out part of your AVC or before taking the 25%, then the combined value of your DB+AVC is reduced, which reduces the 25% value. The maths could become more complex, so advice would definitely be required for this scenario.

[@user-ph4lm8zw7n]

Great video and advice thanks!

[@MasterCamus]

Man, I wish there was a financial advisor like you here in Australia

[@colinshurey976]

I agree I havnt found one i click with They all want to just sell insurance

[@finlaymacrae]

Worth also mention the carry forward rule which if they are downsizing or have savings on retirement can net a quick boost.

[@johnconroy9517]

can you do this with a conical pension?

[@JamesShack]

I've only recently realised that 30% of my audience watches KZbin on TV. That's why I'm trialling the use of QR codes for links. Let me know if you find it useful! Does it need to be bigger so you don't need to get up off the sofa ?! (I realise that most people watching on TV won't see this comment!)

[@simonwl]

Works great for me James - watching on my sofa!

[@markfindlay8636]

Yeah l don't like getting off my sofa unless I'm migrating to my chair.

[@JamesShack]

So do you use the KZbin app on TV or do AirPlay from your phone? Wondering why you’d also see the comments.

[@simonwl]

@@JamesShack I have a KZbin app on Fire Stick and Nvidia Shield connected to my two TVs. You can see the comments on the app but I have to use my phone app to add comments.

[@davem.4003]

Just streamed to TV for the first time today. Android tablet to Fire TV stick. Commenting back on my tablet.

[@Bobby-sm3tz]

good video. You also need to think about risk: if the stock market tanks during that last 5 years it could also lose money compoundly

[@bunnobear]

Great video, lots of very interesting information. We are heading to retirement and cannot wait, I am in the process of saving to retire early. Thankfully my English father knew the benefit of super and my husband and I have paid into super since we were 18, ie 35 years. Small amounts over the long term have meant we have never had to push lots of money into super/pension. Sadly in Australia we cannot access money tax free until 60.

[@peterring1979]

Great sentiment and message with this video. Just need to be aware of dratted inflation and pension/advice charges which spoil the maths a bit. 7% pa after charges and inflation feels a bit of a racy assumption for a balanced portfolio.

[@richardshaw4336]

Interesting video as always James. Let's hope the next few years are "less bumpy" and the luxury of 10% returns are back. 😊

[@JamesShack]

🤞🏻

[@Castlebravo100]

The question I would ask is where is the money coming from? Wealth has to be created through time and skill in creating things or providing services. Some risk is also involved. If you aren't putting in time or skill or taking a risk the only explanation is you are acquiring wealth from other people losing wealth. I am close to retirement and some years ago I set an amount of money I would require to live comfortably on once I stopped working. It's not a vast amount, but I will live as comfortably in retirement as I did when I was working.

[@chubbybrown4real]

Could you do same for someone who pays a bit into higher tax, us Scots pay that from 43k,

[@DKNW62]

Great video James but 2 things: if you can manage this exponential growth...its harder to walk away from this, from putting 20k into pension then just stopping is psychologically a challange, secondly review your attitude to risk, and investments, if you managed to reach the LTA, the short term bouncy road can also be psychologically challenging. I Think you have covered these issues in other vids .

[@imonlyonesam]

The LTA is gone now

[@MartinHopkinson]

@@imonlyonesamNot quite. Only the charge has gone. The LTA itself isn’t abolished until 6 Apr 24. It’s an important difference, in my opinion, and it’s why I’m not crystallising my funds in excess of LTA until Apr 24. If I do it now, the charge will be worked out but not levied by HMRC…… under this government. But what if another government not only re-instates LTA but also tells HMRC to review all previous, uncollected, charges against individuals and says that they now want to collect?

[@stilettoheelslover]

Could you perhaps please do a video on the most tax-efficient way to retire using an *annuity* vs the tax-free lump sum combo? It's just that in recent years, annuities have suddenly become much better value than they were, and so are becoming much more attractive to the risk-averse amongst us......?

[@Jamiebmurray]

James would some of that be cash to allow for a dip in the market? So put the last few years in cash inside pension?

[@malvanlondon8683]

Great video. Thanks. Is there any point in a self-employed person (say aged 62) with no prior company or private pensions starting a SIPP?

[@philipjamesparsons]

There are tax benefits, with 25% of the pot being tax free. You could immediately access, the pension should you need to, a year or two down the line. So, do chase this up.

[@crispyduck1706]

I’ll tell you what I consolidated a lot of my pensions and some have had for thirty years - they have no where near grown at 7% a year - the pension industry has only looked after itself for all theses years and have charged their customers all the profits

[@pistopitpit]

Great tips in this video. Thanks James. When I saw the title of this video I thought you will speak about protecting from sequence of returns risk.

[@TheOmniscientOne]

I embarked upon this very policy back in 2011 thinking pensions were a good idea, but unfortunately it was with Scottish Windows, a hopelessly inept company. I didn't check it frequently enough thinking their balanced fund would be satisfactory. It is actually worth £80,398 less today than what I've paid in. I'm supposed to be retiring next year.

[@savcosta3403]

Fascinating stuff. Would it be worth extending term of mortgage to fund that extra £1100 a month. Can't get interest only mortgage

[@alexduxxi]

Hi James. Thank you so much for your videos. They are really helpful. Question for you please. When investing the£20k personal allowance in Vanguard stocks and shares ISA every year how does it work? Is it a new account created every year or will they compound together? Worried about losing the compound power. Thanks in advance 👍

[@JamesShack]

It all goes into one ISA account and compounds together.

[@Jeffybonbon]

I am 65 this year and I will max out my pension as much as i can for the next 10 years i am a higher rate tax payer becuse of BTL income and i have 12k a year self employed earings and i own a SPV when i do get my state pension i am putting every penny into my pension rather then pay 40% tax I am lucky pensions for me are not for my pension they are just a great place to park tax with the tax mans help and are fantastic for IHT planning you should do a topic on this i am sure i am not alone with frozen tax allowances

[@alloyrocker]

Interesting...didn't know there was an option to salary sacrifice into a personal pension. Always thought it would have to only be the workplace pension!

[@reshlanda1964]

This is a great educational vid.

[@karmanline2005]

Good guidance but (a) predicated on clearing mortgage while working and (b) seeing fund growth: uk fund growth has been ~0 for 3 years.😢

[@marissakeynes2532]

U can change funds if urs is underperforming. Part of my pension was in UK equity and wasn't making money then I switched it to a global equity fund which was galloping.

[@JamesShack]

If you've already been through this, do you have any words of encouragement for others behind you on the journey?

[@greennewdealoxford]

Great advice James. I am near the end of this journey being a year away from retirement. The only things I would add is that you should pay off debts first and carefully reviewing your budget to cut out unnecessary costs. By 55 I had accumulated all sorts of subscription costs, memberships, service charges etc that together added up. Also look at your service providers insurance, banking, telecoms etc. these may once have been the best and cheapest providers but you can almost certainly now get better deals.

[@MattMcQueen1]

@@peterhoughton3589 it doesn't even have to be a mini budget. Anything could cause the stock market to collapse, or the value of bonds to fall.

[@JevansUK]

​@@peterhoughton3589I assumed that the average rate of return of 7% accounted for a partial derisking of the portfolio.

[@JevansUK]

I only started my pension at 30 after a couple of temp roles and redundancies. After 13 years i'm about 12% towards my end aim. My company does SMART and I have been ratcheting up my contributions and hope to hit target for retirement in about 15-18 years.

[@michaeloconnell9024]

Brilliant financial mind.

[@luiscunha6657]

Your videos are precious

[@joytid1]

Hi, I’m unsure on who to go to if I wanted to invest in compound interest- investment… can you help?

[@arthurworld9768]

The average retiree, I believe, should have been able to have enough to last the rest of his days. I t just depends on choices during your working days, just as I came to realize later. Surprising how I still netted more $2m. by retirement. And this is while living in New York!

[@roberttaylor662]

New York is sure as hell an expensive place to live in. Were you affiliated to Wall Street? Because how could you net such a huge amount?

[@VanPelt54u7fcyde57]

Not at all. I have just had a good savings habit from early in life. So when a friend introduced me to investing, I was intrigued. And this was just about four years before retirement, and I had only 480k to my name.

[@rebeccaartgallary]

Do you mind sharing info on the adviser who assisted you? I'm 40 now and would love to grow my stocks investment portfolio and plan my retirement..

[@VanPelt54u7fcyde57]

My financial advisor is "Pamela Helynn Kirchoff" she’s highly qualified and experienced in the financial market. She has extensive knowledge of portfolio diversification and is considered an expert in the field, I recommend researching his credentials further. She has many years of experience and is a valuable resource for anyone looking to navigate the financial market.

[@rebeccaartgallary]

Thanks for this amazing tips, I found her webpage and booked a call session with her, she seems proficient.

[@blakehouse9911]

Hi James, can you please do a video which demonstrates the benefits of pensions. I know there’s tax relief going in, but you pay tax when you draw the money. So I get that there is tax relief on the growth, but I’d love to see what this means in terms of cash at the end. Are pensions really worth it?

[@kite9039]

I know you get to save into your workplace pension tax free but you have to pay tax when you take it out is it still better than an ISA where I wont pay any TAX ?

[@c40uk98]

What do you think about aviva lifestyle investment program for last 5 years of pension

[@mortelski5814]

I figured the benefits of salary sacrifice out years ago and was following religiously until I came up against the Pensions Lifetime Allowance limits. We appear to have a small window of opportunity before Labour reintroduce the LTA. Would you advise crystallising the entire DC pot by moving it into drawdown during this window to avoid paying additional LTA income tax charges in the future?

[@mark13williams13]

This is all fine if you have your mortgage paid off in your 50’s. People in their 20’s will probably be 65-70 by the time theirs are paid off.