The sooner the better.
The more time you give yourself, the more prepared you’ll be and in most cases the more you’ll be able to save towards your retirement.
Unfortunately most people think of pensions and retirement as being a problem to worry about when they get old or stop working, however the reality is that if no action is taken earlier in your working life it will be much harder to save for retirement.
You should consider how much you think you will need to save. This should take account of how much you will want/need to have as an income in retirement, how long you have until you want to retire and also what other sources of income (besides your pension) that you might have to rely on.
You might also consider whether you intend to fully stop working or reduce your hours, as this may influence how much income you will need or whether you can defer taking your income until later.
Self-employed retirement plans
For those who are self-employed it is equally as important to think ahead and to plan for retirement.
The Secondary Pensions Law will not put any legal obligation on self-employed individuals to save into a pension, however it may still be sensible to do so. Your Island Pension will be open to self-employed individuals and will allow a very cost-effective means for them to save for their retirement.
It may be possible to receive a lump-sum payment of the value of your pension pot in the event of serious ill health.
Supporting evidence would need to be provided and generally to qualify it would need to be evident that an individual’s life expectancy was less than twelve months.