Investments and Pensions

You may not have given it much thought, or any at all if you are not long out of university or haven’t been working for long, but pensions have changed.

The age at which you qualify for your Government ‘old age pension’ has risen, meaning that you must work for longer before you can retire. As someone once said, “50 is the new 40”, - and people are now staying healthier for longer.

Some now work into their 60s and 70s, either by choice or through necessity, so to ensure that you are not forced by circumstances to work for longer than you would like, it is essential you consider proper pension and financial planning now.

Auto Enrolment, also known as the workplace pension, goes some way to ensuring that you are financially prepared for later life, but you can do more.

The Government is often reminding us that people are not saving enough for a retirement comparable to the one they enjoy when working. Which is why it’s never too early to start thinking about your pension and how much money you think you will need to maintain a good standard of living in retirement.

Don’t gamble with your future. Using our network of professional partners, Dakin & Co helps you to access a range of specialist financial advice that will give you quality guidance on:

• Pension schemes and Auto Enrolment
• Life assurance
• Critical illness cover
• Private medical insurance and care plans
• Individual savings accounts and Investments
• Retirement planning

Pension Auto Enrolment

Whether you have one employee or one hundred employees, auto enrolment places significant responsibilities on an employer. By law, employers must enrol many of their employees into a work based pension scheme and pay some pension contributions.

If you are an employer, we can help you to:

• Manage auto enrolment in your business, including an initial analysis of your workforce, preparation of a cost budget, and assistance with choosing an appropriate qualifying pension scheme
• Prepare communication letters to your employees
• Calculate employee and employer contributions, and prepare payment schedules for the pension scheme provider
• Assess your workers’ each pay day to determine if they need to be auto enrolled
• Register with The Pensions Regulator and help you keep the required records

For the individual, pensions and other financial matters are often left for another day. For employers, pensions are another aspect of running a business that can be hard to understand and time-consuming.

However, when you need to think about investments & pensions, you can get all the help and advice you need from the pension experts at Dakin & Co.