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What you need to know now
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There are many flexible options when it comes to investing your money. It's all about ongoing management, primarily how and when you take your money and where it is invested.
When you’re making an investment choice for your future, there are two key considerations:
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How long you’ll need your money to last
When you’re making your decision about how to invest it, first you’ll need to think about:
- How much is in your pot now
- What other income you’ll have (from other pensions, the State Pension, any additional salary if you’re still working, etc)
- What you’re aiming for longer-term
- Whether the funds you’re investing in will help you reach your aims
These things will give you an idea of how much you might have to work with, and how any other retirement income sources fit together with your Embark pot.
There’s also some planning involved to work out how much income you’d like to take at a time, and how long the rest of your pot might last (and so how long you might need to keep it invested while you take income from it).
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How and when you want to use your money
Your income and your spending will be different in retirement to what they are now. Trying to work out in advance just how different this will be can be difficult.
There are the key things to think about: paying rent or a mortgage, paying bills, looking after a car, maybe even a rainy-day fund. But there will be plenty of other spending changes too. You might cut your expenses on one thing but end up spending more on another.
How you think you’ll be spending your money in retirement will have an impact on what you do with it. Will you want to take a regular income at a later date, or just withdraw certain amounts as and when you need to?
Thinking about how you maintain an income for the rest of your life - and manage your money so that you don’t run out later down the line - is vital in this stage of your decision making and will help you decide on the right investment approach for your plans.