Investing as you approach retirement

Investment is a key part of building up your pension savings, but it’s just as important when you’re starting to think about taking your money.

Five elements of investing

Investing is a key part of building up your pension savings, especially as you approach your retirement age. It’s important as you approach your retirement and, depending on which option you choose for taking your money, may be important in retirement too.

If you are a Scottish Widows Platform client and want to read more about investment risk, please click here. If you are a Lloyds Bank, Halifax or Bank of Scotland Ready-Made Pension customer please visit the dedicated Ready-Made Pension page. This is where you'll find further information on how we invest your pension for you.

Here are five key elements to consider as you plan:

1. Managing

   There’s always risk associated with investing, so as you get closer to taking your pension savings, keeping a regular eye on your investments is key. That way, you can make changes when you need to.

2. Balancing

   Investing is all about trying to make the most of your savings and balancing the risk of investments going down with the potential reward of your investments doing well.

3. Adapting

   In some ways, as you approach retirement, the stakes are higher. So, taking some time to revisit your attitude towards risk and potential rewards can help you adapt your investment strategy and make good decisions for the future.

4. Understanding

   If you’re not sure where to start with investment, the MoneyHelper has some helpful tips and tools to help you here.

5. Knowing your limits

   There’s no right or wrong approach to investment risk – it’s all about personal choice, how much you have saved and the outcome you want at retirement.

   Generally, if there’s a market downturn, it takes 2 – 3 years to recover, on average. So the closer you are to taking your pension savings, the less time your investments will have to recover from any market dips. Gradually “de-risking” (moving your money to investment funds that are less volatile) as you approach your retirement date can help manage that.