Planning for your future
What is future planning?
Planning for the future, and in particular retirement, can be a task people put off because they think they’ve got plenty of time to sort it out.
So what do we mean by future? The future can be divided into the short, medium and long-term, and what you hope to achieve in each of these timescales is likely to vary.
In this learning, we’ll explore some examples of things to consider when planning for the future looking at long-term financial planning. There may be other topics you want to explore, this will all depend on your own personal circumstances. We recommend you do your own independent research when considering your plan for the future.
Why do many people delay or avoid planning for their future?
The future can seem so far off and there’s so much we can buy right now that it could be difficult to think longer-term especially since psychologists already believe that many people struggle to picture themselves in the future.
We live in a world where it’s possible to have a wide range of products and services delivered straight to our door at the click of a button and the options for on–demand services, such as video and audio streaming has grown. Whether that’s our media choices or just our delivery habits, we don’t have to wait long for many essential items.
Social media, the news, and even the people around us can show us a constant stream of what’s popular or trending and we may feel the need to compete or stay with the times.
If we feel as though life’s a constant juggle, it’s easy to see why it can feel more important to focus on what needs to be done this week, this month, this year, rather than things further off in the future.
How can starting a plan now positively impact your future?
Whether that’s a comfortable retirement, starting your own business or just a holiday of a lifetime, knowing what you want and putting in place a financial plan is a key step to making it happen.
Why not try a midlife MOT?
Get an instant combined shortlist of work, health and money resources from relevant UK government departments and charities.