Medicaid and Medicare

Posts Tagged ‘Planning’

Estate Planning and Funerals – Advice From a Licensed Funeral Director

Estate planning can be a complicated endeavor if you try to do it alone. As a funeral director I’m often asked estate planning questions while making funeral plans with families. Due to the nature of our meeting the questions usually will center on “final estate planning” and what should they be doing to prepare? My response is always the same “seek the advice of a professional estate planning specialist.”

Regardless of a person’s phase of life, estate planning is something I believe should begin as early as possible. Having heard untold numbers of horror stories from families about losing inheritances due to poor estate planning, I’m convinced the earlier a person starts planning their estates, the better condition their “final estate” will be in.

Estate planning can encompass many areas of a person’s life. Planning for each phase of life can be a daunting task. Many things must be taken into consideration. It is very easy to become overwhelmed just thinking about it and why I believe many people just never get around to doing it formally. Hence, adding problems that many times will surface at the worst time, which is at or near the end of a person’s life. This of course only adds to the stress of loved ones who must then also deal with these estate issues.

Rules and regulations on issues related to estate planning change frequently in my observations. Particularly, those involving senior citizens such as Medicaid and asset allocations. Taxes and inheritance issues involving a person’s estate can be complex also. For this reason, I would advise anyone considering a proactive approach to planning their estate, to discuss these issues with your attorney or CPA first. They should be able to help with these important issues or refer you to the appropriate people who specialize in these areas. If you don’t have an attorney or accountant to ask, call your state bar association for a referral. They should be able to provide you with names and addresses of attorneys in your area who specialize in estate planning matters.

Remember to incorporate some form of funeral preplanning in your “final estate” plans. Many people go to great lengths to have their estates planned out, only to neglect to prepare for the most final of plans, their own funeral. Of all planning done, this will be among the most important and remembered by your family and loved ones.

Too soon we get old, and too late we get smart is the old Yiddish proverb. This applies to most people as they do retirement planning. Retirement ideas range from imagining yourself living in a life of luxury, playing golf, taking 9 month vacations, and enjoying life, down to living in a retirement community where your basic needs are taken care of. Failing to plan for your retirement can have very negative consequences on the quality of your retired life.

To do proper retirement financial planning, you should start early ? that’s the “too late smart” part of the proverb. You’re getting older every day ? are you getting smarter? Fortunately, there are retirement books that can help you with this. One of the most important is “401(k) Basics” by Motley Fool publishing. It will steer you into how to make the most of a company 401(k) plan, while taking an unsentimental retirement view ? telling you that there is no fast road to riches, only steady, regular savings and investing will help ensure you against retirement losses.

Your retirement benefits should contain a mix of growth funds early on, wealth preservation funds and income generation tools as you age ? this can be found online through a number of retirement calculators, and will help you plan the day when you can send your company your retirement letters and say “I’ll be on the golf course!” Most retirement calculators are driven by an investing rule called the Rule of 72 ? take 72 and divide it by your rate of return in points (for example, getting 6% on a savings account or CD) and that will tell you how many years it takes for your investment to double. In this case, 72 divided by 6 is 12, meaning that sitting an investment down in a 6% account means it will double in 12 years.

Remember that slow and steady contributions win the day; you can’t rush this later in life. Start early, invest everything you can afford to, and know that your money is working for you in the long term. If you’re eligible for a 401(k) program, you should take it ? it benefits you in multiple ways, from employee matching (which doubles your investment) to being take out of your paycheck before taxes (which is fundamentally giving you a 20-35% increase in the net investment from doing it in post-tax income) to tax deferral on the interest it accrues. A 401(k) is by far and away the best retirement investment vehicle possible.

One thing you should not count on is Social Security; due to changing demographics, we’re going to be disbursing more from Social Security than it takes in in about 5 to 10 years, and the fund will literally run out at the current rate of contributions in thirty years. Presume that you’re on your own and plan accordingly.

When it comes to preparing for your retirement, most people do not know where to begin, and so they put it off. Once they realize that retirement is on the horizon, they panic and commence looking for retirement planning tools that will make a plan for them. It is never too early, or too late, to start planning for your retirement, but the sooner you start, the less stress you will have.

A few people employ high-priced firms to prepare a plan for them, and other people might purchase complex software package to assist them to develop a plan. While there is a place for this type of assistance for retirement planning, there are also free tools that you are able to use to get started. Here are three free tools that will aid you in planning for your retirement.

1.Pen and Paper- This is the easiest tool you’ll be able to use, and the one that will create the greatest difference in planning for your retirement. Make a list of your income and expenses, and keeping track of where your money goes comprises the first step of determining how much you will be able to save for retirement. If you create this list, and discover that you have nothing left when you deduct your expenses from your take home income, then it is time to devote some serious thought to your budget. See if you can find several areas to cut back to save some money to invest into your retirement fund.

2.Your Workplace- Most people have forgotten the speech they received from the human resources department when they were hired. The one about benefits, pensions, savings plans and all of that. This is a good time to either pull out your employee handbook, or make an appointment to meet with somebody in the personnel department. You will discover loads of information about what is provided through your work, and how you can become eligible to obtain the maximum benefits once you retire. Many places also offer local investment firms that assist their employees with decisions and provide help for retirement planning. This is like having the best investment advice free.

3.The Internet- There are numerous retirement planning tools available free on the World Wide Web. The AARP internet site provides tools to help you work out how much your retirement plans will cost in real world dollars. CNN Money has free retirement planning tools that can assist you work out investments, income, savings, and retirement goals. There are also several investment and banking web sites that offer free help and tools to help you construct a solid retirement program.

These three tips will help you to begin planning your retirement. Allow some time every week to work on ways to step-up your retirement savings, and to dream about the kind of retirement you would like to have. Use these free retirement planning tools to help you increase your retirement savings so you will be able to have the stress-free retirement you deserve.

Offering tips for retirement planning can open up a touchy subject. While some couples have been preparing for retirement their entire adult lives, others have barely thought about it. Neither end of this preparation spectrum is unusual, but it is clear that the former mind set will leave you feeling much more comfortable with your future. When it comes to planning retirement, a few tips might be just what you need to get a jump start. You might be working hard now, but that only means that you’ll appreciate retirement all the more.

Beginning With Baby Steps

Following tips and advice for retirement planning does not mean that you have to sit down and draw up an extensive financial plan. Nobody expects you to be nearly this prepared! However, there are a few baby steps that you can take to make your future brighter. With each retirement planning tip you follow, you will see your future growing brighter and brighter.

The first step to retirement planning is making a few predictions. Nobody expects you to give an exact date of retirement, but it can be helpful to have a goal or an idea in your head. Having this target date will only make you work harder toward your goal. Next, estimate how much more money you will need to accumulate by this date. There are several on line tools that make this very easy.

The next tip for retirement planning is to investigate your options. You should be aware of what your basic Social Security benefits are-if you’re not, you can easily find out by examining the Social Security statement that arrives around the time of your birthday.

Also, check with your boss to see if a retirement plan is offered through your place of employment; if not, ask about how you might start one. Talk with your tax adviser about IRA options, and seek general advice from a professional financial planner. The more information you know and the more questions you ask, the more prepared you will be for retirement.

Keep Your Common Sense

Much of retirement planning involves common sense, not tips and guidelines. For example, as you grow older, try to leave your savings alone for the most part. Try keeping a long term savings account for retirement only, and a separate short term savings account for emergencies. You will be sure to appreciate this money upon retirement.

Another piece of advice is to not fall for investment scams. These ploys for money get people every time-but they don’t have to get you. Use your common sense when looking into any type of investment, and if you have suspicions, then you can always contact your Better Business Bureau or Secretary of State.

Changing Locations

Another tip for planning your retirement is to consider what your future living situation might be. Many retired elderly couples wait until they can no longer go up and down the stairs of their homes before they decide to move into a more manageable home. If you plan this move before hand, you will be sure to have more options, and perhaps even make a profit ff of your current house!

Investigating the cost of living in various cities and retirement communities can also prove to be beneficial during retirement planning. It might even be another way for you to save money. If you consider your living situation when you still have control of it, you will have many more options available to you.

Ready To Retire!

Planning for your retirement might seem very intimidating, but taking the time to think about it now will ensure that you are better off in the long run. A few baby steps in the right direction won’t hurt you-only ensure that your retirement will be all the better!

But short of the worst case scenario of an early demise, everyone is going to get old and its far better to do so with a plan then to let it sneak up on you.

This is something you do not want to screw up. Is it possible to screw up retirement planning? Of course it is. If you speak to senior citizens who did not start planning in advance and got to their senior years with nothing to fall back on and no funds to use so they can step out of the working world and enjoy a more leisurely retirement lifestyle, that is an example of people who screwed up their retirement planning. So it is good to know the common mistakes people make so you can avoid them.

Probably the biggest mistake that you can make in your retirement planning is to wait to start it until you are pretty close to retirement. If you want to retire at 60 and you do not start getting ready until you are 55, you will not have nearly as well prepared a retirement package as if you had started when you was 25 or 35. By starting early, you can set back a small amount each month and put it into an IRA, your employer 401k or some other retirement vehicle. Then just let that money continue to accumulate and grow and before you know it you are sitting on top of a pretty substantial nest egg.

Speaking of sitting on top of a nest egg, the second big mistake people make is not leaving that nest egg alone. When that retirement investment fund starts to get big, it is really easy to look at it as a way to get you out of credit card debt trouble or to borrow against for some new plan or possession you want. Above all, resist this temptation. If you lose that retirement fund due to foolish use of the funds in your middle age years, you are back to square one with nothing to show for your years of hard work developing that retirement nest egg.

The plan of setting up withholding from your checkbook or a direct deposit to your retirement account of retirement savings allows you to go about your busy life knowing that your retirement planning is underway. This is step one but its not a good idea to never go back and review your retirement plan and see if how you are going about getting ready for retirement well in advance. Make it a regular ritual to sit down and review what is going on with your investment funds. Look at the way your investments have been performing and if you are not getting a good return on those money, make some changes. Remember, just because your retirement funds are being managed by the company you work for does not mean the money belongs to them. It is yours so be responsible and manage it.

Starting early and staying proactive about your retirement is your best approach to retirement planning and one that will result in a much bigger retirement fund for you to start your golden years with. And by taking good care of your retirement before you need it, you are guaranteeing that it will take good care of you when its time to depend on that fund for a happy and prosperous retirement lifestyle.

Estate Planning Is Important Even If You’re Not Rich – Here’s Why

Those of you who aren’t wealthy, generally think that estate planning is only for the rich. But on considering a few simple questions and seeing what can happen to your wealth, you might reconsider having no estate plan. This article gives a few simple examples of why estate planning is necessary for almost everyone.

So how much wealth should you have to consider making some sort of estate plan?

It really comes down to the issue of making sure whatever you do have goes to whoever you want and not needlessly wasted – not an amount of money.

If about a third up to all of whatever wealth you do have – no matter how small or great – were to go to the government or anyone else other than who you intend to get what you have unless you ‘plan’ otherwise, would you then assure a plan for its transfer?

Presented this way, I think more people may consider doing some planning. But what still needs to be stressed to get the remainder to plan is that many people simply aren’t aware of:

* What situations will put their wealth in jeopardy to be lost, and

* How much of it will be lost.

Here are some situations to be aware of in this regard: Suppose…

1. You only have some precious jewelry that you want it to go to your youngest daughter

2. You own your house, but not much else. You want to give it to your kids as your legacy because they really need that kind of financial help

3. You own a house and have about 0,000 in various mutual funds. You want to make sure which kid get’s what.

4. You’ve remarried and want to leave your house – which you own by yourself – to your own children from a previous marriage.

If any one of these situations describes you, your above ‘wishes’ for what you have can be easily nullified with inadequate planning. And here’s how…

* Dying without a will can prevent your daughter from getting your jewelry. The older child can claim she was due the jewelry; who’s to say differently?

* All of your assets in the second and third situations can be lost to Medicaid if you require long term care – unless you prepare early and effectively with gifts and trusts. Needing long term care is common as you become elderly – and can be quite expensive. Medicaid will pay but only after you first spend almost all your assets for long term care expenses. It will seek payments from you first.

* Your children from a previous marriage will not get your house unless you create a trust for it, since state laws may deny your ‘will’ in favor of giving your house to your present wife.

You can see that your ‘wishes’ are easily thwarted even for these common levels of wealth.

You can guarantee all your wishes by doing some planning – the earlier the better. Why earlier?…because some you never know when you’ll die or when you’ll need costly long term care. And some estate planning that protects your assets – such as from Medicaid – requires a lead time of up to 5 years.

So you can see virtually everyone needs to know about what’s at jeopardy, so they can protect the disposition of their wealth – no matter how small or unimportant they think their estate is.

A new study by the Government Accounting Office has found that children who are covered by Medicaid lack dental care. The study compared the dental health of children covered by Medicaid to that of children covered by private health insurance plans. Six-and-a-half million Medicaid recipients between ages two and 18 had untreated tooth decay. That was double the number of children covered by private health insurance. Only 30% of the 20 million children covered by Medicaid saw dentists over the past year, while over 1.1 million had major dental conditions.
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Estate Planning Is Important Even If You’re Not Rich – Here’s Why

Those of you who aren’t wealthy, generally think that estate planning is only for the rich. But on considering a few simple questions and seeing what can happen to your wealth, you might reconsider having no estate plan. This article gives a few simple examples of why estate planning is necessary for almost everyone.

So how much wealth should you have to consider making some sort of estate plan?

It really comes down to the issue of making sure whatever you do have goes to whoever you want and not needlessly wasted – not an amount of money.

If about a third up to all of whatever wealth you do have – no matter how small or great – were to go to the government or anyone else other than who you intend to get what you have unless you ‘plan’ otherwise, would you then assure a plan for its transfer?

Presented this way, I think more people may consider doing some planning. But what still needs to be stressed to get the remainder to plan is that many people simply aren’t aware of:

* What situations will put their wealth in jeopardy to be lost, and

* How much of it will be lost.

Here are some situations to be aware of in this regard: Suppose…

1. You only have some precious jewelry that you want it to go to your youngest daughter

2. You own your house, but not much else. You want to give it to your kids as your legacy because they really need that kind of financial help

3. You own a house and have about 0,000 in various mutual funds. You want to make sure which kid get’s what.

4. You’ve remarried and want to leave your house – which you own by yourself – to your own children from a previous marriage.

If any one of these situations describes you, your above ‘wishes’ for what you have can be easily nullified with inadequate planning. And here’s how…

* Dying without a will can prevent your daughter from getting your jewelry. The older child can claim she was due the jewelry; who’s to say differently?

* All of your assets in the second and third situations can be lost to Medicaid if you require long term care – unless you prepare early and effectively with gifts and trusts. Needing long term care is common as you become elderly – and can be quite expensive. Medicaid will pay but only after you first spend almost all your assets for long term care expenses. It will seek payments from you first.

* Your children from a previous marriage will not get your house unless you create a trust for it, since state laws may deny your ‘will’ in favor of giving your house to your present wife.

You can see that your ‘wishes’ are easily thwarted even for these common levels of wealth.

You can guarantee all your wishes by doing some planning – the earlier the better. Why earlier?…because some you never know when you’ll die or when you’ll need costly long term care. And some estate planning that protects your assets – such as from Medicaid – requires a lead time of up to 5 years.

So you can see virtually everyone needs to know about what’s at jeopardy, so they can protect the disposition of their wealth – no matter how small or unimportant they think their estate is.

A new study by the Government Accounting Office has found that children who are covered by Medicaid lack dental care. The study compared the dental health of children covered by Medicaid to that of children covered by private health insurance plans. Six-and-a-half million Medicaid recipients between ages two and 18 had untreated tooth decay. That was double the number of children covered by private health insurance. Only 30% of the 20 million children covered by Medicaid saw dentists over the past year, while over 1.1 million had major dental conditions.
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And it is true that a big part of being ready to retire involves being ready financially to be able to step out of the work world and start to take life easier.

But just as life is not just about making money, retirement is about so much more than having the money not to work. Preparation for retirement also means preparing to live a simpler life, preparing to become a senior citizen and a grandparent and preparing to look at life differently.

Your health care is going to be an important issue in your retirement years. As you enter retirement, you may be strong as an ox and active and full of health and life. But any of us can fall prey to poor health or accidents. And if your employer from whom you retired does not extend your health care insurance for you to continue your coverage past your employment, you should make other plans. You can continue the same coverage that you had under the Cobra system but that can get pretty costly and dip into your finite retirement savings pretty significantly. Medicare can be helpful too. But to be perfectly comfortable that you have coverage, look to Medicare supplement insurance so you maintain the same quality of care in retirement that you have now in the working world.

Do not just limit your retirement planning to your money. Your retirement will be a time of a big change of lifestyle and a change to your values and how you spend your time as well. You will have more time on your hands and studies show that those who enter retirement without an agenda can become adrift in all that time and that is not healthy. Human beings are doers so even though you may no longer be working for a living, find ways to be productive and make a difference in your community. You can start finding those opportunities long before retirement so when you finally step out of the work world, expanding those hobbies and volunteer efforts is as natural as can be.

In addition to the change of where you spend your time each day, you may have even a bigger change in where you live ahead for you in retirement. Many times people who step into their retirement years find that maintaining the house where you raised the kids is just not necessary and more work than it worth. Selling the home and using the equity to finance a leisurely retirement life is a great way to go. But you should start early both preparing the home for sale and preparing the family that a grandma and grandpa house is going away.

In addition, where you go to live is something that can be great fun to dream about and doing some research on just the right place. You may choose to rent a small place in an older part of town and enjoy a whole new lifestyle in that setting. Or you might go for a high-rise condo with a view of the river or a nice quiet apartment in a retirement oriented apartment complex where you and other retirees can explore this new world together.

Above all it is important to embrace the retired lifestyle with the enthusiasm and excitement that you might greet any new opportunity. Do not let being retired mean just not working. In fact, go through the mental and emotional exercises of putting the working world behind you and redefining yourself in this new role. You are retired now and you are a senior citizen and maybe even a grandparent.

These are not negative things. There is a strong role for grandma and grandpa in society and in your family. And the world takes great joy in a senior citizen who embraces that time of their life and sets out to be the best senior citizen they can be. If you predetermine that this is the kind of retired person you are going to be, that attitude will propel you past that sudden change of life shock and get your retired life off in running in an exciting way that will lead to many happy and fun times in your life of leisure as a retired person.

Avoid Nursing Homes by Planning Ahead

Most people see long term care insurance as nursing home insurance when if fact it is the opposite. Long term care insurance provides options to avoid nursing home placement, unless a nursing home is where an individual prefers to live. And please do not misunderstand, nursing homes have changed significantly over time and many are now very clean and nice facilities. However, a nursing home is usually not where an individual would choose to remain for the final days or months of their life unless there are no other options.

Long term care insurance is becoming more popular as consumers realize it provides options for independence. Many studies indicate that two thirds of individuals over age 65 will require a long term care stay. A long term care stay is a nice way of saying nursing home or skilled facility stay. And over forty percent individuals over age 65 will experience a long term care stay lasting two or more years. This is a long time if you are in a facility in a shared room — not a private room, with a roommate you dislike. Think back to those college years and consider how you might like to be in a similar situation at age eighty.

And surprise, Medicare will not pay for a long term stay. Medicare usually covers days 1-20 if medically necessary and progress for rehabilitation occurs. On days 21-100 the individual pays an insurance co-pay of 8 per day (in 2008) and after 100 days, the individual is totally responsible for one hundred percent of the cost which averages between 5-220 per day (in 2008). As with anything these costs are expected to increase each year by 3-5% percent.

Long term care insurance not only will pay for these long term care stays, it will pay for care to be provided at home, which is where most individuals prefer to live as long as possible. It also pays for day care, assisted living, home modifications and other services depending on the policy.

Many individuals mistakenly think that long term care is too expensive. As opposed to what I ask you? As opposed to ,000 per month in a long term care facility? Compare a monthly premium of 0 to the cost of 0 PER DAY in a long term care facility and tell me if long term care is too expensive?

Many are shocked when the cost of one year in a long term care facility at ,000 eats up most of their retirement savings. Or when they have to “spend down” to qualify for public assistance called Medicaid. The government has determined that with the increasing numbers of baby boomers who will require medical care in the future that there is no possible way that the government can fund this care.

Thus the Debt Reduction Act of 2005. This Act states that individuals wishing to qualify for Medicaid assistance will need to spend all of their assets prior to qualifying for Medicaid. And there is a five year look back period to ensure that assets like homes and money were NOT given away to family members in an attempt to avoid the government receiving these funds. When money or resources are given away, the government imposes a penalty equal to the financial amount given away divided by the cost of one month in a long term care facility. So for example, if your parents gave away ,000 today and wish to qualify for Medicaid in 2009, Medicaid will accept the application and penalize them for ten months of care. This means that they cannot receive services through Medicaid for a period of ten months from the date of their Medicaid application. Which means that if the care is truly necessary, children and other family members will pay personally for the care.

Even more reason to consider long term care insurance not only for yourself, but purchasing a policy for your parents if they cannot afford the premiums. The question is will they pay now or will you pay later for your parent’s care. Caring for parents and the emotional and financial stressors significantly impact the retirement prospects of children. Parents always assume that their children will take care of them but do not consider the impact on employment, retirement income and even marriages and children.

Don’t put yourself, your parents or your children in a situation of requiring care and not having a back up plan on paying for care. Because we will all pay for care one way or another when we are older. It’s inevitable. We will pay because of our ability to have long term care insurance that ensures we decide about our care. We will pay because our parents require care and they have not prepared financially for the cost. We will pay because we did not prepare financially for the cost by having to receive care through public assistance called Medicaid.

Unfortunately the probability that we will all die is one hundred percent absolute. The question is how do you want to spend the last years of your life? In a manner you choose or in a manner chosen for you?

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This week we are discussing a scenario where an individual is about to reach 60 and are wondering whether they have to take their pensions at 60, or if they can delay this decision. And indeed, what are their overall options?

Some years ago, many in the pensions world advised investors not to touch their pension until it was absolutely necessary. The main reason for leaving pensions until the last minute was that they grew tax-free and the older you were the bigger pension you could buy.

Here is the advice we gave (in conversational style to the client):

(Note: We are referring to personal pension style plans)

Some of your policies have not shown any growth in recent years; one reason being that they now no longer grow tax-free following the introduction of Gordon Brown’s stealth tax in 1997 when he removed dividend tax credits from pension funds (raising £5bn pa in the process).

The most frightening aspect, however, is that annuity rates do not always increase with older age. We must look more closely at each of your policies.

Many policies, particularly older individual policies, contain guaranteed annuity rates. This means there is a contractual obligation on the company to pay you a significantly greater pension than you could buy on the open market.

One of the reasons Equitable Life got into trouble was that it offered guaranteed annuity rates at all ages in all situations.

Not all policies work this way and your old Sun Life policy has a guaranteed annuity rate but, unusually, it applies only on your 60th birthday. It is available only on that date and so you must now look to take benefits from this arrangement.

You have another old with profits policy which we have wanted to move for several years but did not because of high penalties. Due to your employment circumstances when this policy was taken out, we have been able to provide protection for your tax-free cash which means that the whole policy is now available as a one-off cash payment. Continuing with this policy in its present form with tax-free cash protection would mean that the lump sum available would be unlikely to increase because of the investment fund used.

At your 60th birthday we have the ability to transfer the policy to another arrangement, retaining the tax-free cash protection and achieving a better return.

However, if you feel, like many commentators, that it is going to be several years before there is any meaningful return on investment funds and you have use for a cash payment now, I suggest you consider taking all this cash and putting it in your pocket.

Interestingly, while your Sun Life policy provides the ability for you to take some of the money as tax-free cash payment, you might want to consider taking all the cash from the second policy and no cash from the Sun Life policy, so that you can take advantage of the guaranteed annuity rates.

Another interesting twist with one of your contracts is that should you die, unlike all new pension policies where the full fund value would be paid out on death, your policy provides only for a return of contributions paid.

Being an old with profits contract, you have access to the full fund on your birthday. I am happy that it should stay within the pension environment but you should transfer it to another arrangement where you have greater control over the investments but more particularly, should you die, the full fund value would be payable to your nominated beneficiaries.

As you can see, there are many circumstances why you should always review pension policies as they approach their stated normal retirement date. In fact, we would go one step further and suggest that all investors should review their pension contracts as soon as possible as it’s crucial to ensure the money is invested in line with your risk profile and risk tolerance levels (i.e. what percentage fall in value you will accept during tough stock market conditions).

The Financial Tips Bottom Line

No one knows what will happen to annuity rates. Over the last 15 years, we have seen the amount of pension that can be purchased fall from around 15% to 6%. The economic climate is very worrying. There is a belief that interest rates will have to fall and if they do, you can expect annuity rates to worsen.

ACTION POINT

The old adage of leaving your pension until the last possible moment is no longer the case. You must now continually monitor the situation as there is no promise that by delaying taking your pensions, you would achieve a greater income.

Make sure you contact your adviser (or find one if you don’t have one) and ask them to do an audit of your pension(s), as well as recommend solutions available.