Your investment strategy – how will it change with age?

Having the correct investment strategy when you reach the different stages of life will help ensure you achieve your financial goals.

STARTING OUT

Investing at an early age, rather than keeping all your spare cash in a bank or building society account that pays low rates of interest, can be a good long-term strategy. Taking on greater risk can offer the prospect of a bigger return. Young investors have sufficient time ahead of them to ride out the inevitable peaks and troughs in the stock market, and to recoup any temporary losses they might make. However, if one of your financial aims is saving money for a short-term project like a house deposit, to reach this goal you may want to opt for less risky investments.

REACHING YOUR MIDDLE YEARS

These could be your peak earnings years, so building up your pension investments should be a priority. You’ll probably face greater calls on your cash, such as raising a family or taking care of elderly relatives. But don’t overlook your own needs whilst looking after others. Having a regular review with us can ensure you keep your investments on track. Remember, you only have so many working years left to provide for your future.

WINDING DOWN

Today, more people than ever are working on past what would once have been considered normal retirement age. So, you may want to keep investing, gradually focusing more on income-producing stocks and shares as you wind down to retirement. You may be more concerned about protecting your wealth from stock market volatility, and at this point may want to adopt a lower risk profile.

Whatever your age, getting good advice can help you make the right investment choices.

A pension is a long-term investment. The fund value may fluctuate and can go down. Your eventual income may depend on the size of the fund at retirement, future interest rates and tax legislation.

The value of investments and income from them may go down. You may not get back the original amount invested.