Trustnet Magazine Issue 6 April 2015 | Page 22

INVESTMENT STRATEGY INCOME MATTERS Funding retirement and supporting life-long goals Schroders recommends a number of steps for you to follow at every stage of your life that can help you to achieve your income goals when you reach retirement I nvesting for income can play an important role in helping you to achieve your goals at any stage in life, from funding a business start-up to supporting children through their higher education. It is in helping to fund your retirement, however, that an income plan is likely to play the most important role. Healthier lifestyles and medical advances mean many of us will live for longer than previous generations. However, this creates a significant challenge – how to fund a fulfilling life beyond our working years. The UK, along with many other countries, plans to 20 increase the statutory state pension age. But in the view of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), this alone may not ensure the affordability of the public pension system. To make up for a potential fall in the level of public benefits, it proposes that people should make some provision to save for their own retirement. STATE PENSION When the UK contributory state pension was introduced in 1948, the average man lived less than 1 ȁ