Retirement planning courses

Why support employees planning for retirement?

Employees don’t reach an exact age and leave your company. They need to consider all of the options available in detail and prepare themselves for the transition into life after work.

Providing your employees with support and giving them the opportunity to plan and prepare for retirement puts them in control and gives them the confidence to come to you and start the conversation about retirement. Retirement support can help you combat key people risks such as:

Ageing workforce
Even now, years after the Default Retirement Age was abolished, starting a conversation with your employees about their retirement can be difficult.
Employee engagement
Older employees who want to retire, but cannot afford to, or who have concerns about retirement, are more likely to be disengaged with your company and less productive.

How our expert team, and our retirement planning courses can help

Our retirement planning courses help your employees to prepare for the retirement that they want and ease the transition from working life into life after work. We run courses nationwide to help individuals plan effectively for their retirement. We can help your employees and their partners to decide when to retire, and consider the key financial decisions and the lifestyle changes that retirement inevitably brings.

GET IN TOUCH WITH A RETIREMENT PLANNING EXPERT

Need expert help? Call the Retirement Planning team now.

0333 220 4164

Consultancy

We listen to you and build personalised solutions based on our understanding of your needs, your business and your workforce. We can help you to create an education program to improve employee wellbeing and lessen the people risks that can have a significant impact on your business.

Face-to-face workshops

We offer set modules on a variety of financial topics or we can create an education program specifically for your employees. Financial education in the workplace provides your employees with the tools and knowledge to plan effectively for the future. Our sole focus during the workshops is educating and supporting your employees, we do not promote our personal products and services.

E-learning

We offer online training to complement our face-to-face workshops or as a stand-alone education tool. Our Financial Essentials and Planning for Retirement online courses use e-learning technology to provide interactive and enjoyable learning experiences. Employees can complete these in their own time, at their own pace.

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Financial Education

Many people who attend our retirement planning courses say they wish they'd done it sooner. Employees often don't think about planning for their retirement finances until later in life, when they could have spent more time saving and preparing. Our financial education courses can help employees further from retirement to prepare and plan their finances for the future.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the retirement age?

The default retirement age in the UK has been abolished after being phased out. This can make it difficult for you to start a conversation with your employees about their retirement. But it can also make decisions about when and how they retire much more complicated and stressful for your employees. So it’s never been a more important conversation to have. Providing your employees with support and giving them the opportunity to plan and prepare for retirement can help alleviate their stress and concerns about retirement. This will mean they are more likely to be engaged with your company and more productive.

What does retirement planning cover?

Traditionally retirement planning was very focused on the financial aspects: pension contributions, decisions on annuities versus drawdown, arranging a will and the like. In addition to covering these important topics, modern retirement courses draw on our greater understanding of retirement as a journey rather than a destination. We help the individual to consider the lifestyle aspects of their retirement with as much structure and guidance as the financial aspects. This empowers them to build a holistic picture of themselves in retirement, and hence better engage with those important and potentially complex financial topics as a necessary tool to help them achieve their ‘best’ retirement.

How can we help your employees plan for retirement?

Employees don’t reach an exact age and leave your company. They need to consider all of the options available in detail. Our LaterLife courses help your employees to prepare for the retirement that they want and ease the transition from working life into life after work. We run courses nationwide to help individuals plan effectively for their retirement.

How can we offer retirement planning courses to our geographically diverse workforce?

We have a range of solutions including face-to-face, digital e-learning and webcasting/webinar capability that we can provide across the country and tailor to a diverse workforce’s needs.

Is retirement planning in your 50s too late?

It’s never too late (or early) to start planning for retirement. However, if your staff are in their 50s it’s time to get serious about planning for retirement. They will need to think about when they might want to retire and get a state pension forecast. Their pension fund will have less time to grow so they may need to consider increasing contributions if their earnings will allow it. As well as eliminating any debt(s). Our courses can help your employees to plan effectively for their retirement.

When should our employees start planning for retirement?

In an ideal world, as soon as they can. Because the sooner they begin saving, the more time their money has to grow. Even in their 20s, your staff should consider contributing towards their workplace pension. Opting out can be a short-sighted decision as they’ll lose out on employer contributions and tax relief from the government. Not to mention the potential cumulative growth on their contributions over time. So while financial education at any career stage is important, in practice we find that retirement workshops deliver maximum impact and value to individuals for whom retirement is a realistic option at any point within the next 2 to 3 years.

Can your workshops support those planning for early retirement?

The simple answer is yes. The decision over when an employee chooses to retire is completely theirs and our courses are explicitly designed to support them in that freedom. Our courses aren’t about telling people what to do, instead we provide a structure and guidance to help them consider their own circumstances, their individual hopes and concerns for retirement, and prepare for the retirement that they want, whatever their plans. However, your employees may want to consider the State Pension Age and how this will affect their retirement income. The minimum age at which employees can take a company pension is currently 55 and their State Pension Age will depend on when they were born.

How can you help us engage employees with the pension scheme and make appropriate contributions?

We not only provide education on how to plan for the future and understand pensions in general, we can educate your employees on the specific details of your pension scheme and encourage them to engage and manage their contributions to achieve their retirement saving goals.

^{Mercer Marsh Benefits (MMB) is a trading name of Jelf Insurance Brokers Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Not all products and services offered are regulated by the FCA (for details see marshcommercial.co.uk/info/terms). Registered in England and Wales number 0837227. Registered Office: 1 Tower Place West, London, EC3R 5BU.}