Advice

The Teachers AVC with Prudential is a money purchase (or defined contribution) scheme, unlike the main Teachers Pension which is a defined benefit (or final salary) scheme.

This means that rather than having a guarantee on future income based on your earnings and the amount of time you have contributed like the main Teachers Pension, the benefits you get will depend on the amount that you have saved, it’s growth and your choice of converting the pot to income.

It is a very valuable benefit and we would almost always recommend that you are opted into the scheme.

There are currently three versions of the teachers’ pension scheme depending on your date of birth, when you started making your contributions and if you have had any significant breaks in service which bridged the first changes in 2007.

As well as offering impartial retirement planning and investment advice we also help arrange mortgages for teachers. We can help you whether you are an existing homeowner looking reduce your existing rate or lock into the current low rates by fixing your mortgage. We can also help teachers get their first mortgage on their home or a buy to let.

The problem for many when it comes to retirement planning is that you don’t know, what you don’t know and often find this out when it too late to make any changes.

We take a holistic approach to retirement planning and we work with these teachers to help them make sure their finances are on track for the retirement they want.

We believe that you should review your all of your savings and investments at least once a year.

Interest rates on bank deposits and savings are at an all time low and increasingly saving returns are dependent on bonus interest rates that drop away after a short period of time, typically 12 months.

The protection that most are familiar with is life assurance and this can be an important safeguard, but not everyone needs it: it pays out a lump sum or an income on death so if you are a single person with no dependents it might be a waste of time.

There are many different varieties of life cover you can choose and your own needs will determine how you should set up the benefits to be paid.

Regardless of your appetite for risk, your savings and investments need to be diversified and viewed as short, medium or long term holdings.

As part of a well planned retirement strategy, we would always recommend that you hold some of your money in readily accessible cash in either a savings or deposit account to cover any emergencies.