Pension advice for the older self-employed
01/10/2006
The Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise (PRIME), the national organisation founded by Prince Charles, has published a free A5 booklet explaining personal pensions for the self-employed.
The booklet addresses the very real concern that less than half of the 12.5 million self-employed in the United Kingdom make adequate provision for their retirement.
“People think that they can retire comfortably by selling their business when they retire, but they may be disappointed”, said Laurie South, PRIME Chief Executive.
“In our experience as retirement approaches, the owners of small businesses find that their businesses, thriving to them, are not saleable because THEY are the business, the chief asset. Without them, the business is worth little”.
“Similarly, downsizing your house may not provide enough retirement income. Even making a profit of £130,000 on downsizing will, typically, only provide a retirement income of £150 pw for a man at 65.”
Instead PRIME thinks that the self-employed need to make proper pension arrangements from the outset of their business, and should treat retirement provision as a business expense and contribute to a personal pension.
The free A5, 32 page booklet called “Guide to Financing an Active Retirement” can be downloaded from PRIME’S website, linked below.