How hindsight could help you plan your pension

How hindsight could help you plan your pension by Amber Rolfe Sometimes the best way to plan for your future is to learn from others’ experiences… Although many retirees are happy with their life after retirement â€" some would make changes if they were able to do it all over again, especially when it comes to their finances. In fact, more than two in five regret financial planning decisions that have left them struggling financially1.To help you avoid similar regrets in later life, we spoke to the retirement experts, Prudential, whose recent survey reveals what pensioners would change about their retirement planning:Saving early could avoid disappointment With nearly one in five recent retirees saying they didn’t save enough for their retirement, and others regretting not saving earlier in their working lives â€" the importance of retirement planning in advance is clear.And, with 57% of pensioners stating that financial problems are the worst part of retirement2, it’s evident that the decisions you make before yo u leave work could actually have an impact on your quality of life.So no matter what you want your retirement to entail, hindsight proves that the best way to secure a comfortable retirement is to save as early as possible in your working life.Not only will you avoid the regrets that many others have experienced, you’ll feel safer in the knowledge that you are more likely to be financially stable when you retire.It’s not just everyday life you need to plan for According to Prudential’s survey, almost half of those not enjoying their retirement blame poor health.This proves that unexpected expenses are a real possibility and that, when it comes to your health, it’s important these costs are covered.  It’s always best to set aside some funds to ensure you and/or your partner are taken care of, and not caught off-guard.The survey also shows that 35% of pensioners feel bored or lonely, so saving for an active and full lifestyle is really important. Having extra free time is o ne of the best things about retirement, but you need to be able to make the most of that time.Getting advice is essential Getting financial advice before making a decision about what to do with your fund is essential â€" especially with the recent pension reforms involving increased options for those about to retire.Although these pensions reforms provide over 55s with more options on what to do with your money, there is often confusion over what is the best approach to take and this may lead to impulse or pressure-based decisions.Stan Russell, a retirement income expert at Prudential emphasises the importance of the decisions people make before they retire, and explains that ‘the pension freedoms mean that the choices are now broader, and in some cases less set in stone, so most people will benefit from a consultation with a professional financial adviser before committing to their retirement finance decisions.’ Expectations don’t always line up with reality  Many pensioners state that a misunderstanding of how much the State Pension was actually worth has resulted in them spending too much money immediately after retiring â€" meaning they weren’t able to take advantage of the new pensions freedoms.In fact, a recent report by Brewin Dolphin revealed almost half of those aged 55-65 year olds expect their pension to last 10 years. But with an average pension pot adding up to £163,000, and 29% of pensioners saying they’d need at least £18,000 a year to support their lifestyle â€" estimations don’t always add up.It’s worth considering that 11% of people regretting their frivolous spending immediately after retiring1 the same percentage of people who wish they’d set a budget before retiring.That’s why it is so important for you to plan your finances in advance, and avoid potential disappointment in the longer term.  Looking for a role with a better pension? View all available jobs now  1. Consumer intelligence conducted an independent online survey for Prudential between 2 and 16 March 2016, among 409 UK adults who have retired with the last five years.2. From full article published in thisismoney.co.uk http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-3539957/What-retirees-wish-known-hindsight.html  Prudential Financial Planning advisers provide personal, face-to-face advice tailored to meet your individual requirements. They can review your finances and give advice on your retirement plans, identify areas where you could make your savings more tax efficient, and let you know if you could get better returns by moving your money. Find out more now.  Find a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the

Visualize success like a major league all-star

Visualize success like a major league all-star I read in the Boston Globe about this guy, Jim Fannin, who is a mental coach for hundreds of people, including twenty-two major league baseball all-stars. So I decided to interview him, thinking that Id be able to implement his program for my own goals. Most of what I know about mental coaching comes from my experience in professional beach volleyball. At the top of any sport, the difference between players is not physical skills because everyone has them. The difference is mental. Who can stay focused and believe in themselves during every game. I couldnt do that on the volleyball tour, and I know this shortcoming holds me back in my work today, too. So I was very curious about Fannin saying that he can teach people how to gain mental focus. It turns out, that Fannin teaches people how to be top in their field by teaching one thing: Play a movie in your head of you achieving your big goal. For Alex Rodriguez it was being a top hitter. And he became the American League MVP. Not just in his own movie, but in real life. Sounds easy, but for most people, getting to the movie is very hard. (Which is why Fannin wrote a book.) Here are the steps you have to take: 1. Know exactly what you want. A defined, very specific goal. Not start a company but open a dog-grooming business in Portland. 2. Know exactly what reaching the goal will look like the steps leading up to the achievement. If your goal is to win a Nobel Prize, you need to imagine yourself making the great discovery. 3. Organize your life around your goal so that you can play your movie in your head before you go to bed and immediately when you get up. This means you need to get to some sort of meditative point where you can sit still, for maybe ten minutes, while you play your movie in your head. 4. Find optimism. Lots of it. Because you have to believe in yourself enough that you will actually do this exercise every day until you reach your dream. I believe that this will work. It makes sense to me, and its worked for thousands of people. Not just athletes. But this morning, when I woke up, I realized how hard it was going to be. I had no movie to play in my head and I had not set aside time in my schedule to day to plan what my movie will be. So I guess Ill start tomorrow.

9 tips for quitting a job gracefully

9 tips for quitting a job gracefully Quitting is not what it used to be. When a job was the sign of security, quitting meant you had a self-destructive streak. And when long-term employment was the only acceptable format for a resume, a string of quit jobs was a sign of an inability to get along with other people. Not so today. Now, people have a new job almost every year before they turn 32. And with all the management-training courses about how to retain young employees, you can bet those young people are not getting fired. Theyre quitting. Today quitting is part of the process of finding your dream job, finding synergy between your home and work lives, and finding where you fit in. Young people have different expectations for work than older generations. A job today should feed ones soul, ego, and sooner than later, family. Its no surprise that you have to quit a lot of jobs to find the one that meets such lofty goals. Yet with all the advice about how to get your dream job, there is a dearth of information on how to quit a job first. In a world where people change jobs constantly, and their network is the key to success, you have to quit as well as you hunt. Heres a list of ways to quit a job well: 1. Go before things get bad. Lynn recently left her accounting job. Ive been really good about quitting jobs amicably, she says. I realized I was hitting a point where I was going to start acting out. Like Lynn, you need to know yourself and be honest about how youre feeling on the job so you dont let your emotions get out of hand. 2. Make a good first step. The very first person that you should tell youre leaving is your boss, says Alexandra Levit, author of They Dont Teach Corporate in College. Your boss will be insulted to hear it from someone else. Also, get your story right the first time and tell the same, optimistic plan to everyone. Lynn, for example, explained that she wanted to give freelancing a try, which shows positive vision for her career. 3. Leave the door open a crack. If youve done good work, there is no reason you couldnt come back later, when things for you and for the company might have changed. Especially as you begin to specialize in your career and lay down roots, the pool of possible companies gets smaller. So dont close any doors definitively. Its very tempting to spill your guts or rant about the people you work with, but be careful what you say because you never know when youll want to come back, says Levit. 4. Beware of the exit interview. If you trash the company during an exit interview, it will follow you everywhere. In fact, dont even bother to do one, says David Perry, a recruiter and author of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters. Just leave on good terms and let them know you had a wonderful time. Even if you didnt. 5. Resignation letter. Try to get out of it if you can. But if you really need to write one for legal reasons, make it short and gracious. You are not the president of the United States. The world does not need a public record of why you quit or what your aspirations are. Just a simple end date and a thank you will be fine. 6. Trust that the company can continue without you. People think the world is going to end if they quit their job, says Lynn. In my last job, everyone who quit thought everything would go wrong, but its easily fixed and everyones replaceable. 7. Set yourself up for a good reference. Perry is adamant that any negative parting will haunt your job hunts forever. You want to be sure the trail you leave is a positive one, he says. And although the law discourages past employers from dissing you to future employers, Perry says a recruiter can circumvent this hurdle. I have never, in my 20 years of recruiting, had someone not answer questions about references. 8. Manage the in-between time carefully. Burn no bridges, warns Brendon Connelly, author of the popular blog Slacker Manager. Sometimes quitting a job is as loaded as dumping a lover. I have quit a few jobs and there has been tension because its always been for something else, says Connelly. You need to lay the groundwork ahead of time for the transition. Tie up loose ends at the old job and get your files organized to pass on to someone else. You dont want to give the old people the shaft. 9. Be conscious of the shift in the balance of power. The moment you quit is when you go from being your bosss underling to your bosss equal. After all, you are no longer beholden to your boss for a job. At the point of quitting, any more work you do for your boss is out of kindness and respect for the custom of giving notice. This is one of those times we tend not to see ourselves clearly, writes Daniel Ames, professor at Columbia Business School. Hitting the right note of assertiveness not too much and not too little is hard to do. We notice poor balance in our colleagues but rarely notice it in ourselves. So keep in mind that the bottom line of quitting well is assertiveness. Have enough to leave when you need to, but tone down your assertiveness enough to keep your friends and colleagues on your side even as youre walking out the door.

An Overview Of Three Years On A Fashion Course Second Year

An Overview Of Three Years On A Fashion Course Second Year Part of the Fiery Fashion Series. Hello again lovely readers! Today I’ve got the second part of my overview of my three years on a fashion course.  My second year at university was definitely my favourite year. The first year was rather daunting and my third year was full of stress. I think you’ll find this with most courses at university. Your second year will be the time when you are most comfortable. I felt that in my second year I had a bit more creative freedom than in the first year, but a lot less pressure than in the third year. One of the major changes from the first year work-wise was that we had to pick between knit and millinery as our specialist skill to continue developing. I chose knit, because even though it was majorly hard, I felt it would be more valuable to me as a designer than making hats. I’m not sure how many fashion courses do these kinds of subjects anymore, but I found it quite valuable. In terms of work, I found that there was an increase in the amount of work, but also the kind of work we were getting. You’ll be expected to be a lot more independent with your work, but it’s also nice to have a bit more freedom with what you’re doing.  Another thing I really enjoyed about my second year was that all my separate lessons began to link in with each other a lot more the projects we were designing in one lesson, we got to make up properly in the sewing lesson. In sewing we began to focus on using different types of fabric, rather than just plain calico, which was challenging, because I hadn’t worked with a lot of different fabrics before. If I had my way, I’d just make everything in medium-weight fabric and avoid fraying knit or slippery chiffon! We also went on to learn more advance pattern cutting/sewing techniques and how to model on the stand (pattern cut off a mannequin). I did one of my favourite projects ever in my second year design class, which was trend prediction, in which we learnt to analyse future events (ranging from films, to sport, to space events!) and tried to predict a trend from them. I ended up doing a vintage Doctor Who themed capsule collection. Another major project in my second year was beginning my dissertation proposal and starting to seriously plan my dissertation subject and research techniques, etc.; that’s when it all began to sink in that it was getting very serious! This is only a short post, as the second year was really just building up on skills we had learnt from the first year. The next post on the third year will be a lot longer, as there is so much to cover. As always, please feel free to email/tweet/facebook me. I love getting feedback from you guys, and I hope you have a lovely day!

How Screening Prospects Can Help You Discover Suitable Candidates CareerMetis.com

How Screening Prospects Can Help You Discover Suitable Candidates â€" CareerMetis.com Source : Pexels.comWhen every step of the recruiting process is running smoothly, your company will run like the well-loved community that it is. It is in those moments that working with an ever-growing team can feel like the blessing it is. At other times, however, there are one or two people that throw things out of whack. Despite your best efforts during recruiting, not every new hire is working out the way that you hoped that they would. Where did you go wrong?Ensuring that you hire someone suitable for a position often starts much earlier in the screening process than new recruiters realize. Screening incoming candidates in the right way is the first step to ensuring your recruitment success.These four techniques can help to all but guarantee that you will end up with a candidate that goes above-and-beyond all expectations!1. Open With An IntroductionevalevalWhile cover letters have remained the bread-and-butter of mid-level screening in the recruitment field, there’s another unique way that you can get a great sense for who a prospect is and how they see themselves. Ask that every applicant write 100 words describing their reason for applying and what they can do for your company. Ask that they do this instead of a cover letter.Rather than reading long and winded cover letters that repeat the same few things that you have read over and over again, the need to be brief, yet confident and creative, will inspire a different variety of answers than you might expect.2. Pay Attention to Big Red FlagsRather than starting your search through the prospects’ résumés that you have on hand with an aim to find out which of them is best, begin with the intention to weed out those that aren’t a good fit for your job.Set up a series of red flags that are absolute no-gos for your company. Consider what types of candidates have worked well at your company in the past and which ones have floundered.Your list of big red flags might look something like this:Decreasing responsibility at jobs over time Creating a checklist to use while reviewing prospects or having the online application include “yes” and “no” checkboxes for each of these skills can make this comparison ranking much easier. Using a hard to soft skill screening system is a great way to organize a large batch of candidates before you even start the interview stage.It can be hard to take a jumble of applications and figure out who is most qualified to be interviewed first, so having specific answers about which hard and soft skills each prospect has can be constructive.4. Include These Three Telling QuestionsFinally, you’ll want to make sure that your prospects are right for the management style and work environment that your company has created. Not every candidate, no matter how skilled, will be a good fit for the job’s style.To figure out whether or not they are the right fit, ask these three telling questions during pre-screening to get an early sense of the candidate :What do you love most about your manager, and what do you think that they need to improve? The candidate’s answer to this question will give you telling insight about what type of work environment they enjoy and what they believe is essential. Find out how they communicate and learn through this question.When have you given up on a work project, and why? What was the outcome? Often, candidates will be hesitant to talk about failures. This kind of question might make them stumble for a moment, but should be very informative for you. Depending on your company culture, you may be seeking someone who redirects projects quickly or someone who sticks to the status quo for a longer time.What is one sentence that your best friend would use to describe you? How about your manager? With this question, you are trying to find out more about how the “work” and “home” versions of this candidate overlap. Usually, the happiest and most successful candidates are those that share essential personality traits in both sectors.Screening Matters, But Remember…evalevalNo matter how much time you put into screening prospective candidates before you put more time into their interview process, there will always be a few candidates that turn out to be bad fits down the line. And that is okay!The point of the screening process is to gather a concentrated pool of prospective candidates that could be a good fit. You shouldn’t be expecting them all to be great fits because you can’t hire them all anyways.Screening brings down the applicant pool, and interviews help you zone in on the right candidate. By optimizing both parts of this process, you’ll find success in your hiring process in no time.

UK Office Workers vs Telephobia

UK Office Workers vs Telephobia With Stress Awareness Month upon us, it’s only natural that we explore the things that increase our stress levels. We believe it’s important make every effort to support those around us, check in with ourselves and become wary of how our daily lives induce stress. A little bit of stress can sometimes be healthy. It can help you accomplish tasks and even boost memory, but when it’s brought into the workplace or our personal lives on a consistent basis this can have a serious impact on our wellbeing and overall health. Face for Business, a telephone answering service, decided to conduct a survey on anxiety levels experienced in UK office workers who need to answer the phone. Phone fear (or most commonly known as “Telephobia”) affects 62% of UK office workers and can have a serious impact on the way we carry out office duties. The fear of answering the phone can be a catalyst for stress. Millennials are experiencing this the most compared to any other demographic, with 72% experiencing the most telephone-answering anxiety compared to just 40% of baby boomers. Crowned the “anxious generation” â€" we feel that businesses need to work harder to help millennials feel confident in tasks the older generations find second-nature. But what ca n we do to help reduce these anxiety levels across all demographics, as well as millennials? • Provide adequate telephone training so that employees can comfortably deal with a variety of scenarios • Remind employees to recall successful conversations to enhance feelings of empowerment • Anxiety thrives when fear starts winning you over and avoidance becomes a regular pattern. o Educate employees on anxious behaviours and provide a support network to help them feel relaxed and confident when answering the telephone. Below is a summary of our results in infographic form: Author bio Christina is a Copywriter for Face for Business â€" a call answering service that offers excellent customer service and call handling to ensure SMEs never miss an incoming call.

Custom Writing Resume Services For Job Seekers

Custom Writing Resume Services For Job SeekersHave you ever wanted to create a custom writing resume for yourself? Well if you have and want to know what it takes to do this, then this article is for you.Creating your own writing resume can be a rather large undertaking. For example, the details on the documents must contain the correct spelling and grammar as well as the right formatting. Also, the information on your resume must be thorough and comprehensive.If you have to hire a professional for your job, you want to be able to make sure that your information meets or exceeds the expectations of your future employer. This means not only spelling and grammar errors, but also information that are not up to date and incomplete.Additionally, you want to be able to write as objective as possible so that you can remain objective about yourself and the subject matter of your current employer. Doing so will give your prospective employer the opportunity to become more aware of you and wha t you can bring to the table.It's no secret that hiring a personal writer for your resume is expensive. If you can't afford it, you don't want to sacrifice the proper presentation of your information just to save a few dollars.Luckily, there are many companies that are available that offer writing services at a cost that is much less than hiring an agent. These writers are available through several different outlets including their website and by contacting them directly.There are certain services that they offer that are not found on most writers' websites. A very common service that they provide is writing resumes that contain all of the necessary information about their client's skills and the necessary steps they need to take in order to achieve those skills.This type of information is important for your current employer as well as anyone else that wants to obtain information from you. By maintaining all of this information up to date, you're making it easier for anyone that com es after you to get the information they need.