A series of free workshops to help people plan for their retirement has been launched by Age UK Lancashire.
Local experts will be giving their time to run online workshops so people can make the most of their later years with advice on topics ranging from wills and pensions to financial planning and wellbeing.
The Lancashire professionals who will be giving advice during the sessions include a solicitor, financial adviser and a health trainer who have considerable experience in working with older people. The solicitor is a company partner specializing in Private Client Law which includes, Wills, Probate, Powers of Attorney and Trusts. He is also adviser to the BBC’s “Rip Off Britain.” The financial adviser is a member of the Society of Later Life Advisers.
The three sessions will include a Financial Planning and Legal MOT workshop which will be delivered as a blend of presentations and time for questions and answers.
The Health and Wellbeing session will include presentations and gentle exercise and mindfulness activity and the Using Your Time in Retirement workshops will encourage interaction, reflection and action planning.
Age UK Lancashire has been able to run the workshops thanks to a £10,000 from the Cumberland Building Society.
The charity says that the courses are needed to address a lack of information and advice relating to retirement in the area. Will writing and setting up powers of attorney can seem daunting and complicated and there is very little free advice available.
Anne Oliver, Community Engagement Manager for Age UK Lancashire, said: “We will use this grant to scale up the programme to enable us to provide free workshops for individuals living in the Lancaster and Preston areas.
“Research shows that those who make plans for later life experience the most fulfilled and healthiest retirements. The workshops will support individuals to create action plans and provide information to help people avoid the pitfalls of not acting in a timely manner.
“The sessions will also allow people to focus on health and wellbeing and discussing how to make the most of retirement because hopefully, that can be 30 years or more, which can be quite scary when you go into it without a plan of what you are going to do.”
The Cumberland’s CSR & Communications Executive, Becky Towns, is pleased to be supporting Age UK Lancashire’s ambition to empower people to make the most of their later years.
“Our goal in everything we do is give people brighter options by helping them to make informed choices about their finances that will help them and their families.
“These courses will give lots of people access to free, high-quality advice about their retirement and give them the confidence to make the right choices so they can make the most of that time,” she said.
Click here for more information on the workshops and to book a place.