Auto enrolment and the self employed or sole trader.

No doubt you will have seen plenty of emails and articles urging you to get onto one of the auto enrolment schemes.   However, auto enrolment – a great scheme to ensure adequate provision for all in retirement – does not cover the self employed or sole trader.  Even if you have a limited company and are the only director, you do not need to enrol.

BUT this presently leaves a huge question for the self employed.

Are you ready for retirement?

Have you got enough money for a comfortable retirement.  It is a highly risky strategy to assume a sale of the business to fund retirement.  Several factors can affect this, not least of which “there is no sale without a buyer” and “what is valuable to you may well not be attractive in the marketplace”

You might want to put some plans in place for your later life, such as starting a pension scheme, if you haven't already done so. You could choose a personal pension, self invested personal pension (SIPP) or a stakeholder pension, all of which are available from a variety of pension providers. You may also decide to join NEST (the National Employment Savings Trust) who are a Government body that provides a pension scheme.

In the meantime this issue has been recognised by the Auto Enrolment Review Board but don’t expect an overnight solution.   Do speak to your accountant and financial advisor to work out how you can save for a happy retirement.  It’s never too late to start