Are you on track for the retirement you want?
The reality is that retirement planning is about more than just building a big pension fund. Here are some hints and tips to help you with a retirement healthcheck.
- Review your pension regularly, at least once a year, to make sure you’re on course to provide the retirement income you’re looking for.
- Have a look at MoneyHelper's pension calculator to see how on course for retirement you are and what you can do to get yourself back on track.
- Did you know you can bring together your pension pots and hold your savings in one place? Read more about pulling your pension pots together.
- Get recent statements from past pension providers or employers. You can use the Pension Tracing Service if you've lost your information from previous pensions.
- Monitor your pension investments – make sure you know what fund(s) you're invested in and keep an eye on how these are performing.
- Beware of high charges that could eat into the value of your pension - you don’t want any nasty surprises when you come to take savings from your plan.
- Review any savings you have and see if you can save more than you are. Savings accounts such as ISAs can be used to save for anything, including retirement, so they’re useful alongside a pension.
- Make the most of pay rises and bonuses to boost your retirement savings, and check your budget is under control with debts cleared where possible.
Or, have a look at Pension Wise - a free, impartial service from the UK Government for more information on pensions and what you can do with your pension pots.