I already have a pension… I want to take stock

Even if you have some plans in place, it can be hard to work out whether you’re ready for the future.

Here are three things you can do today to take stock and find out whether you’re on track:

Tip 1: Tot up your own pensions and savings. You may have a pension through work, or you might have set up your own. You may have other savings and pensions through previous employments or personal arrangements.

Very often people have many smaller pension savings ‘pots’ which are being eroded by high charges, they may be invested in inappropriate funds and keeping track of the policies can prove to be an admin nightmare. We can carry out a review of all your pension pots and advise whether you should maintain or amalgamate them. We can advise whether you would benefit from switching the investment funds that you currently hold to either improve growth potential or fall in line with your changing attitude to risk.

If you think you may have an old company or personal pension but can’t remember the details you can contact the Pensions Tracing Service.

Tip 2: Think about when you plan to retire. You don’t have to retire at State Pension age. You can find out your own State Pension age using the State Pension age calculator. But you might choose to retire at a different time.

Tip 3: Find out what you stand to get from the State. Different people get different amounts of State Pension. This is based on a number of things, including the time you spend working or caring for others. We offer a comprehensive service whereby we produce an analysis of your existing pension savings, project this forward to your preferred retirement age and advise you on how best to bridge any gaps or shortfalls in retirement income.