It is common for clients to have multiple pots of pensions that they have collected throughout their working years. Some where they have navigated through various roles and employers, and some, where they have chosen to leave that corporate world and enter into their own business or take on more of a consultancy role.
Whatever the reason for having varying pots of pension, it is not a one-size-fits-all approach when looking at the financial planning advice that sits around this.
Pensions are the most tax efficient form of savings and therefore provide us with a valuable investment wrapper for helping us to prepare for our future. When investing in pensions, there is tax relief on the money that is used to pay in, up to £40,000 or 100% of your earnings if less.
The funds are then invested for the potential of capital growth, aligned with your attitude to investment risk and reviewed regularly to ensure that your retirement plans have the best chance of getting or remaining on track.
Currently, it is estimated that there is over £19 billion ‘lost’ in forgotten UK pensions [Unbiased, 31 March 2022]*. I don’t know about you but, ideally, I wouldn’t want some of this to be any of mine.
My three top tips to not losing track of your accumulated pension savings are:
- Ensure that your address is kept up to date and accurate with each provider as you move home.
- When you change employment, keep a basic spreadsheet or word document with the pension plan details as a record.
- Seek advice and take advantage of a financial review.
Here at Avail Financial Planning we can offer you a no-obligation pension/financial review to help you to take stock and get a handle on your existing or new pension savings plans.
Our priority is to help you understand any of the existing valuable benefits that are attached to your current pension arrangements, the types of funds that they are invested in and to help put into real terms, how your pensions will assist in providing for you and your family into your retirement.
The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select and the value can go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested.
The levels and bases of taxation, and reliefs from taxation, can change at any time. The value of any tax relief is dependent on individual circumstances.
*www.unbiased.co.uk/news/financial-adviser/billions-lost-in-forgotten-pensions
Avail Financial Planning is an Appointed Representative of and represents only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the Group’s wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the Group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/products. The ‘St. James’s Place Partnership’ and the titles ‘Partner’ and ‘Partner Practice’ are marketing terms used to describe St. James’s Place representatives.
