Get the most out of your retirement planning

It is great to have the basics covered, like knowing your State Pension age, how much State Pension you may receive, understanding your workplace pension and other longer-term savings options.

But to make sure your retirement plan is the best fit for you now, and what you want for the future, there is even more you can do. Here are our top tips for getting the most out of your retirement planning.

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Whether it’s paying more in to your workplace pension or other long-term savings, the more you put in now, the better prepared you’ll be for the retirement you want. Through compound interest, you can earn ‘interest-on-interest’ on your savings – this can make a big difference to how much your savings are worth longer term.

You can use the pension calculator from MoneyHelper to get an estimate of your total pension pot, and how much it might pay you when you retire.

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Things like health checks, trips to the optician or car MOTs are done regularly to make sure everything is on track, and regularly reviewing the health of your retirement plan is a great way to make sure that it’s working for you.

This could be an annual review on a set date each year (pop a reminder in your calendar), or prompted by a change in circumstances, such as if you change jobs, including getting a promotion or increasing / decreasing your hours, if you move house, get married or anything else that could have a significant impact on your finances. In short, if your circumstances change, make sure you update your retirement plans too.

If you are in a defined contribution pension scheme, you will receive a pension statement once a year. This could be a handy prompt to consider your retirement plans more fully.

You should always make sure your personal information is up to date on any pension pots you have too, and that you have nominated a beneficiary for your pensions in event of your death.

Work through the MoneyHelper retirement planning worksheet to check the progress of your pension and retirement savings.

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