Super savers
Edging towards retirement age, and concerned you’ve not got enough saved? Here’s what to do…
Money worries are the biggest source of pre-retirement angst, with 41 per cent of retirees stating that since retirement they have needed more money than anticipated, according to a recent survey.
The survey of 2000 retirees, carried out by financial services provider Legal & General, found that almost half say their retirement income has not been used as they intended, with 71 per cent citing the cost of living crisis as the main factor.
The survey also found that 16 per cent of people have £0 in their pension pot at the time of retiring, and a fifth have saved between zero and £49,000.
If you’re creeping towards retirement, but you’re worried about how much you’ve put aside — don’t panic! Here’s what to do if you haven’t saved enough for retirement…
Calculate your future income
State Pension age is currently 66 for both men and women.
The number of qualifying years of National Insurance contributions you have affects the amount you’ll receive.
The full new State Pension is £203.85 per week, but you’ll need 35 qualifying years to get the full new State Pension. You’ll receive a proportion of this if you have between 10 and 35 qualifying years.
You can check when you’ll receive your State Pension using the Government checker (visit gov.uk and search ‘check your state pension age’).
You won’t receive your State Pension automatically, you have to claim it. You should receive an invitation letter from the Pension Service around four months before you reach State Pension age. You’ll have the option to claim it then or defer it and receive higher payments in the future.
You can get a pension forecast online at gov.uk, or if it’s more than 30 days until you’ll reach your State Pension age, you can also fill in the BR19 application form and send it by post, or call the Future Pension Centre, who’ll post the forecast to you.
Workplace pension — your employer should be able to let you know what’s currently in your workplace pension pot. But you might have pensions that you’ve forgotten about, so visit pensiontracingservice.com to check.
It might also be worth visiting mylostaccount.org.uk, to trace any savings accounts you might have forgotten about.
Pension Wise is a service run by moneyhelper.org.uk, and backed by government, which provides free, impartial guidance to over 50s. They offer a free 45-60-minute chat, over the phone or face to face, to explain your options for taking money from your pension pot and advise on other things you might need to think about, such as how each option is taxed.
Check benefits entitlements
If your income is very low, you may qualify for pension credits and C
