‘Simple’ – Four ways to plan your pension no matter your age

Pension: Expert gives advice on preparing for retirement

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Over a quarter of UK adults (28 percent) admitted to living for today and putting off financial matters, according to a report from Claro Money, whilst only 34 percent of those aged between 25 to 34 had a pension. To help Britons learn more about their pension and plan effectively for retirement, Rachel Harte, Head of Financial Planning, spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk and shared four tips for planning a pension, whatever someone’s age.

Understand workplace pensions

Ms Harte said: “Whether you’re starting a new job or have simply never spoken to your employer about pensions, investigate what schemes they have in place and how these work – find out if you are eligible for the pension based on your salary, if you have been or will be auto enrolled, and whether this pension is flexible when it comes to increasing your contribution.

“Building your understanding of both the pension schemes available to you, and pensions as a financial concept more generally, will help empower you to make smarter and more conscious financial decisions.”

Consider retirement age

Ms Harte urged Britons to think about when they might like to retire, as this will help to inform their pension plan.

She said: “Think about whether you envision retiring as early as you can, or if you imagine as long a working career as possible.

“This will impact the emphasis you put on saving for your pension and how you may want to approach your career in general, so it’s important to start considering when you want to retire as early into your working life as possible.

“Of course, this is subject to change, but you can start to research how much you would need to save for how much you would need to live comfortably once you stop working and what contributions you will need to make, based on when you want to retire.”

Adjust contributions

The amount someone can save towards retirement may eventually increase, due to an increase in salary, for example. Ms Harte discussed the importance of altering the pension contributions someone makes throughout their life.

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Ms Harte discussed the importance of altering the pension contributions someone makes throughout their life.

She said: “Perhaps you have reviewed your financial goals and realised you either need to be contributing more to your pension, or can contribute more, then take the steps to do just this.

“Your pension contributions shouldn’t be stagnant and fixed throughout your working life.

“Often, your employer will provide you with the opportunity to increase your monthly contributions to your pension, up to a certain percentage of your salary.”

However, other situations could arise which limit someone’s ability to save.

Ms Harte said: “On the other hand, there may be periods in your life where you cannot contribute the same amount to your pension as you have been doing, or you may struggle to contribute all together.

“For example, if you are on maternity leave or retraining and in between jobs.

“While this often can’t be avoided, it is important to consider the impact of this on your pension and try to offset this by contributing more to your pension once you are in the position to do so.”

Keep on top of multiple pensions

As people move to different jobs within their career, it can be easy to lose track of the different pension pots they have contributed to.

Ms Harte explained: “Employers will have different schemes in place, so it’s important to keep note of which providers you have used in the past or speak to previous employers, if you cannot find this information.

“Combining all your pots so that your pension contributions are all in one place is a simple way to stay organised and keep track of how much you have saved so far.

“When moving to a new workplace, you may want to consider transferring your pension pot from your last job over to your new one.”

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