How to trace multiple old pension pots

Over time, pension schemes close, merge or become renamed.

Changed job? Moved house? It’s not always easy to keep track of a pension, especially if you’ve been in more than one scheme or have changed employers throughout your career. Over time, pension schemes close, merge or become renamed. So even if you remember the name of your scheme, it could now be called something else.

With more of us changing jobs regularly throughout our working lives, it has become harder to keep track of old company pensions. This is particularly the case for people who have moved home and whose pension providers no longer have their correct contact details.

With the disappearance of the job-for-life and with more people moving jobs several times throughout their working life and accruing multiple pension pots along the way, it can be all too easy to lose track of the pension funds built up.

So how can you go about tracing any pension schemes you have paid into at some point in the past?

Get in touch with former employers

If your forgotten pension scheme was run by a company you worked for, you should contact them first. In some cases, individuals may not have been aware they were actually paying into a pension, especially if no monthly salary deductions were being made.

Most pension schemes must send you a statement each year. These statements include an estimate of the retirement income that the pension pot might give you when you reach retirement.

First, check to see if you have any old paperwork that might have the name of your employer or pension scheme. This will give you a good starting point. If you’re no longer getting these statements – perhaps because you’ve changed your address – to track down the pension you can contact the pension provider, your former employer if it was a workplace pension, or The Pension Tracing Service.

Contact pension providers

Even if your pension was linked to your job, it may have been run on your employer’s behalf by a pension company. In this case, you should get in touch with the provider rather than your previous employer.

The same applies if you set up your own personal or stakeholder pension, for example. The Pensions Advisory Service, which is sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions, can also help you look for a personal pension.

You’ll need to provide information about the name of your old employer or pension provider, and potentially further information such as the dates you worked at the company and your National Insurance number.

If you know which provider your pension was with, your first step is to contact them. However you contact them, you should provide as many of the following details as possible: your plan number, your date of birth, your National Insurance number and the date your pension was set up.

By asking the following questions, you’ll get a thorough overview of your pension pot:

Q: What is the current value of my pension pot?

Q: Have I nominated a recipient for any death benefits?

Q: How much has been contributed into my pension pot?

Q: What charges do I pay for the management of my pension pot?

Q: How much income is the pension pot likely to pay out at my chosen retirement date?

Q: How is my pension pot being invested and what options are there for making changes?

Q: What are the charges if I wanted to transfer the pension pot to another provider?

Q: What are the death benefits – in other words, how much money would be paid from the pension if I died?

Use the Pension Tracing Service

An alternative way of tracking down a lost workplace or personal pension is by using the Pension Tracing Service. This is a free government scheme which can be accessed via the government website. Again, you will need to provide as much information as possible about yourself and the dates you were a member of any scheme.

You can phone the Pension Tracing Service on 0800 731 0193 or submit a tracing request form to the Pension Service via the GOV.UK website.

Stick to official services

Be warned though, from time to time, businesses are set up to offer similar tracking services to people who have lost pensions. Although they are not necessarily doing anything illegal and often offer assistance for free, they may try to give the impression that they are official services.

In fact, they could be trying to obtain the personal information of people who have substantial pension savings so they can persuade these individuals to make investments or pay for financial advice, for example.

To reduce the risk of losing track of a pension in future, ensure you let providers know whenever you change your home address or any other details, such as your email address.

A PENSION IS A LONG-TERM INVESTMENT NOT NORMALLY ACCESSIBLE UNTIL AGE 55 (57 FROM APRIL 2028 UNLESS THE PLAN HAS A PROTECTED PENSION AGE). THE VALUE OF YOUR INVESTMENTS (AND ANY INCOME FROM THEM) CAN GO DOWN AS WELL AS UP WHICH WOULD HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE LEVEL OF PENSION BENEFITS AVAILABLE. YOUR PENSION INCOME COULD ALSO BE AFFECTED BY THE INTEREST RATES AT THE TIME YOU TAKE YOUR BENEFITS.

THE TAX IMPLICATIONS OF PENSION WITHDRAWALS WILL BE BASED ON YOUR INDIVIDUAL CIRCUMSTANCES, TAX LEGISLATION AND REGULATION WHICH ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE IN THE FUTURE. YOU SHOULD SEEK ADVICE TO UNDERSTAND YOUR OPTIONS AT RETIREMENT.

ACCESSING PENSION BENEFITS EARLY MAY IMPACT ON LEVELS OF RETIREMENT INCOME AND YOUR ENTITLEMENT TO CERTAIN MEANS-TESTED BENEFITS AND IS NOT SUITABLE FOR EVERYONE. YOU SHOULD SEEK ADVICE TO UNDERSTAND YOUR OPTIONS AT RETIREMENT.

Preparing for the unexpected

Protection should be a core part of your financial plan.

If you are worried illness or injury could leave you without enough to pay bills, there are solutions to help protect your income. While some people could rely on state benefits as a safety net if they experienced a sudden loss of income, for many the drop in income would be too severe to maintain their standard of living.

Being able to keep paying the bills

In many situations, families rely on both partners’ income to pay the monthly bills and don’t think about the impact losing one income could have on their standard of living. Even though people recognise the need to take out life insurance to pay off their mortgage if they die, some may not think about how their family could continue to pay their outgoings if they became ill or were injured and unable to work for a long period of time.

If something were to happen to you, would you and your family be able to keep paying the bills? The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has made many of us think more carefully about protecting ourselves and our family from financial difficulties. However, this isn’t just about having savings and investments to provide for the long term – it’s also about ensuring you and your loved ones are provided for should the worst happen.

Sufficient savings to manage financially

Have you calculated how much you and your family would need if you found yourself unable to work? This should also take account of your savings and any other income you might have. Using a Budget Planner will enable you to work out what you’re spending each month, from household bills to general living costs. Having a good idea of your overall budget will make it easier to make changes.

Not everyone will have sufficient savings to manage financially for long periods of illness – particularly if this money is earmarked for other plans like retirement or helping children with their education. That’s where insurance protection comes in, and there are a variety of options that could help to cover specific costs, or replace income, should you find yourself unable to work.

Income Protection

Income Protection insurance can provide a regular replacement income if someone is unable to work because of an illness or injury. Typically, a policy pays out after they’ve been off work for six months (often called a ‘deferred’ or ‘waiting period’) and can pay a percentage of their salary until either they return to work, reach State Pension Age or die while claiming.

Critical Illness Cover

Critical Illness Cover is a type of insurance that pays out a tax-free lump sum if someone is diagnosed with, or undergoes surgery for, a critical illness that meets the policy definition during the policy term and they survive a specified number of days. It’s designed to help support you and your family financially while you deal with your diagnosis – so you can focus on your recovery without worrying about how the bills will be paid.

Life Insurance Cover

Life Insurance Cover pays out a lump sum if someone passes away during the policy term.
If you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness and are not expected to live longer than 12 months, some policies will provide the sum prior to death. It’s there to provide financial support for your loved ones after you’re gone, whether that means helping to pay off the mortgage or maintaining their standard of living.

Private Medical Insurance Cover

Private Medical Insurance Cover is a type of cover that pays your private healthcare costs if someone has a treatable condition. Whether it’s overnight care, outpatient treatment, diagnostic tests, scans or aftercare, you receive the specialist private treatment you need, in comfortable surroundings, when you need it. The cover is available at a range of different levels of cover at various premiums designed to meet your specific needs.

Build your own financial plan

Vision without action is merely a dream.

Having a financial plan in place early on can make it easier to manage your money further down the line. It’s never too early to make a financial plan. The sooner you work out your goals and start following a plan to achieve them, the more likely you are to succeed.

Here are three key questions to ask yourself when building a financial plan.

1. What are my goals?

Building wealth takes time and a little effort. Like any activity, be it growing a business or learning a new skill, you need to decide early on what your long-term objectives are. It’s exactly the same when you are building wealth – it is important to set financial goals.

Without a goal, your efforts can become disjointed and often confusing. Being able to keep track of your progress towards achieving a goal is only possible if you set one in the first place. Being able to measure progress is extremely rewarding and will help you maintain focus.

Procrastination is something we all battle with from time to time. However, when you set goals in life, specific goals for what you want to achieve, it helps you understand that procrastination is dangerous. It is wasted time. It is another day you aren’t moving closer to that goal.

Setting financial goals is essential to financial success. Once you’ve set your goals you can then write and follow a roadmap to realise them. It helps you stay focused and confident that you’re on the right path.

Consider the SMART principle when setting your own goals:

Specific – Clearly define what each goal is and use details such as numbers where possible (quantify it).

Measurable – Think about a tangible way in which you can measure your progress.

Achievable – Are your ambitions realistic? With planning we are often capable of more than we realise but being pragmatic is important. Discussing your goals with us will help you to balance this.

Relevant – Are your goals in line with your own personal values? It is useful to chat this through with somebody else to clarify your values.

Timebound – Think about the timeframe you are working within and whether there is any flexibility needed.

Your goals are personal and unique to you. Perhaps you want to set up your own business and follow a lifelong passion, or maybe you want financial security and to ensure you can pass a legacy on to your loved ones.

Once you’ve defined your goals and you’re clear on your current situation, it’s a good time to work out if you have enough to achieve your goals or if there’s a gap. This isn’t an easy task as there are often many variables to consider, such as inflation, tax and growth rates.

2. Where am I now?

Cash flow planning is a concept borrowed from business and every business owner or finance director will be familiar with the term. These same principles can be applied to your personal financial planning. As we’ve mentioned, the starting point is to identify each one of your personal goals.

Cash flow planning is most effective when all likely future needs are taken into account too. Just focusing on immediate needs may seem more practical but focusing on one goal at a time can limit future options.

Make a list or a spreadsheet of what you have, specifying where and how much; this could include any assets such as property, cash balances, investments, pensions, protection policies and any debts such as mortgage, credit cards or loans. Look at your income and expenditure levels.

Remember, the future is somewhere you have never been before. Cash flow planning guides and updates you on your journey. If there are delays on the way it can find another path. Combined with our professional advice, we can help you arrive at your destination more smoothly.

3. What do I need to do next?

As we’ve seen with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, things can change very quickly. It goes without saying that your financial plans should not be static objects, and that you should review your plans over time and on a regular basis to ensure that you remain on track towards your goals. You also need to adapt your financial plans as your circumstances change.

Reviewing your arrangements regularly is a vital way of ensuring you meet your financial goals and ensures that all your plans are up to date in light of changes to your circumstances and the wider financial landscape.

Reviews can also prompt you to consider some of those things that sometimes get left undone – such as your Will, which might still need to be arranged or updated. Or perhaps there is a Lasting Power of Attorney that has not been progressed or a life assurance policy that should be placed under an appropriate trust. As we’ve all recently experienced, life has a habit of springing unpleasant surprises on us when least expected.

Top pension tips if you’re about to retire

Understanding your options and putting a plan in place.

We spend our working lives building towards retirement. Choices we make today will have a big impact on the quality of our lives later on. If you only have a handful of years to go until you reach your retirement, it has never been more important to understand your options and put a plan in place – now could be a good time to re-evaluate your plans with us.

The changes made to UK pensions in 2015 mean that we all have more choices available on how to fund our lifestyle in retirement. But decisions surrounding when, why, and how you decide to retire will be very personal and will largely depend on your individual circumstances.

These decisions will also be impacted by external factors such as the rising State Pension age, and the impact of the recent pandemic on the job market. When planning for your future, it’s important to know when you can access the money in your pension pot.

If your pension is not on track to give you the income you want in retirement, you need to look at how to boost it. It’s also worth remembering that taking your pension doesn’t mean you need to retire.

Taking stock of your retirement plans

Retirement is a time to reap the rewards of years of hard work and do more of the things that you love, whether that’s travelling the world or spending time with your grandchildren. But to make this a reality, you need to prepare as well as you can financially. This isn’t always easy, as pensions and retirement planning can be complex.

To help you ensure you’re on the right track, ask yourself the following questions. What type of pension/s do I have? Do I have more than one pension pot? If so, where are they? When and how can I access the funds in my pension pots? What is the value of my pension pots? What benefits will they provide me with? What about any other options or guarantees?

Will you potentially exceed the Pension Lifetime Allowance?

If you’re close to retirement, you may find you are approaching the Pension Lifetime Allowance (LTA) limit. The LTA is the most you can accrue overall within your pension plans without incurring an additional tax charge on the excess funds. The LTA test can take place at various times and all funds are tested at some point (for example, when your pension plan is accessed, if you die without having accessed it and/or on reaching age 75). The LTA has been cut over the years and is now £1,073,100 for the 2021/22 tax year.

The LTA has also been frozen at £1,073,100 until 2026, potentially exposing you to the charge for breaching the threshold. If you breach the threshold you face a 55% LTA charge on amounts taken above this ceiling if they are withdrawn as a lump sum (with no further income tax due beyond the 55%), or a 25% LTA charge when taken as income which includes placing the funds in a drawdown plan. In addition, any income withdrawn is then taxed at usual income tax rates.

If you think you are nearing the LTA, it’s important to monitor the value of your pensions, and especially the value of changes to any defined benefit (DB) pensions as these can be surprisingly large. DB pensions are valued for LTA purposes as 20 times the annual pension figure, plus the tax-free cash amount, whereas defined contribution (DC) pensions are tested against the LTA based on the fund value. There were, and are, protections that can help you avoid a tax charge by giving you a higher LTA. We can discuss whether this applies to your situation.

What does your current and forecasted wealth look like?

As you get closer to retirement, it is important to assess your current and forecasted wealth, along with your income and expenditure, to create a picture of your finances for both now and in the future.

Lifetime cash flow modelling will help ensure you don’t run out of money – or die with too much – by showing whether your current investment approach is either excessively risky or unduly cautious. Retirement cash flow modelling can help to alleviate your concerns.

Building your individual retirement cash flow plan involves assessing your current and forecasted wealth, along with your income and expenditure, using assumed rates of investment growth, inflation and interest rates, to build a picture of your finances both now and in the future.

If you have accumulated wealth, retirement cash flow modelling will help you manage your position and make sensible decisions over the years. However, cash flow planning is arguably even more beneficial if you have longer-term personal or business objectives, as you can see how much you need to save and the returns you need to meet those defined objectives.

Time to look at your options available when accessing your pension?

Once you reach age 55, you can access your defined contribution (DC) pension pot. You can take some or all of it, to use as you need, or leave it so that it has the potential to continue to grow. It’s up to you how you take the benefits from your DC pension pot. You can take your benefits in a number of different ways.

You can choose to buy a guaranteed income for life (an annuity). You can take some, or all, of your pension pot as a cash lump sum, or you can leave it invested. However you decide to take your benefits, you’ll normally be able to take 25% of your pension pot tax-free. The rest will be subject to Income Tax.

It’s good to have choices when it comes to pensions and your retirement, but it’s also important to understand all your options and any impact your decision may have on your future security. How long your pension pot lasts will depend on the choices you make. We can help by discussing the options available to access your pension.

Annuities

If you buy an annuity this will provide a guaranteed income for the rest of your life. With this option, the provider agrees to pay you an agreed regular sum until you die. With an annuity, you may receive more or less money than you put in depending on how long you live after your annuity has started.

Flexi-access drawdown

By opting for flexi-access drawdown, you can leave your pension pot invested so that it has the potential to grow, or take lump sums or a regular income from it. Your pension pot will last until you’ve taken all your money out. The level of income you take and any investment growth will be key factors as to how long your pension pot will last.

Take some or all of it in cash

If you take some or all of your pension pot as a cash lump sum, it’s up to you how long it lasts. Once you receive your money after tax, you’re completely responsible for it and can use it as you require – although remember that although 25% of the amount you take is tax-free, you’ll pay Income Tax on the rest.

Leave it all for now – defer your pension

You could decide not to take your pension at your selected retirement date and leave it invested until you’re ready to take your benefits. This means your pension pot would have the potential to grow, although this is not guaranteed. It’s important to ensure you don’t lose any guarantees which only apply at your retirement date if you decide to leave your pension pot.

A PENSION IS A LONG-TERM INVESTMENT NOT NORMALLY ACCESSIBLE UNTIL AGE 55 (57 FROM APRIL 2028 UNLESS PLAN HAS A PROTECTED PENSION AGE). THE VALUE OF YOUR INVESTMENTS (AND ANY INCOME FROM THEM) CAN GO DOWN AS WELL AS UP WHICH WOULD HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE LEVEL OF PENSION BENEFITS AVAILABLE. YOUR PENSION INCOME COULD ALSO BE AFFECTED BY THE INTEREST RATES AT THE TIME YOU TAKE YOUR BENEFITS.

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email: info@iftwm.com

Month: October 2021