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Planning for retirement is one of the most important financial decisions you’ll make. Whether retirement is just around the corner or still several years away, reviewing your pension regularly can help you understand whether your savings remain on track to support your future goals.
Many people rarely review their pensions after enrolling in a workplace scheme. Over time, changes in investment performance, pension charges, employment, or personal circumstances can affect whether your pension continues to meet your needs.
At SeniorWise, we help people across the UK explore their pension review options through our trusted partners. Where regulated financial advice is required, it is provided by authorised advisers from our partner firms.
In this guide, we’ll explain five common signs that it may be time to review your pension, why regular pension reviews matter, and how reviewing your retirement savings could help you make more informed decisions.
Key Takeaways
- Learn the common signs that indicate it may be time to review your pension.
- Understand why having multiple pension pots can make retirement planning more complicated.
- Discover how pension charges may affect your long-term retirement savings.
- Learn why reviewing your investment choices is an important part of retirement planning.
- Find answers to common questions about pension reviews.
Why Pension Reviews Matter
Your pension is one of your most valuable long-term investments. Reviewing it regularly helps you understand whether it continues to support your retirement goals and reflects your current financial circumstances.
Even relatively small differences in investment performance or annual charges can have a significant impact over many years. Regular pension reviews can also help you understand whether your investments remain appropriate for your retirement plans and attitude to investment risk.
Rather than simply filing away your annual pension statements, taking time to review them can help you make more informed decisions about your financial future.
5 Signs You Need a Pension Review
- You Have Multiple Pension Pots
If you’ve changed jobs during your career, there’s a good chance you’ve built up several workplace pensions with different providers.
Managing multiple pension pots can make it more difficult to understand your overall retirement savings and may mean paying charges across several schemes.
Reviewing your pensions can help you understand what you have and explore whether consolidating your pensions may be suitable for your circumstances. Pension consolidation is not right for everyone, so it’s important to consider the potential benefits and risks before making any decisions.
- You’re Paying High Pension Charges
Every pension scheme has its own charging structure. Depending on when your pension was set up, you may be paying higher management or administration charges than newer products offer.
While charges are only one factor to consider, reviewing them can help you understand how they may affect your retirement savings over time.
One of our trusted partners can help explain the charges associated with your existing pension and discuss your available options where appropriate.
- Your Pension Performance Isn’t Meeting Your Expectations
Investment values can rise and fall, and past performance is not a guarantee of future results. However, if your pension has consistently underperformed your expectations, it may be worth reviewing your current investment strategy.
Your retirement goals, investment timeframe and attitude to risk should all be considered when deciding whether your existing investments remain appropriate.
Where suitable, one of our trusted partners can help you understand your current pension investments and discuss the options available to you.
- Your Circumstances Have Changed
Life changes can affect your retirement planning.
Getting married, getting divorced, changing jobs, having children, receiving an inheritance or approaching retirement are all good reasons to review your pension.
A review can help ensure your nominated beneficiaries are up to date and that your pension continues to reflect your financial goals and personal circumstances.
- You’ve Never Reviewed Your Default Investment Fund
Many workplace pensions automatically invest contributions into a default fund.
These funds are designed to suit a broad range of people, but they may not always be the most appropriate choice for your own retirement objectives or attitude to investment risk.
Reviewing your investments can help you understand how your pension is currently invested and whether your existing strategy remains suitable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a pension review free?
Many pension reviews begin with an initial discussion at no cost. If you request a pension review through SeniorWise, one of our trusted partners will explain the process, including any costs that may apply before you decide whether to proceed.
I don’t know much about pensions. Can someone explain my options?
Yes. If you request a pension review, one of our trusted partners can explain your existing pension arrangements, answer your questions and, where appropriate, provide regulated financial advice to help you make informed decisions.
Can I consolidate my pensions?
Some people choose to combine multiple pension pots into one arrangement, although this isn’t suitable for everyone.
Before making any decision to transfer or consolidate pensions, it’s important to understand the potential advantages, disadvantages and any guarantees you may lose. Our trusted partners can help explain your options based on your individual circumstances.
Is my information secure?
Yes. Any personal information you choose to provide will be handled securely and in accordance with applicable data protection requirements. Where regulated financial advice is provided, it will be provided by an adviser authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Request Your Free Pension Review
Regularly reviewing your pension can help you better understand how your retirement savings are performing and whether your current arrangements continue to support your long-term goals.
Whether you want to locate old pension pots, understand pension charges, review your investments or simply gain a clearer picture of your retirement planning, exploring your options today could help you make more informed decisions for the future.
If you’d like to explore your pension review options, you can request a free pension review through SeniorWise. Where regulated financial advice is required, it will be provided by an authorised adviser from one of our trusted partner firms, who can assess your circumstances and discuss the options available to you.
