“One in six workers ‘lost track’ of pension pot.”
That was the headline I read in an article dated 5.09.12. The following day a message was left on our answer machine from someone who wanted to see us asap. An appointment was arranged for the following day and to our surprise we heard the gentleman say:
“We have received a lot of documentation that we don’t understand because we have a pension pot that we didn’t realize we had until the DWP rang us up”
How strange! It transpired that the gentleman had a total of £55,000 in two pension pots. On enquiry he did recall putting some money into a pension scheme for around 3 years back in the 80’s but because he was being advised to increase his contribution he decided to stop funding altogether. The information he consequently got from the pension providers made no sense at all and neither did the figures. This pot was a real surprise and a nice one at that and it has prompted me to note the following!
- The information sent by pension providers is confusing.
- Understanding the information requires help from specialists.
- The nice surprise would have been a massive nice surprise had the contributions not stopped.
- Advice taken much earlier could have made a big difference.
- Exercising the Open Market Option did result in getting a higher income from another provider.
Sometime or another pension guidance will be needed by most people. It might be on the discovery of a forgotten pot, it might be to discover whether existing plans are on track or it might be to discover what needs to be done to end up with the right amount in the pot. Become intentional and contact us if you have any queries or concerns in regard to your pension plans.
Update: 2 months down the line and the gentleman in question had found another pension pot! We won’t all be so lucky.
Question: Can you quantify your existing pension provision? Do you know if you are on target to meet your retirement goals? Leave us a comment below.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are those of the author only and are not necessarily those of I Planning Wealth Management Ltd. All material in this post should be considered as general information only and should in no way be construed as a recommendation of a specific product or course of action. Each circumstance is different and professional advice tailored to your circumstances should be sought from a qualified financial adviser.