Preparing for retirement - let the numbers do the talking
Essential forms and calculators to help you plan your retirement
If you’re preparing for retirement, there are a number of financial and emotional factors to consider. Careful planning will allow you to enjoy life as you ease back from full time work, and have that much desired ‘peace of mind’, free from any real financial worry.
Here are some useful tools and calculators that allow anyone to build a clear picture of what needs to be done, and what you can expect in terms of income in retirement.
Step 1 - Get an estimate of your State Pension
First things first - get an estimate of how much State Pension you might get. This is based on your National Insurance contributions so far.
You can check your forecast on the GOV.UK website.
Step 2 - Your long lost pensions
(if you are lucky to have some lost ones!)
Chase up any pension providers that you’ve lost contact with - the Pension Tracing Service can help with this.
Here is the online form to find a lost pension.
Step 3 - calculate an estimate of the income you'll get when you retire
This will include income from defined benefit and defined contribution schemes, plus your State Pension. You could also include potential income from other sources such as ISAs and property.
Use the Pension Calculator.
Step 4 - work out how much tax you might have to pay
The income you have available to spend might be lower than the amount you receive due to the tax you might have to pay on it. For help working out how much tax you might have to pay
This is a good online calculator for working out your tax position.
You can then do a ‘belt and braces’ cross check with the government calculator, for good measure!
Step 5 - now start to ask some questions of yourself and your family
This simple, easy to use fact find will help in answering some key questions about your goals and motivations. It’s a document that is worth revisiting more than once, as your planning takes shape, and new insight and information comes into focus.