Pension support

The Money Helper pension calculator is a great place to start when thinking about how much you should save into your pension. It:

• works out how much someone on your salary might want to retire on
• calculates how much you’re paying and how much you’ve saved
• considers how much state pension you’ll receive
• identifies any shortfall between the income you want and what you’ll get

You can also see what difference it would make if you increase the amount you pay in, change your retirement age or change your target income.

Your pension pot will probably be the biggest amount of money you’ll save over your working life, so you’ll want to make sure it is invested properly. There are different options available so it’s worth speaking to your financial adviser or one of the government support services.

If you have more than one pension, you might want to think about combining them into one scheme – this is known as consolidation.

By having all your pension savings together in one place, you can manage and keep track of and your pension savings more easily and could potentially have access to a greater choice of investments.

Most of our customers speak to their financial adviser before making choices about their pension as they can advise you on the best way to use your pension and the most appropriate way to invest to meet your goals.

If you don’t have an adviser, you can get free and impartial guidance from:

Pension Wise - 0800 011 3797

You will either need to speak to your financial adviser who can make a personal recommendation based on your circumstances or contact us if you would like to make a top up without advice.

You can submit the details online at customer.platform.quilter.com.

Alternatively, you can complete an expression of wish form and send it to us.

Like anything valuable, your pension can become the target for illegal activities, scams or inappropriate investments.

Scams can take many forms and often appear to be a legitimate investment opportunity.

There are 4 simple steps you can take to protect yourself from pension scams:

• Reject unexpected pension offers whether made online, on social media or over the phone.
• Check who you’re dealing with is authorised before changing your pension arrangements on the FCA Register or by calling the FCA helpline on 0800 111 6768.
• Don’t be rushed or pressured into making any decision about your pension.
• Consider getting impartial information or advice.

The state pension age is currently 65 but is due to increase in stages to 68 by 2046. If you have a pension with us, you’ll be able to access it when you reach age 55 even if you’re still working. However, this minimum pension age will be rising to age 57 on 6th April 2028.

By the time you stop working, your bills may have reduced but your spending might increase because of your new lifestyle.

The Money Helper budget planner may help with how much income you need. Remember, the longer you wait to use your pension pot, the longer it has to grow potentially giving you a bigger pot of money to live on.

This will depend on how you use the money in your pension pot. Other things that will affect how long it lasts are - how old you are when you reduce your hours or stop working and your life expectancy.

If you decide to use some of your pension money to pay off your mortgage or go on a big holiday, it will mean there is less to use for an income so you will either need to reduce your income or it won’t last as long.

For more information visit Money Helper.

There are three ways to take your money from your pension:

• Take a bit at a time (known as drawdown)
• Take it all in one go
• Buy a regular, guaranteed income (an annuity)

You can choose a combination of these or mix and match them over time. This short video explains these options in more detail:

The money in your drawdown pot is where your taxable income is paid from and the assets you invest in can affect whether you meet your future income needs.

You can choose to keep the same assets you’re currently invested in, invest in new assets or choose an asset based on your plans for the next five years (an investment pathway).

We strongly recommend you seek advice to make sure your investments are suitable.

An investment pathway is an asset or group of assets that are compatible with an objective. If you don’t want to research the market to find assets to use, you can choose to invest in an investment pathway we have researched.

This does not constitute financial advice from us, but it may help you reach a decision about the assets to choose.

There are four pathways to choose from:

• I have no plans to touch my money in the next five years.
• I plan to use my money to set up a guaranteed income (annuity) within the next five years.
• I plan to start taking my money as a long-term income within the next five years.
• I plan to take out all my money within the next five years.

You can find out more about these options in our investment pathway guide.

Our independent Governance Advisory Arrangement (GAA) makes sure our pathway solutions deliver value for money and is in place to look after your interests.

Normally, 25% of the money you take from your pension pot is tax free. The rest of it is taxed in the same way you pay income tax on a salary. Read our income tax guide for more details on how this works.

The decisions you make about your pension pot will affect your income for the rest of your life.

To help you think about what’s best for you it’s always wise to talk through your situation with a financial adviser. If you don’t want to use a financial adviser, you can use one of the free government guidance services:

Pension Wise - 0800 011 3797

If your financial adviser has made a personal recommendation, they’ll be able to do this on your behalf. If you’d like to make a withdrawal without taking advice you can contact us directly.

You can submit the details online at customer.platform.quilter.com.

Alternatively, you can complete an expression of wish form and send it to us.

The type of pension pot you hold with Quilter is called a ‘money purchase’ or ‘defined contribution’ scheme. These terms are used to describe schemes where you pay money into the pension pot (i.e. you define the amount of contribution you want to make), then the money in your pension pot is used to purchase investments. The value of your pot depends on the performance of those investments.