When was the last time you reviewed your pension savings?

As the nature of work and retirement changes, thinking in advance about how you want to spend your later life – and how much money you’ll need to make it a reality – can make a huge difference to your future.

It’s become much more common to work in many jobs at different companies over the course of your career, and people are living longer, too. At the same time, the way most people save into, and take, their pension has changed considerably in the ten years since the introduction of compulsory workplace pension schemes.

It’s important to know how much you have in retirement savings, where the money is invested and how long it might have to last when you retire from the workplace. Have you thought about what your own financial circumstances might be when you retire? Taking a broad view of all these factors is an important step towards financial security in your later life.

Take your Midlife MOT

In a new initiative, the Department for Work and Pensions has brought together services, tools and resources from the NHS, Money Helper, Mind and Citizens Advice in an online service called the Midlife MOT. It has been launched to help people aged 45-65 to evaluate their skills, finances and health, and to encourage them to think about whether they’re on track for later life.

The Midlife MOT website contains helpful information and short questionnaires to help you evaluate:‍

• your skills and how to search for a suitable job
• how to improve and maintain your health
• how to get on track with your finances through saving and money management

From a savings planning point of view, the tool asks you questions around budgeting, financial planning, debt, insurance and pensions. It’s free to use and can give you handy information on pension basics like the state pension age and working out when you plan to retire. You can also find out how much you may need to save for the lifestyle you want and how to locate pension pots you may have lost track of or forgotten about. The ‘goals’ feature means you can quickly and easily get personalised information about what matters most to you.

At Smart Pension, we are happy to support the Midlife MOT initiative. Everyone’s financial situation is different, so factors beyond how much you’re saving directly into your pension can have a big impact. It’s important to plan ahead and make informed decisions that reflect your own financial circumstances so you can achieve the retirement you want.

Visit the Midlife MOT website here.Here are some other useful resources you can find on our website:

• Check out your retirement income – sign in to your Smart Pension account and select the 'Pension calculator' tile.
• Discover how to find your lost pensions.
• Put all your pensions in one place.