Designing for real life

How we made our pension calculator even smarter.

19 March 2025
A woman stands pointing at colorful sticky notes on a white wall while four colleagues sit around a table with laptops and notebooks, engaged in a meeting or brainstorming session in a bright office.

Did you know that the average UK worker will have 11 different jobs in their lifetime? At Smart Pension, our research shows that keeping track of multiple pensions is a genuine challenge for savers. We understand that people want to make confident, informed decisions about their future, but they often face challenges with fragmented information. We take an iterative approach to our tools, ensuring members have what they need for the retirement they want.

Building for the needs of savers

How do you turn good intentions into action? The Fogg Behaviour Model shows us that people take action when three elements align: motivation, ability, and a timely prompt. We've designed our latest pension calculator with this in mind, making retirement planning both easier and more engaging.

  • Ability – savers can now add pensions from other providers, including Defined Contribution (DC) pots, SIPPs, and Defined Benefit(DB) pensions, giving them a single and clear view of their savings.
  • Motivation – a clear, more accurate projection of their retirement savings boosts confidence and encourages proactive planning.
  • Prompt – our in-app ‘To-do list’ feature and regular email nudges help keep savers engaged and on track.
Screen showing pensions from Aviva and Barclays, each £10,000 with dates and options to edit or review.

Seeing the bigger picture

With our latest pension calculator update, savers can now see all their savings in one place. No more juggling statements from different providers or guessing where their pension savings are. We’ve also introduced an in-app ‘to-do’ list item as well as a yearly nudge to help savers take small but important steps toward better retirement planning. 

The new ‘to-do’ list empowers members to act effortlessly and intuitively on their retirement planning by simplifying pension planning into simple steps. It encourages regular check-ins, assisting them in identifying gaps between their current and desired income, adjusting projections, and establishing new savings targets – ensuring that retirement planning remains consistent and achievable.

Comparison of estimated annual retirement incomes at age 65 excluding (£24,494) and including (£36,268) other pensions.

What’s next

These updates continue to refine what savers want and need in the retirement planning puzzle. By bringing everything together in one place, it helps savers take control with ease and builds their financial confidence. At Smart Pension, we’re focused on building customer-centric technology that empowers people to manage their financial future. 

By taking an iterative approach and continuously refining our pension calculator with data insights and feedback, we make pension planning simpler, more accessible, and less daunting so savers can feel confident about their retirement. We believe pensions don’t have to be complicated. 

Look out for more feature updates from us soon. If you're a Smart Pension member, take five minutes today to try our latest pension calculator – you could get a clear picture of your future.

About Smart Pension

Launched in 2015, Smart Pension now exceeds £10bn in Assets Under Management (AUM) and serves 2 million members and 100,000 employers. It is powered by Keystone, Smart’s global savings and investments technology platform.

Aquiline, Barclays, Chrysalis Investments, DWS Group, Fidelity InternationalStrategic Ventures, J.P. Morgan, MUFG and Natixis Investment Managers are all investors in Smart Pension.

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