Many people want to know if they can retire comfortably, but in short, it’s not possible to answer that question without understanding your individual circumstances and your financial goals.
But there are a couple of things to bear in mind. The first is that the Normal Minimum Pension Age (NMPA) is currently 55, which is the earliest you can start taking money from your pension (although there are some exceptions). You should also be aware that the NMPA is about to increase to 57 from 6th April 2028 for people born after 6th April 1973.
The second thing to bear in mind is that the current State Pension Age is 66, rising to 67 in 2028. The value of the full current State Pension is £241.30 per week or £12,547.60 per year for people who reach State Pension age after April 2026. This may be less depending on how much National Insurance you have paid in over your working life.
You will need to work out how much monthly income you think you need to live to a standard that is comfortable for you personally. Taking into account the bills you have to pay.
That figure will always vary from one person to the next. That’s why it’s very difficult to give a simple answer to the question. But the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) say that a couple would need £62,700 a year to retire comfortably. But not all our clients think that they need that much.
Then you need to work out what the value of your current pension would be and how long you would need to rely on that pension before the State Pension kicks in to top up your income. This might also involve spending any other money you have saved separate from your pension.
This is where you need a financial adviser to help.
Free pension review
The first step to help you to find out how much you need to retire comfortable is to offer you a FREE pension review.
The FREE Pension Review service is designed to provide you with information about your current pension arrangements, to help you to decide whether you need financial advice. You are under NO OBLIGATION to do anything once you have received your review.
We will write off to your current pension providers and then review the information to produce a report for you which will tell you what types of funds your pensions are in and the level of risk in those investments. It will tell you what management and other charges you are paying, how your funds are performing, the value of your pensions and whether your arrangements allow you to take advantage of the flexi access rules.
In more detail, the information provided typically includes:
State Pension Forecast Information
- Age of Eligibility
- Value of benefits up to previous tax year
- Number of years additional contributions to maximum benefit
Personal Pension Information
- Date of Commencement
- Date of Leaving
- Contribution Level
- Employer Contribution/Employee Contribution
- Value
- Transfer Value
- Death Benefits
- Other Features
- Projections to State Retirement Age
- Details of Funds
- Charges
- Details of any guarantees or other benefits
- Whether partial transfers are accepted
Defined Benefit Pensions
- Date of Commencement
- Date of Leaving
- Statement of Entitlement
- Deferred Benefits
- Early Retirement Factors
- Death Benefits
- Other Features
- Scheme Funding Status
- Details of any guarantees or other benefits
- Whether partial transfers are accepted
This information is provided in a Pension Summary document which will allow you to decide whether you need advice about your pensions or not.
No Advice is provided at this stage.
We will also provide you with our Private Client Agreement, which includes a copy of our Fair Processing Notice and details of our terms and conditions.
Once the information has been provided and discussed, you are left to decide whether you want to proceed with advice in order for us to be able to help you retire comfortably or not.
We will not pester you after that.
