Pension Awareness Day is a vital reminder for all of us to take action to support our financial futures. Retirement can seem a long way off, but there are things you can do today that can help improve your pension saving and contribute to the retirement you want in later years.
“A pension typically requires minimal short-term maintenance, but it is important to find and combine previous pensions pots and regularly review how much you put in, particularly if you get a pay rise or start a new job. Even a small monthly increase to your pension contribution can make a big difference over decades.
“Checking your pension pot once a year, using a retirement calculator to estimate your income and comparing it against the PLSA Retirement Lifetime Standards, which provides a guide as to how much you might need in retirement, can bring peace of mind that your retirement plans are on track, or prompt you to make any necessary changes.
“On average women miss out on £39,000 of pension savings through spending significant periods of time away from the workforce to raise families or take on other caring responsibilities. This makes it even more important for them to regularly review their pension and see what actions they can take now to support their retirement.
“At NOW: Pensions we have long called on policymakers to introduce a family carer’s top-up. This would see the Government step in to pay the equivalent of an employer’s contribution into carers’ pensions, at the same level as the National Living Wage. This action would help to deliver a fairer pensions system by topping up the pension savings of three million women and 300,000 men.”
|
