As part of Pension Awareness Week, Richard Holman DipPFS, Financial Planning Team Leader at Omny Group, shares why the decisions you make today could make a meaningful difference to your financial future.
It’s easy to leave retirement planning for another day. For some, retirement may be just around the corner, but for many this stage of life may feel a long way off. This Pension Awareness Week, why not check in on your finances and do something your future self could thank you for?
Retirement planning is one of those things that can be remarkably easy to put off thinking about.
There’s always something more immediate competing for our attention. The mortgage. The next holiday. Family commitments. The cost of everyday life. When retirement could be decades away, checking your pension rarely feels like the most pressing job on the list.
But your future financial security isn’t built overnight. It’s shaped gradually by the decisions you make throughout your life.
And sometimes, simply knowing where you stand today can be a powerful place to start.
It’s never too early to start retirement planning
Think about the life you’d like to have in retirement.
Perhaps it means travelling more. Helping children or grandchildren financially. Moving home. Spending more time on the things you enjoy. Or simply having the freedom to step away from work when you decide the time is right.
Whatever it looks like for you, there’s an important question to ask:
Are the financial decisions you’re making today helping you get there?
You don’t need to have every aspect of the next 10, 20 or 30 years perfectly mapped out. But understanding what you already have, where you’re heading and whether there are gaps in your plans can give you much more confidence about the future.
You could have more than you realise
A good starting point is simply understanding what you already have.
As we move between jobs throughout our careers, it’s easy to accumulate several different pension pots. Change address, lose an old statement or forget the name of a previous provider, and keeping track of them can become increasingly difficult.
In fact, research from the Pensions Policy Institute found there were an estimated 3.3 million lost pension pots in the UK in 2024, containing £31.1 billion in assets. The average lost pot was worth around £9,4701.
For people aged 55 to 75, the average value of a lost pension pot was even higher at £13,6202.
That’s a compelling reason to take stock of what you’ve already got.
If you’ve worked for several employers over the years, ask yourself:
- Do you know where all your pensions are?
- Do you know what they’re worth?
- Do you know whether they’re working towards the retirement you want?
If you’d like help understanding your pension arrangements and whether bringing them together makes sense, our financial advisors are here to help.
Knowing what you have is different to knowing what you need
Seeing a pension balance on a statement can give you a number. But a number on its own doesn’t necessarily tell you whether your retirement planning is on track.
Your pension might look healthy at first glance, but whether it can support the retirement you have in mind depends on the bigger picture. Your retirement age, mortgage, other investments, future spending and the income you’ll want all play a part.
This is where looking at your finances as a whole becomes important.
Small decisions today can make a difference tomorrow
The good news is that taking control of your finances doesn’t have to mean making dramatic changes overnight.
It could begin with a few simple questions:
- Where are my pensions?
Track down pension pots from previous employers and make sure your contact details are up to date.
- Do I know what I’m contributing?
Understand what is going into your pension and what that could mean in the long term.
- Do I know how my pension is invested?
Your investment choices can play an important role in how your money grows over time.
- What does retirement actually look like for me?
Think beyond an arbitrary retirement age. What lifestyle would you like, and when would you ideally like the choice to stop working?
- Are all my finances working together?
Your pension is only one part of your wider financial picture.
Most importantly, don’t wait until retirement feels close enough to become urgent.
Time gives you options.
The earlier you understand your position, the more opportunity you have to make considered adjustments along the way.
Financial planning is about more than retirement
At Omny Group, we believe financial planning should start with you.
Your ambitions. Your priorities. Your family. And the life you want your money to help you create.
A financial plan can bring together the different pieces of your financial life, from pensions and investments to savings, protection and longer-term goals, to help you understand where you are today and what you may need to do next.
Good financial planning isn’t about predicting exactly what your future will look like, it’s about putting yourself in a stronger position for the future.
Your future self is counting on today’s decisions
Pension Awareness Week is a useful reminder to stop and think about what your future could look like. So, perhaps this week, take a moment to check in on your finances.
Your future self might just thank you.
Ready to take a closer look at your financial future?
If you’d like to understand whether you’re on track for the retirement you want, speak to our Personal Finance team today and take the next step in your retirement planning journey.
Richard Holman DipPFS
Financial Planning Team Leader, Omny Personal Finance
Sources:
[1] Pensions Policy Institute, 2024
[2] Pensions Policy Institute, 2024
This article is for general information only and does not constitute financial advice. Pension and tax rules can change, and their impact will depend on your individual circumstances.