Fresh findings from Opinium, commissioned by Hargreaves Lansdown, show that nearly a third (32%) of Britons possess at least two workplace or personal pensions, while a quarter (24%) of those surveyed have accumulated three or more separate retirement funds.
Alarmingly, around 4% of people admit they’re unsure how many pensions they hold – or even where these accounts are located. Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown, warns this oversight could seriously damage your financial security in retirement.
Neglecting to locate these lost pots means potentially forfeiting thousands of pounds in retirement income – particularly crucial as the State Pension age is due to climb to 67 from April, with a subsequent rise from 67 to 68 planned between 2044 and 2046, reports the Daily Record.
Ms Morrissey commented: “If your New Year’s resolution is to get financially fit, it’s worth paying some attention to your pensions. Many of us are juggling multiple retirement pots and there’s a real risk we could lose track of one or more and leave ourselves worse off in retirement.”
She added: “It’s easily done. If you don’t keep your contact details updated whenever you move house there’s a chance you could lose track of a pension from a previous employer.
“Our research shows that 32 per cent of people say they have two pensions, one in four say they have three or more and 4 per cent of people have no idea. It’s really important to keep track of what you have – research from the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) shows there are more than 3.3m lost pension pots in the system,” revealed the retirement expert.
She also provided advice on how to tackle this issue, stating: “If you think you’ve lost track of a pension, you can contact the government’s Pension Tracing helpline. If you have the name of either the pension provider or employer, they can give you contact details so you can try and track it down.”
Looking ahead, Ms Morrissey emphasised the benefits of the upcoming pensions dashboards for managing your retirement savings. She advised: “Once you’ve got your pensions together, it might make sense to consolidate them.
“Having an overarching view of what you have can make a big difference to your retirement planning, because people tend to view one larger pot in a different way to several smaller ones, which they might be tempted to take as cash and spend. Taking the time to track down those pensions can really pay off.”
She further illustrated her point with a calculation: “Calculations on Hargreaves Lansdown’s pension calculator shows that someone with a £60,000 pension at the age of 55 would be on track to accumulate a pension pot worth £125,000 by the age of 67.
“However, if they were to discover a lost pension of £14,000 (average size of lost pension pot is £13,620 among 55-75 age group according to PPI) and consolidate it with their current pension, they would have a pension worth £144,000 by the age of 67.”
Nevertheless, Ms Morrissey stressed the importance of examining the fine print before choosing to consolidate. She cautioned: “Ensure you aren’t exposing yourself to costly exit fees by consolidating or forfeiting important benefits such as guaranteed annuity rates. It also seldom makes sense to transfer a final salary pension.”