Is financial advice right for you?

I don't have a big pension pot, could advice help me?

Advice can help everyone, no matter what their financial goals are.  It can help you avoid making costly mistakes and give an expert recommendation on how best to meet your financial goals.  If you have a more modest pension pot though, it may not be the most cost-effective solution for you – the fee that advice charges may be higher than the value you get back.   That’s why many financial advice services have a minimum pension savings size that they’ll advise on. They’ve looked at their fees and charges to make sure they give can give advice that adds enough value to make it cost effective.   If you have pension savings below the minimum for advice, you can still get support through guidance services or if you’re aged 50+, you can book an appointment with Pension Wise for free, impartial guidance.

Why is there a fee for advice?

It’s a regulatory requirement that financial advisers must be paid through adviser charges, and not through commission or other benefits.   The regulation was introduced to help make it easier to understand what the costs of advice are and make it easier to compare advice services, so that you can make an informed decision about whether or not to take advice, and which advice service to choose.

What's the difference between advice and guidance?

Put simply:

• Guidance helps you understand your possible financial choices
• Advice tells you which financial choices are best for you

I’ve managed my pension investments well so far, do I really need to pay for advice?

Retirement planning goes beyond just picking investments. Financial advice covers everything from managing taxes and benefits to helping you understand how different products can meet your needs at particular stages, and even how you can use them together to meet your financial goals. Taking advice can also give you the peace of mind that you’re making the right decisions for you and your family.

What type of adviser should I choose?

That depends on what you need. There are different types:

• An independent financial adviser will look at options from different providers and across different products to find the best solutions for you.
• A restricted adviser will look at your options across a more limited range - for example, they could be tied to one provider, or types of provider.
• Specialist advisers could be either independent or restricted, but focus on specific areas. For example, retirement, later life, or mortgages.  

Will the State Pension be enough to pay for my retirement?

The State Pension could make a difference to your retirement - but will it cover your ideal later lifestyle?

For the 2025/26 tax year, the full State Pension is £230.25 a week, if you’ve paid National Insurance for the full 35 years. That adds up to £11,973 a year. Would that support your ideal retirement lifestyle? Of course, you might be part of a couple. The two of you will get £23,946 a year - but that’s much lower than the £43,900 yearly income the Retirement Living Standards suggest would be needed for a couple to enjoy a moderate retirement.

Advice can help you identify other sources and solutions that could help plug any gap between the State Pension and the retirement you'd like. 

Do all pension providers offer the same products?

No - different providers may have higher rates of payment, different options, features, qualifying criteria and charges. The options they offer could have different tax implications for you.  An independent financial adviser will compare providers and products for you.

How can financial advice help me plan my retirement?

When you take advice, you’ll get access to years of training, expertise and insights, helping you navigate the complexities of financial planning. That includes understanding your savings choices, exploring your attitude to risk, seeing which products could be best suited to you, and making sure you’re on track to achieve your current (and future) goals.

Is it too late for advice to help me grow my pension pot?

Even if you're retiring right now, advice can still be useful. Taking advice from one of our expert advisers can show you how to get the most out of your existing assets, top up any gaps in your State Pension, turn your pension pot into the best possible retirement income, find any lost pensions or even put back your retirement if you want to keep saving for a little longer.

Is it too early to think about my pension savings?

It’s never too early to start saving into a pension - in fact, the earlier you start the better. Your money has more time to hopefully grow (though of course its value can also go down). That means you might not have to save as much later to achieve your retirement dreams – or you could even retire early.