Approaching your retirement

Approaching your retirement presentation transcript 

Slide 1. 'Approaching your retirement' 

Welcome and introductions. 

Housekeeping (including management of questions). 

This session has been designed to help members, who are less than 10 years away from retirement, identify the things they need to do to make sure they’re ready for their retirement.   

Remember, the savings in your workplace pension will become an important part of your income once you’re ready to slow down or stop working altogether.   

Please note that we’re unable to answer any individual questions today.  

To assist you, we’ve created a webpage that provides answers to some of the questions you may have about your workplace pension and includes links to the websites and tools that we’ll be looking at in today’s session, which you’ll find at legalandgeneral.com/pensionquestions. 

If you have a question about your individual plan, please contact our Helpline on 0345 070 8686.  

Slide 2. Important information  

Risk warnings: 

• This is a general education presentation and does not represent financial advice. 

• It’s based on the 2024/2025 tax year. 

• The law, tax rates and any allowances may change in the future. 

• The value of your investment will go up and down. It isn’t guaranteed, so you may get back less than you put in. 

Over the last few years, we've seen uncertainty in financial markets caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, invasion of Ukraine and the rising costs of goods and services. This has led to volatile market conditions. However, history shows that markets do recover from all sorts of circumstances. It’s important to not make rash financial decisions in the heat of the moment about long-term investments. 

Slide 3. Agenda: What are we going to cover today?  

Today we’ll be focusing on the things you need to think about and do, when it comes to finalising your plans for retirement, particularly if you’re less than 10 years from retirement. 

This will include:  

• thinking about what you want your retirement to be like. 

• working out if you’re on track to achieve your goals. 

• understanding the different ways of taking your money. 

• the resources that can help with your planning. 

• where to go to get more guidance and advice. 

• the key takeaways from today’s presentation. 

Slide 4. Which of these are important to you in retirement? 

With less than 10 years to go until retirement, it’s important to make the most of the time between now and then, and try to do as much as you can to plan for the retirement you want. 

So, if you haven’t started planning yet – or haven’t thought about it in a while – now is the time to do something about it.  

Often, it can be difficult to know where to start especially if you don’t know what you’re planning for. So, a good place to start might be to begin thinking about how you want to spend your time in retirement. 

To help get you started, we’re going to share the results of a survey we conducted last year. 

We asked 2,000 people, over the age of 50, what they thought would be an important part of their retirement.  

As you can see: 

• 94% wanted to be financially able to maintain the lifestyle they want in their retirement. 

• 94% wanted to feel financially secure for the rest of their lives. 

• 90% wanted to spend time with their families. 

• 81% wanted to be able to afford care or assistance if they need it. 

• 73% wanted to be able to provide financial support for major family events, such as weddings and new arrivals. 

• 72% wanted to travel. 

• 69% wanted to support their family financially. 

It’s quite possible that some - if not most - of these ‘goals’ will resonate with our audience today and will help to reinforce the things that are important to you and be able to picture the kind of lifestyle you might want in retirement. 

Slide 5. Finalise your retirement plans  

If you haven’t already, now’s the time to start putting the finishing touches on your plans for retirement.  

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association have created the Retirement Living Standards, based on independent research by Loughborough University, and these can help you to work out how much your lifestyle in retirement might cost, so that you can start to make your plans for later life. 

The standards show what life in retirement looks like at three different levels - minimum, moderate and comfortable - and what a range of common goods and services, including household bills and maintenance, food & drink and transport, might cost at each level. 

Our retirement planning tool (we’ll look at this later in the presentation) can help you to work this out - in a more realistic and personalised way based on your individual circumstances - and, once you’ve identified how much you would need - and are likely to have - you can start to prepare for retirement with greater clarity. 

Don’t forget, when working out what your income in retirement might be, to include all the possible sources, including any other workplace pensions, private pensions and the State Pension, as well as any part-time earnings or other savings or investments you intend to use to supplement your income in retirement. 

Please note that the figures shown on the slide are based on people living outside of London, who are assumed to be mortgage or rent free, and reflect the annual amounts that would be needed after paying any Income Tax and National Insurance deductions (as applicable). 

For more information visit retirementlivingstandards.org.uk which you can access by scanning the QR code on the slide. 

Slide 6. Your money in retirement  

You'll need to take stock of what your retirement finances might look like, to work out when you might be able to retire and the lifestyle you would have. In broad terms, your income in retirement is likely to fall into two different categories. Pension-related income and income from other sources.  

Let’s start with pension-related income. 

There are many different types of pensions and it’s quite possible that you already have - or will contribute to - more than one pension over the course of your working life. Your partner may have other pensions as well, although you may find that their pensions will have different selected retirement ages compared to yours. 

The government provides a State Pension. For the 2024/2025 tax year, the full State Pension is £221.20 per week or approximately £11,500 per year and is currently available to people aged between 66 and 68, depending on when they were born. To receive a full State Pension, you need 35 years’ qualifying National Insurance (NI) contributions and you must have at least 10 qualifying years of NI contributions to receive any State Pension. As well as paying contributions while working, you can also ‘earn’ qualifying years by receiving NI credits if you’re unemployed, ill, parenting or a carer.   

If you haven’t already, you can check your State Pension forecast on the gov.uk website to see what you might receive and when.  

It’s also important to point out that you won’t receive your State Pension automatically - you have to claim it. You should get a letter, no later than two months before you reach State Pension age, telling you what to do. If you don’t get a letter, you can still make a claim.  

You also have the option to delay taking your State Pension, which could increase the amount you receive once you do claim it. You don’t have to do anything. It will automatically be deferred until you claim it. Your State Pension will increase by the equivalent of 1% for every 9 weeks you defer. This works out at just under 5.8% for every 52 weeks. The extra amount is paid with your regular State Pension payment and, depending on your total annual income, could be liable to income tax. 

Your Legal & General pension is a Defined Contribution (DC) pension. It can provide you with money in retirement. How much you have at retirement will depend on things like, how much has been paid in, how the investments have performed and how much has been deducted in charges. The way you decide to take your money at retirement will also have an impact.  

You might be able to supplement your retirement income with money from other pensions, including personal pensions and pensions from other employers. Knowing how these pensions work, and how much income they might provide you with in the future will form an important part of your retirement planning.   

For example, you may have a Defined Benefits (DB) pension from a previous employer. If so, it’s important to be aware that this type of pension is different to the DC pension that you have with your current employer, in that the benefits you receive from it will be based on the salary you earned and the number of years you were employed there. To find out more about any previous DB pensions you might have, please contact the scheme administrator. 

If you haven’t already done so, now might be a good time to dig out your old paperwork or go online to check your latest pension statements. 

In addition, you may also be planning to supplement your lifestyle in retirement with income from other sources.  

You may intend - or need - to carry on working in retirement, either full-time or part-time, to provide an income. You may have other savings or investments, such as: 

• Bank accounts. 

• Savings accounts. 

• Individual Saving Accounts (ISA). 

• Shares or other investments like Bonds, Unit Trusts etc. 

If you own property, including your own home, you may be planning to use this to provide extra income. 

Depending on your circumstances, you might also qualify for certain state benefits.  

A good place to start, if most of this is new to you, would be the pensions and retirement section on the MoneyHelper website. You’ll find lots of helpful information on saving for retirement, which you can access by scanning the QR code. 

Slide 7. Important considerations 

There'll be lots to think about, when it comes to finalising your retirement plans and making sure you’re on track to achieve them. 

You may not realise it but one in three divorces involves people aged over 50 - a time when it’s particularly important to keep an eye on your pension.  

Indeed, when a couple get divorced, a pension pot can be one of the biggest family assets after the home. Yet many, particularly in this older age group, are unsure – and possibly unaware of – the importance of making sure that any pension rights are shared equitably in any settlement.  

Recent research from Legal & General highlights that only 20% of divorcees took pensions into account when dividing their assets, and 29% actively turned down a share of their partner’s pension. 

And, whilst there may be other factors to consider, it’s maybe not too surprising to learn that, in the first year following divorce, a woman is likely to see her annual household income fall on average by an estimated 41% compared to 21% for a man. 

So, it’s really important, should you find yourself going through a divorce - particularly if you’re a woman - to make sure your divorce settlement includes a share of any pension rights.  

It’s also important to start thinking about whether you intend to start slowing down and go part-time or stop working altogether. 

This decision to keep working or enjoy more free time is likely to be driven, to some extent, by what you can afford to do and whether you’ll need to supplement your income to support the lifestyle you want. 

Start thinking about the things that will be important to you in retirement. As we saw a little earlier, almost all of the responders to our survey indicated that it was important to them to be able to maintain their existing lifestyle and to feel financially secure for the rest of their lives.  

In addition to the things that are important, there’ll also be the things that you want to do, such as travelling and going on holidays, focusing on hobbies - both new and old - and maybe doing a little DIY. 

Now would also be a good time to start giving some thought to the way in which you plan to take your retirement savings and when. The accessing your retirement savings section on our ‘Go&Live’ website could be a good place to get started. 

If you haven’t already, you might also want to start putting plans in place for your loved ones. Do you need to make a will - or review an existing one? Do you need to set up a Power of Attorney for yourself or other family members? Have you made the necessary arrangements associated with the transfer of any large assets (e.g. property)? 

You may also need to plan and budget for any long-term health and caring needs. If you’re needing to find care for a family member or partner, you may be able to use our Care Concierge service at no cost. If it’s available to your scheme, you’ll have access to a team of dedicated care experts, who are committed to helping you navigate the often challenging and difficult later life care journey.  

Finding, and paying for, care is a deeply personal experience - everyone's needs are different.  

The friendly and helpful Care Concierge team aim to understand your specific situation and requirements and will help you work out what your options are.  

In short, you should probably start thinking about all aspects of your life in retirement, from your purpose in retirement and how you’ll spend your time (including the things on your bucket list) through to the assets you have and paying off any debts.   

Slide 8. Tax limits on pension savings  

It’s worth just making you aware that, should you want to increase the amount you contribute in order to achieve your goals, that there are some limits on how much you can pay before incurring a tax charge. 

You can normally pay the equivalent of your annual salary into your company pension plan each year and still get tax relief. However, there is an Annual Allowance and if you go beyond this, you may incur a tax penalty. The Annual Allowance is currently £60,000. This allowance applies across all schemes you belong to, and includes all contributions paid by you or anyone else on your behalf – including your employer. 

If you earn more than £200,000, the allowance could be reduced to as little as £10,000 a year. This is called the Tapered Annual Allowance.   

If you start to take money from a Defined Contribution pension pot, the amount you can contribute to your Defined Contribution pensions - and still get tax relief – may reduce.  

This is known as the Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA) and, if you trigger it, the amount you can save and still receive tax relief will reduce to £10,000 a year. The MPAA will not apply if you buy a lifetime annuity, if you only take your tax-free cash or if you take benefits from a defined benefit scheme. 

These allowances may change. Our Tax Year Rates and Allowances booklet will keep you up to date on any changes. More detailed information on these allowances is also available on the HMRC website at Gov.uk, which you can access via the QR code on the slide. 

If you need help with tax and your pension savings, you may want to seek personalised financial advice. To find an adviser in your local area go to unbiased.co.uk. Advisers normally charge for their services. You can also find out more about choosing a financial adviser on the MoneyHelper website. You can access both of these websites via the QR codes on the slide. 

Slide 9. Take stock of all your pensions  

If you've got Defined Contribution pension pots with previous employers, you can normally transfer them all into one plan.  

There are lots of reasons why you might want to transfer an old pension to a different provider. You may want to make it easier to manage your retirement savings (by having them all in one place) but it could also be about reducing your charges or improving your investment choices or the options that are available when you want to take your money.   

If you don’t know where they are, you can find lost pensions through the government’s pension tracing service at gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details. To use this service, you’ll need the name of an employer or a pension provider. Please note that the government service won’t tell you whether you have a pension, or what its value is. 

My Future Now is Legal & General’s free pension transfer service that offers you a simple way to combine all your pension pots in one place. If it’s available to your scheme, you’ll be able to access it in your online account. 

Follow the ‘Transfer in a pension’ link in your online account, to access My Future Now, where you’ll find more information about this free service, including the guide to pension transfers. When it comes to deciding whether transferring your retirement savings is right for you, there’s a lot to think about. You might want to start by comparing the charges and available options, to see whether a transfer would be beneficial. You should also check if there are any penalties for transferring out or whether you would lose any guarantees or special features.   

It’s important to be aware of pension scams. You can find out how to spot, avoid and report pension scams at the MoneyHelper website. 

You should also find out if you’re required to seek financial advice, as some schemes (depending on the value of your pot) may require you get a recommendation from a financial adviser. And, even if you aren’t required to do so, you may still want to seek financial advice. To find an adviser in your local area go to unbiased.co.uk, which you can access by scanning the QR code on the slide. Advisers normally charge for their services. 

Please note, as we outlined at the outset, we’re only providing information in our presentation today. We aren’t able to provide financial advice and, as such, we aren’t recommending that a transfer is the right thing for you.   

Slide 10. Taking money from your pension  

You may be aware that as a member of your workplace pension, you have the flexibility to choose how you take your money at retirement.  

Before we start to look at these options in more detail, we recommend that members consider taking the free guidance that’s available from Pension Wise. If you’re aged 50 or over, you can arrange a consultation - either face-to-face or over the telephone – with a specialist who will outline the available options and explain the tax implications.   

You may also wish to consider taking financial advice.  

The earliest you can currently access your retirement savings in this scheme is from the age of 55.  

You may be able to access your savings earlier than this, if you have an illness that means you’re unable to work again in the future or if you have a protected retirement age.  A protected retirement age was available for certain pension scheme members who, prior to 6 April 2006, had the right to take their pension benefits before age 55.  

It’s also worth noting that the government has implemented legislation that will increase the age of access to age 57 from April 2028. 

To bring these options to life a little more, we’d like to play you a short video. 

<Play ‘Retirement options explained’ video at Legal & General - Learn about accessing your pension pot (legalandgeneral.com)> 

When you access your pension, you can usually take up to 25% of it as a tax-free lump sum.  

Your ‘lump sum allowance’ (LSA) is the maximum amount of money you can take as tax-free lump sums from all the pensions you have. While you can still take out money over this allowance, you will need to pay income tax on it. 

The lump sum allowance is £268,275. It will be higher if you have any protected tax-free lump sums, or a protected lifetime allowance. 

Slide 11. Drawdown: Things to consider 

Also known as Flexi-access drawdown, this option normally allows you to take up to 25% of your funds as tax-free cash, subject to any allowances, while leaving the rest invested to provide a regular income, and occasional lump sums if required, which will be taxed as earned income.  

This option also allows you the flexibility to vary, stop or suspend the amount you receive.   

Although this option may provide greater flexibility, there are still a number of other factors to take into account before deciding to take your savings in this way. 

You’ll need to think about how long you may need your money to last, when deciding how much money to take and how frequently. You may need to consider taking financial advice.  

The money that remains invested has the chance to grow but it could go down in value too.  

The value of your pension pot isn’t guaranteed and, if you take out too much or your investment funds don’t perform as well as you’d expected, you could run out of money before you die. 

Slide 12. Annuity: Things to consider 

An annuity provides you with a regular, guaranteed income either for life or for a fixed period. Normally, when buying an annuity, you can take up to 25% of your funds as tax-free cash, subject to any allowances, and use some or all of the remainder to purchase your guaranteed income. 

However, as shown on the slide, there are a number of things to consider. 

This option might be suitable if you want the certainty of a guaranteed income for both yourself and/or your dependants. It’s also worth being aware that smokers and those in poor health might qualify for an enhanced annuity rate, which basically means you’ll receive a higher guaranteed income for the same cost.  

It’s important to be aware that if you decide to purchase an annuity, you can’t change your mind afterwards.  

You should also be aware that the income you receive could be taxable. This means that you may have to pay tax on the income provided by your annuity, if your total income from all sources is more than the personal allowance, which is £12,570 in the 2024/25 tax year.  

There’s also the possibility that, depending on how long you live, you might get less back than the purchase price of your annuity.  

Slide 13. Cash: Things to consider 

You have more than one option when it comes to taking your money as cash. However, before making your decision there are a few things to consider, particularly when it comes to the amount of tax you might have to pay. 

Taking it all in one go  

You have the option to take all your pension pot as a single cash lump sum. You can normally take up to 25% of your funds as tax-free cash, subject to any allowances. The rest will be treated as taxable income. This means that, if you take your savings in this way, you could end up paying more in tax compared to some of the other options available to you, particularly if doing it this way takes you into a higher Income Tax bracket. 

You should also start to think about what you intend to do with this money and how long you need it to last.  

It’s important to remember that, if it isn’t reinvested, your money won’t have the opportunity to grow and over time inflation will reduce what you can afford to buy with it. 

You don't need to have stopped working to take this option, but you might want to give some thought to where your money will come from when you do stop working. 

Taking it as a number of smaller lump sums 

Should you wish to, you can leave your pension pot invested and withdraw your money as a series of smaller cash amounts.  

The money that remains in your pot has the chance to grow but it could also go down in value.  

Each time you withdraw a lump sum, the first 25% of that amount will normally be tax free, subject to any allowances, with the rest being treated as taxable income. 

Taking your money in this way enables you to spread your lump sum amounts over more than one tax year and, as a result, could help to reduce the amount of Income Tax you have to pay on any withdrawal. 

Slide 14. Do your investments match your plans?  

It’s important, therefore, to also be aware of where your savings are currently invested and to regularly check that this reflects your current plans for retirement. 

Remember, if your savings are invested in the default investment option for your scheme, this will have been selected by your employer and/or your scheme Trustees, possibly in conjunction with their investment advisers. 

Although it’s considered a suitable choice for most scheme members, the default investment option doesn’t take into account your own personal circumstances or your future plans. You don’t have to remain in the default and, instead, you can choose to self-select your own investments from the options available to you (which may vary from one scheme to another).  

If you haven’t done so recently, now would be a good time to review how your savings are currently invested. 

This would also be a good time to think about checking your selected retirement date, which - unless you’ve changed it yourself - would have been set automatically when you joined the scheme. 

It’s important to review this date on an annual basis, or if your circumstances change, and think about whether you still intend - or can afford - to take your money at the date that’s been set.  

If your selected retirement date no longer reflects your circumstances or your plans, you may want to consider changing it. This is particularly relevant if you’re invested in a lifestyle profile or a Target Date Fund that moves your savings into different funds or asset classes, as you get closer to your selected retirement date.  

You can do this in your online account. 

Please note that, if you’re thinking of making your own investment decisions, you can find details of all the investment options that are available to you on your scheme website and or by visiting your online account. 

It’s important to check whether the fund or lifestyle profile you’re considering matches your own attitude to investment risk and your plans in retirement and that you are comfortable with the charges. 

You should also be aware that the value of an investment and any income taken from it is not guaranteed and can go down as well as up, and you may not get back the amount you originally invested. Different funds have different associated risks. Please read the relevant fund documentation before making any investment decisions. 

You may also want to take financial advice before making any changes to your investments. You can find a local financial adviser at www.unbiased.co.uk, which you can access by scanning the QR code on the slide. Financial advisers usually charge for their service. 

 

 

Slide 15. Turning a pension pot into retirement income 

You may recall that we looked at a recent survey earlier in this presentation. We thought it might be interesting to give you an example of how this might work in practice, using the information provided by the people who took part in that survey.  

Our respondents had an average pension pot of a little more than £185,000. That’s actually quite high – according to the Office of National Statistics in 2020, the general UK average is about £107,000. 

But what if you are fortunate enough to have £185,000 saved up when you reach retirement age? Like 94% of our respondents, you’ll probably want to feel financially secure in your retirement.  

Based on figures taken from June 2023, you could, subject to allowances, take the maximum 25% of your funds as tax-free cash, giving you a £46,250 lump sum. 

With the other £138,750 you could buy an annuity, for a guaranteed-for-life income of c.£8,000 a year. 

Then you’d add your State Pension to that, which in 2024/25 will pay you at most about £11,500 a year.  

Assuming you got that, you’d end up with a basic annual pre-tax income of about £19,500 from these two combined. 

You’d also have your lump sum ready to cover any unexpected costs or emergencies. Or as many people do, you might use it to pay off your mortgage, buy a new car or set yourself up for a travelling retirement with a motorhome. It’s completely up to you! 

Of course, that’s just one option. There are lots of different ways of turning your pension pot into a retirement income. 

Slide 16. Tax on retirement income  

Working out how much tax you’ll pay on your retirement income is an important part of your retirement planning.  

You can do this yourself by following the steps outlined on the slide. 

1. Take your State Pension. 

1. Add income from your other pension(s) as well as any other sources, such as investments, to give you your ‘Total income’. 

1. Take away your ‘Personal Allowance’ (this is £12,570 in 2024/25 but may be less if your taxable income is more than £100,000 a year). 

1. This will leave you with your ‘Taxable income’ for the year.  

1. Deduct Income Tax at the appropriate rate (this is a percentage of your earnings based on your income in the current tax year). 

1. This will leave you with your ‘Income after tax’, in other words the amount of money you’ll have left have to live on in that tax year. 

Tax rates and any allowances may change in the future. How tax works for you will depend on your individual circumstances and you may need to do this calculation more than once if your retirement income changes. 

Slide 17. Resources that can help 

We want to help you take control of your retirement planning. 

To help you with this, we provide a range of useful tools and resources. 

Slide 18.  Managing your pension  

You can manage your retirement savings with Legal & General using your online account. 

It’s a bit like ‘internet banking’ for your pension. In the same way most of us manage our bank accounts online these days, your online account gives you access to your pension savings.  

You can access your online account at legalandgeneral.com/mya. 

Some of you may also be able to access it from your company’s intranet site or workplace benefits platform - without needing to enter a password, if your employer operates a Single sign on process. 

You can also login to - or register to access - your online account by scanning the QR code on the slide. 

Once logged in to your account, you’ll be able to: 

• see the current value of your pension pot and contributions received from you and your employer.  

• use our planning tools to regularly check what your pension pot might be worth at retirement and to work out if you might want to increase your contributions or change your retirement date. 

• provide details of who you’d like your pension benefits to go to in the event of your death (nomination of beneficiary). 

• manage how your savings are invested, including viewing your current fund performance and other investment choices available to you and changing the way your savings are invested if needed. 

• view your benefit statements and other important documents. 

• change your selected retirement date if it no longer reflects your plans. 

Slide 19.  Our retirement planning tool  

Our retirement planning tool can help you to see if your retirement savings are on track.  

You can access this tool from your scheme microsite or by going to your online account. 

However, if you access it via your online account, the tool will do some of the work for you by automatically populating some of the fields, including the value of your savings, the amount you contribute, and where your savings are invested. 

Our retirement planning tool can help you have the retirement you want. 

In four simple steps, you'll find out: 

• The projected value of your pension pot.
• How much income you could get every year of your retirement.
• Whether this meets your retirement goals.

• What impact changing your contributions or retirement age will have on your income. 

There are several risk warnings and assumptions and it’s important that you read and understand them. It’s also important to be aware that using the tool does not replace the need for you to seek guidance and financial advice. 

Slide 20. Retirement planning made easy 

Retirement planning made easy sets out the stepping stones to a more financially secure retirement.  

Completing this course should provide you with a better understanding of your finances in retirement, the different ways you can take an income from your retirement savings and the impact that lifetime events can have on your retirement finances.  

You can access this course via your scheme website or by scanning the QR codes on the slide. 

Slide 21. Guidance and advice   

When it comes to planning for retirement, there’s lots of support available.  

Slide 22. Make your appointment with Pension Wise  

Regardless of the size of your pension pot, if you have a Defined Contribution (DC) pension and you’re aged 50 or over, you’re entitled to free specialist guidance from Pension Wise, part of the government’s MoneyHelper service. 

This guidance can help you to understand how each of the options we just looked at works. It will explain how each option is taxed and help you to identify your next steps. It will also provide information on how to avoid pension scams. 

Your 60-minute appointment can be carried out over the phone or face to face. You can book your free appointment by calling 0800 138 3944 or by completing the online booking form, which you can access on the Pension Wise website by scanning the QR code. Please note that you’re only allowed one free Pension Wise appointment. 

Slide 23. The importance of seeking guidance and advice  

MoneyHelper is the government body that provides impartial financial guidance and support. 

The MoneyHelper website has information about the costs and what you should expect if you decide to pay for financial advice. It’s a good place to start. 

Pension Wise is a free and impartial service that can help you to understand the ways you can take your retirement savings and the potential tax implications of each one. Their website offers lots of information and, if you’re aged 50 or over, we’d advise you to book your free 60-minute appointment with a specialist who’ll provide you with guidance either face to face or over the phone. 

The government also has a mid-life MOT website that provides guidance to help people carry out a financial stock-take some years before their retirement.  

If you need personalised financial advice, visit unbiased.co.uk to find financial adviser in your local area. Please note that advisers normally charge for their services. 

You can access these websites by scanning the QR codes on the screen. 

Slide 24. LGFA: Legal & General Financial Advice   

Through your scheme you may have access to Legal & General Financial Advice (LGFA). 

Deciding what to do with your pension savings can be complex. But you don’t have to decide on your own. If you’re aged 55 or over, and living in the UK, our advisers can help you review what you have and need before giving you expert advice about how to make best use of your hard-earned pension savings, all in the comfort of your own home. 

Our retirement and planning advice team is an independent service provided by Legal & General Financial Advice, as part of the Legal & General Group. 

Our advisers will help you understand: 

• what income you’ll need in retirement 

• what you’ll have, and 

• what your options are, including tax implications and allowances you can take advantage of. 

To find out more about the service and related costs go to the Legal & General Financial Advice website, which you can access by scanning the QR code on the slide.  

Slide 25. Frequently asked questions   

Although we aren’t able to answer your individual questions today, we’ve created a webpage that provides answers to some of the questions you may have about your workplace pension and includes links to the websites and tools that we’ve looked at today, which you’ll find at legalandgeneral.com/pensionquestions.  

We’re going to look at a few of the typical questions that members often ask. 

If we don’t cover something that you want to find out a bit more about, please check out our ‘pension questions’ webpage. If you have a question about your individual plan, please contact our Helpline on 0345 070 8686.  

What will happen to my pension in the event of my death?  

Should you die before taking any benefits, the value of your pension pot will be paid to your beneficiaries. Please note that this is separate from any death in service cover that your employer may provide. 

The decision as to who will receive any money, will be at the discretion of Legal and General or your scheme’s trustees, depending on the type of scheme you are in. 

You should let us know who you would want your beneficiaries to be, and you can do this by completing the Nominate a beneficiary section in your online account. This isn’t something that will be done on your behalf, so it’s your responsibility to ensure you complete the form.  

It’s also important to keep this information up to date if your personal circumstances change. 

What will happen if I die after I have started taking my savings? 

If you die after you’ve started taking your savings, what your beneficiaries might receive will depend on the way you chose to take your money. Although it’s a subject that most of us might prefer not to think about, it’s important to understand how the way in which you choose to take your savings might impact your beneficiaries in the event of your death. 

This is something you ought to consider, particularly as you start to get closer to making decisions about your own retirement plans. 

I’ve started to take some of my pension benefits, can I still pay into a pension?  

If you’ve started taking pension benefits, the amount you can pay into your pension without having to pay a tax charge may be limited to £10,000 a year. This is called the money purchase annual allowance.  

For more information on the money purchase annual allowance please visit the MoneyHelper website 

Should I review whether my selected retirement age is right for me?  

Yes. As you start to think about your future plans you should consider whether you still intend - or can afford - to take your money when you had originally planned?  

If your selected retirement age no longer reflects your circumstances or your plans, you may want to change it. Please be aware that changing your retirement age may have an impact on how your retirement savings are invested if, for example, they are invested in a lifestyle profile. 

If you still intend to take your money at your selected retirement age, you should check that it’s invested in a way that reflects how you plan to take the money from your retirement savings pot. 

You can always change your selected retirement age as your future plans become clearer. You can do this by logging into your online account and completing the secure e-form. 

How long will my savings need to last?  

How long do you think you’ll spend in retirement? 

Research carried out by the Office for National Statistics shows that people are still likely to live for longer than they might expect. Between 2018 and 2020, a man aged 65 years in the UK could expect to live, on average, to 83 and a woman of the same age to 86. 

This means that your savings may need to last longer than you think. Use the Office for National Statistics tool to see what this might mean for you. 

Slide 26. Before you retired what were you planning to do? 

Before we reflect on the key takeaways from today’s presentation, we thought it might be interesting to return to our survey one last time and look at what our respondents told us they were planning to do before they retired. 

Not surprisingly, 52% were planning to travel or go on holiday, with other notable high scores covering things like hobbies, DIY and looking after grandchildren or other family members. 

So, how did it turn out? 

Interestingly, things went pretty much as expected for the people who responded to our survey. 

All of which just goes to underline the importance of planning your retirement.  

After all, if you don’t know where you want to go, how are you going to get there? 

Slide 27. Summary 

We’ve covered a lot of ground today.  

You may have already identified some of the things that you need to do following this presentation to start firming up your retirement plans but, if you’re wondering where to start, we’d suggest focusing on the following: 

1. Start finalising your plans for life in retirement 

Review your current savings and use the PLSA’s Retirement Living Standards to identify the lifestyle you want - and can realistically afford - in retirement and start making plans for later life.  

And, if you haven’t already, why not take a look at our Open University course ‘Retirement planning made easy’. It’ll only take you around 4 hours to complete and could provide you with some great tips on planning for retirement.  

1. Work out if you’re on track to achieve your goals 

The retirement planning tool in your online account can help you to identify how much you might need to support your plans in retirement and will help you to work out what you need to do if you aren’t on track.  

1. Understand the different ways you can take your money 

Knowing how you plan to take your money will help you to work out if your savings are invested in a way that reflects your intentions. Make sure you update your selected retirement age in your online account, as this may also have an impact on the type of funds your savings are invested in.  

And, if you’re aged 50 or over, make sure you book your appointment with one of the specialists at Pension Wise, if you haven’t already done so. 

Slide 28. Thank you  

Thank you for attending today’s presentation. We hope you found it useful. 

If there’s anything you wanted to know about that we didn’t cover today, please take a look at our ‘pension questions’ website, where you’ll find answers to some of the questions we get asked most often in presentations such as this one. 

Go to ‘legalandgeneral.com/pensionquestions’ or scan the QR code on the slide. 

If you have a specific query about your individual workplace savings plan, you can contact our Helpline on 0345 070 8686 between the hours of 8.30am and 7pm Monday to Friday.  

Please note that call charges will vary. We may record and monitor calls. 

You will also find more information about your workplace pension by visiting your scheme website or by going to your online account, which you can also access by scanning the QR code. 

We’d be keen to get your feedback on today’s presentation, so that we can continue to improve these sessions going forward.  If you’re happy to provide us with some comments, there a feedback form on the BrightTalk platform that is quick and easy to complete. 

We hope to see you at one of our events in the future. 

Bye for now. 

 

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Legal & General (Portfolio Management Services) Limited. 
Registered in England and Wales No. 2457525. Registered office: One Coleman Street, London EC2R 5AA.  

We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. 

Legal & General Assurance Society Limited 

Registered in England and Wales No.166055. Registered office: One Coleman Street, London EC2R 5AA.  

We are authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. 

Trust-Based Occupational Pension Schemes are regulated by The Pensions Regulator. 

Administrator: Legal & General Assurance Society Limited. Registered in England and Wales No. 00166055. Registered office: One Coleman Street, London EC2R 5AA. 

Legal & General Assurance Society are authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. However, the administration of occupational pension schemes is not regulated by the FCA or PRA.