What happens if you die after retiring

A key part of your retirement planning should be to make sure we have an up-to-date Nomination of Beneficiary Form so it’s clear who you’d like your Lifestyle Account to go to if you die before you access your savings. You can do that by simply logging in to Manage Your Account and click on Nominate Beneficiaries. Whether you are an active member of the Plan or a former employee, you must indicate the person or persons whom you would wish the Trustees to consider for any lump sum payable.

If you die after you’ve accessed your retirement savings, whether there are further amounts payable to your loved ones, from the Plan, depends on the option you chose at the point you accessed the money in  your Lifestyle Account.The exact options available will be determined by the terms of your Plan or policy.

If you’ve chosen to take your Lifestyle Account as cash

If you’ve taken your entire Lifestyle Account as cash, then all your benefits will have been paid from the Lifestyle Plan already and so there would be no amounts payable.

If you’ve chosen a flexible retirement income

Your chosen beneficiary would be entitled to any savings left in the policy you set up and transferred your Lifestyle Account to.Your chosen beneficiary may have options on how they are able to take the money. Their options would depend on the rules of your policy.

If you’ve chosen to buy an annuity

It depends entirely on the options you chose when you bought the annuity. Annuities can be paid as income after you die to your chosen beneficiary; however this is determined by the type of annuity you purchased.