Pensions

[Newsinglemum58]

Hi, newly separated but not yet divorced. Realising I've got to sort myself out financially and start to think about my future and financial future.

I've got several small pensions here and there from jobs over the years but not sure what I need to do with them. Can anyone give some advice. Is it best to dig out the details and try to combine into one? Or do I need to pay to see a pension adviser.... thanks in advance.

Digging out the paperwork is useful.
This blog post is useful for what to look for in the pension paperwork, what to write down in a list so you have a clearer picture of what you have got.

meaningfulmoney.tv/2021/03/15/getting-current-reviewing-pensions/

Some pensions will be Defined Contribution which build a pot of money from what you pay in, others will be Defined Benefit. You need to know what type of pension each one is, generally you would leave the Defined Benefit pensions alone.

With the defined contribution pensions you would then look at the fees and the investments being used. When not paying in to a pension the aim is to get the fees as low as possible and the performance to be as good as possible, within acceptable risk.

Defined benefit ones are, generally, best left where they are.

What you get out is usually out of all proportion (favourably) to the transfer value.

Obviously important to update the provider with correct contact details.

Thanks both. That's very helpful.

Not what you asked, but far too many people (women) miss this... are you including your husband and your pension assets in your divorce settling calculations?

@Cocomarine no divorce discussions has happened yet but I definitely want to. He has a large pension accrued during 20 years together so I would very much like some share in this as I quit my job to raise the kids for 7 years and took a massive nose dive in my career and earnings. We are amicable though and I don't want to fall out so am a bit worried about how this will all go when we financially split / divorce.

@Cocomarine ah sorry do you mean him having a share of mine? He is welcome to it as long as I can have one of his! Our pots are no where near equal!

Is it worth also checking on what pension you will get from Government based on your contributions so far? There's an option to top up if you need to.