This article was last updated on 26/07/2023

According to a report by The Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed, the number of freelance mums has doubled since 2008. Self-employed mums now account for one in seven of all self-employed people in the UK, with many working as highly-skilled freelancers.

There’s little wonder that self-employment’s an attractive prospect for parents. In theory, it can offer better pay, more flexible hours, and the chance to work from home. But what about taking time off to have a baby? As self-employed mums don’t receive Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), the idea of taking maternity leave can be daunting.

Our guide will help you get to grips with the financial help that is available to self-employed mums, and run through some steps you can take to make mat leave more affordable.

Maternity pay for freelancers

While employed mums tend to be eligible for SMP, the equivalent for self-employed mums is Maternity Allowance (MA). If you’re eligible for the full amount of MA, you’ll currently receive £172.48 a week, or 9^{_personal_allowance_rate} of your average weekly earnings (whichever is the lower amount) for 39 weeks.

To receive this, you need to have been working for at least 26 weeks in the ^{_state_pension_age} weeks before your baby’s due date, with average gross weekly earnings of at least £30 for at least 13 weeks.

If you don’t qualify for the full amount, you may be able to get a reduced amount of £27 a week instead. You can use the government’s maternity pay calculator to check what you might receive. You can also find the MA claim form on the government’s website.

Happily, MA isn’t taxable. Unhappily, there’s no equivalent for dads: self-employed dads who want to take time off to look after their baby don’t receive any government help, so generally have to rely on savings instead.

Freelancing during maternity leave

If you’re a freelancer receiving MA, you’re allowed to work (and be paid for) up to 10 “Keeping in Touch” (KIT) days while you’re on maternity leave, just like employed mums receiving SMP. This gives you the chance to stay in contact with your clients while you’re off, keep your business ticking over, and ease yourself back into work as your leave nears an end. Ten days of paid work can helpfully boost your income while you’re on maternity leave, but bear in mind that if you work more than 10 days, you’ll lose your entitlement to MA.

Things are a little different if you’re an employee who dabbles in freelance work on the side. While you’re on maternity leave from your permanent job, you can do as much self-employed work for other companies (i.e. not your regular employer) as you like without affecting your SMP.

Financial help with having a baby

As this can be a tight time financially, it’s worth making the most of the perks that are available. Just like employed mums, self-employed women are entitled to free NHS dental care and free prescriptions during pregnancy and for up to a year after the baby’s birth.

If you’re a first-time mum and you receive certain benefits, you may also be eligible for the Sure Start Maternity Grant, which is a one-off payment of ^{_higher_rate_personal_savings_allowance} towards the costs of having a child.

And don’t forget to claim Child Benefit, which is currently £24 per week for your first child and £15.90 for subsequent children. This benefit isn’t means-tested, although if you (or your partner) earn over £50,000 after tax then you have to pay a tax charge. This may mean that you don’t want to claim Child Benefit, but you should fill in the form anyway to protect your National Insurance credits and therefore your State Pension entitlement.

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Pension saving during maternity leave

Saving for your pension while you’re on maternity leave can be difficult, especially if you’re self-employed. When you stop working to look after your baby, you may not be able to maintain your usual level of pension contributions. If this is the case, remember that you can top up your pension once you’re working again so that you don’t get behind with your retirement saving.

If you don’t have a private pension, our Pensions 101 video on self-employed pensions and our self-employed pension plan can help you to start saving.

Top money management tips

Self-employed and planning a pregnancy or expecting a baby? Take these steps now to get your finances in shape.

• Now’s the time to chase up any unpaid invoices! This will save you the hassle once you’re on maternity leave, and hopefully give your bank balance a boost before you stop working.
• If there’s a tax return deadline looming, get your books in order as soon as possible so that you’re not hunting down receipts while caring for your newborn. Check out our self-employed tax tips.
• Make a new household budget that takes into account your changes in income and expenditure.
• See if you can get things like cots, clothes and toys second-hand, either from friends and family or from “nearly new” sales.
• Hold off buying the latest gadgets and accessories until your baby arrives and you actually know what you really need.
• Consider reusable nappies to save both the environment and your pennies!
• Be aware of childcare options and costs so that you can make “return to work” calculations when the time comes.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

This article was last updated on 24/07/2023

As you put money into your pension your contributions receive pension tax relief, which means that you have to pay income tax when you come to withdraw it. Drawdown is one of the most effective ways to access your pension, enabling you to pay minimal tax while still allowing your savings to grow. Here are seven ways to make drawdown tax efficient and ensure you have enough savings to last well into retirement.

1. Understand the pension drawdown rules

Tax and pensions can seem complicated, but once you know the rules for using drawdown it’s pretty straightforward. Income drawdown gives you the flexibility of accessing your pension on demand, while keeping it invested until you need it. If you’ve reti red since April 2015 or are due to retire in the coming years, you’ll be eligible for flexi-access drawdown, which gives you even greater control of your savings.

Once you know the rules for using drawdown it’s pretty straightforward

However you choose to take your pension, you’ll receive an initial tax-free lump sum and any money left in your pension will be subject to income tax. It’s likely that the more money you withdraw, the more tax you’ll have to pay. Like all investments there’s risk associated with flexible drawdown and, if you withdraw too much too soon or your investments perform badly, you could end up losing your pension. Drawdown doesn’t have to be permanent so if you change your mind about it you can use your pension to buy an alternative retirement product, such as an annuity.

2. Take your lump sum

Thanks to the changes made in 2015 you’re now able to take a pension tax-free lump sum at 55. You’re allowed to take up to ^{_corporation_tax} of your pension tax-free regardless of how large your pension is or when you take it. If you make withdrawals without taking the ^{_corporation_tax} pension tax-free lump sum first, you’ll still get the income tax breaks as the first ^{_corporation_tax} of each withdrawal will be tax-free.

3. Get to grips with pension drawdown tax

You have to pay tax on pension income as it’s treated like any other earnings you’ve ever received and is effectively viewed as the salary you earn in retirement. Everyone receives tax allowances which means you can take part of your pension before paying tax.

Everyone receives tax allowances which means you can take part of your pension before paying tax

On top of the ^{_corporation_tax} tax-free lump sum, you also have a tax-free pension allowance and in the current tax year, 2023/24, you can receive up to £12,570 before pension tax is charged. After this income tax will be charged at your usual rate on each withdrawal on the taxable portion of pension, such as ^_basic_rate, ^_higher_rate and ^{_additional_rate}. Pension income is assessed with any other income you receive so if you’re still working or have another source of income, large pension withdrawals will increase the amount of tax you pay.

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4. Plan your finances around the tax year start and end

Planning ahead can help you save tax on pension payments, as you’ll have to think about when’s the best time of year to draw money from your pension and how much you should take. Being aware of when the new tax year starts and being mindful of the tax year calendar will help you plan your cash flow and aid income tax saving. It’ll also help you avoid any large withdrawals that could tip you over your current income tax rates and into an upper tax bracket.

5. Know the pension drawdown limits

In addition to the annual tax allowance for pensioners, there’s also a lifetime allowance, which determines how much pension income you can receive in retirement before the lifetime allowance tax charge kicks in. Although this only affects savers with large pots of around £1m and over, it varies depending on the annual rate set for the tax year, and it’s worth keeping in the back of your mind just in case.

The lifetime allowance is currently ^{_lump_sum_death_benefits_allowance} for the 2023/24 tax year. If you withdraw more than this from your pension you’ll have to pay extra tax. If you took your pension before 6 April 2023 a pension lump sum tax will be charged at a rate of ^{_pension_release_tax_amount} for any lump sum you take over the ^{_lump_sum_death_benefits_allowance} limit. If you took your pension after this date there’s no lifetime allowance charge. If you’re using drawdown and exceed this amount you’ll be charged an extra ^{_corporation_tax} so it’s crucial to stay below the threshold.

6. Beware of emergency tax and unauthorised withdrawals

When you take money out of your pension HMRC will deduct the income tax you owe before your pension is paid to you. It works in exactly the same way that wages are paid through PAYE. It’s likely that when you first start drawing money from your pension HMRC will place you on an emergency tax code, which will be at a higher rate.

You should contact HMRC straightaway to resolve this, and be prepared to settle any tax you’ve underpaid. Once this is done your pension provider will get an updated tax code and any future withdrawals should be charged at your usual rate. The onus will be on you to sort this out though so it’s important to act fast to avoid emergency tax on pension lump sum withdrawals.

The onus will be on you to sort this out

There are other instances where HMRC can impose a high tax and is allowed to do so if it believes you’re making unauthorised withdrawals. If you try to take money out of your pension early or through an unregulated company, HMRC can charge up to ^{_pension_release_tax_amount} tax on the amount you withdraw.

Unfortunately pension scams are increasing in sophistication so you need to be aware of anyone who contacts you out of the blue, knows sensitive information about your pension savings or promises you early access to your pension.

7. Drawdown pension providers fees

While the fees your pension provider will charge you are not directly related to the amount of tax you’ll pay, they can put a dent in your pension savings if they’re too high. Set up and administration fees are fairly standard as are costs for ongoing management. You might also be charged a fee for each withdrawal, which will need to be factored into your advance planning.

PensionBee doesn’t charge any drawdown fees, unless you decide to make a full withdrawal of your pension within a year of your first transfer. If your savings have been with PensionBee for less than a year and you want to withdraw all of your money, a full withdrawal fee of £150 applies. You’ll also be charged £150 if the value of your account is less than the £150 fee when you decide to close it.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

Unlike other types of investment and savings products such as property and ISAs, it can be hard to know where your money’s going with a pension. You don’t have the tangible bricks and mortar that you’d get with a property, and most people aren’t in the habit of checking their pension statement as they might their savings account statement. It’s no surprise then that there’s a disconnect, with savers left wondering where exactly the money they pay into their pension goes.

How a pension works

A pension fund invests your retirement savings until you want to draw your pension.

Instead of your money languishing somewhere until you reach your 50s or 60s, it’s invested in a range of different assets in the hope that you’ll get a good return on your investments by the time you come to retire. Professional money managers make all of the decisions about how a fund’s money is invested, in line with how much risk investors like you are happy to take. It may come as a surprise to learn that pension funds are among the major investors in private companies and some bigger companies too, which are listed publicly on the stock market.

How your pension’s invested

The majority of pension funds are invested in a wide range of assets to minimise your exposure to risk. These are likely to include a mixture of shares, property, bonds and cash spread across global markets, from North America to Asia Pacific.

Most of these assets are traded on stock markets so it makes sense that when the markets are strong a pension can perform well, and when the markets are weak a pension can underperform. For better or worse, any impact on your pension should be relatively low due to how your investments have been diversified and spread, but you may still notice some occasional fluctuations to your balance.

From some of the falls across the pond in February to the FTSE flying high in May, it should be fairly easy to draw a parallel between fluctuations in your pension balance and 2018’s key socio-political events.

The beauty of investing in lots of different things is that it brings diversity. The more diverse a pension fund’s investments, the more insulated your savings will be and the more opportunities they’ll have to grow. For instance, following the Brexit referendum some share prices fell, but bonds and non-sterling investments made gains, so overall many pension savers enjoyed a boost.

Another great thing about pensions is that they’re long-term investments which means short-term fluctuations are unlikely to cause any lasting damage, so you can usually wait out any downturns and look forward to the next upturn. Most downturns don’t usually last longer than a few months so you shouldn’t worry too much if you notice the stock market negatively impacting your pension.

To find out more about how your pension’s being invested, check the details in your paperwork or speak to your scheme’s administrator.

How PensionBee plans invest your money

While all of PensionBee’s pension plans are diversified, each plan invests in a different mix of assets from stocks, shares and cash to property and commodities. There are several investment location options too. Here’s how three of our plans are structured:

• Tracker Plan

The Tracker Plan is a simple plan that invests the majority of your money in global shares, with the rest going to bonds. It’s managed by State Street Global Advisors and investments are located mostly in the UK, followed by North America, Europe (excluding the UK), Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) and Japan.

• Tailored Plan

The Tailored Plan is our default plan and invests your money differently as you get older, moving your money to safer assets as you near retirement. It’s managed by BlackRock and is predominantly invested in global shares, with some going to bonds, property and commodities. Geographically this plan invests primarily in North America, with the rest of your investments split across a mix of territories.

• Future World Plan

The Future World Plan is our eco-concious option, that aims to invest your money in a way that brings positive change. It’s managed by Legal & General and is invested solely in shares, predominantly in North America, followed by Europe (excluding the UK), Japan, UK and Asia Pacific (excluding Japan).

You can find out more about these pensions on our plans page, and can download a factsheet for each plan outlining its past performance.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

One of the best things about the modern world of work is the flexibility on offer. Millions of us are taking advantage, swapping the trappings of a 9-5 for the freedom of freelance. Figures from the ONS show that the number of workers in self-employment increased sharply from 3.3m in 2001 to 4.8m in 2017, making up around ^_ni_rate of the British workforce. And, with the growth of the so-called ‘gig economy’ exploding in recent years, there looks set to be many more self-employed workers in the future.

But while there are many undeniable perks to self employment – such as being your own boss, choosing your own hours, projects and clients – there are also some pitfalls. Chief among them the lack of safety net in terms of job security, sick pay, holiday pay and pension provision.

Government data suggests that as many as ^{_additional_rate} of self employed workers between the ages of 35 and 55 have no private pension, compared to just 16% of employees. The fact that employees can enrol in a workplace pension scheme and self employed workers can’t is one of the key factors contributing to this divide. Without the benefits of Auto Enrolment, which compels employees and their employer to contribute towards a pension, self employed workers are missing out – to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds over their career.

One of the big pension companies calculated that an average 22-year-old starting a workplace pension today would be able to build around 46 years’ worth of Auto Enrolment contributions equalling as much as £447,188 by retirement.

If the government doesn’t make good on its manifesto promise of including the self-employed in its Auto Enrolment reforms, commentators are warning that the UK could face a pension crisis in future decades. But it’s not all bad news as there are lots of things self-employed workers can do to ensure they’re financially prepared for retirement. Here are seven retirement saving tips for the self-employed.

1. Calculate how much you have an how much you need

Before you do anything else you’ll need to assess your current financial situation and consider your future needs. It’s estimated most people will need about 7^{_personal_allowance_rate} of their salary to live comfortably in retirement, but the amount you’ll require will largely depend on your circumstances and the type of lifestyle you want to lead.

When you’re deciding how much to save into your pension, you’ll need to think about how much you can afford, how long you’ve got until you retire and your desired retirement income. Our pension calculator can help you crunch the numbers by taking details of your current age, the age you’d like to retire, how much you have in savings and how much you want to earn as income each year. It’ll tell you how much you need to save each month to reach your target, and give you an accurate snapshot of what your retirement could look like.

2. Start saving sooner rather than later

The earlier you start saving into a pension, the more time your pension will have to grow. Compound interest is the interest that you earn on your pension’s interest, and if you leave your pension untouched for several decades it can turn a small savings pot into a big pension pot by the time you retire. The longer you wait to start saving, the more of your salary you’ll have to sacrifice each month to reach your goal.

3. Maximise your tax relief

To encourage workers to save into a pension the government offers generous tax breaks. You can save up to £40,000 into your pension this year and receive tax relief from HMRC. Basic rate taxpayers get a ^{_corporation_tax} tax top up, so if you pay £100 into your pension, HMRC will add £25, bringing the total contribution to ^{_lower_earnings_limit}. If you’re a higher or additional rate taxpayer you can claim further tax relief via your Self Assessment tax return.

4. If you have a limited company, get further tax breaks

If you’re a self-employed worker who’s also the director of a limited company, you can use your company to pay employer contributions into your pension. Pension contributions count as an allowable business expense, which means you can use these payments to reduce your corporation tax bill. Your company won’t pay National Insurance on these pension contributions either, so you could save additional tax when you pay money from your company into your pension.

5. Find your old pensions

7m people may have misplaced retirement savings. If this is you the governments’ Pension Tracing Service can help https://t.co/s5RQR11Tel

— Pension Geeks (@PensionGeeks) 31 May 2018

Although you’re self employed, you may have had one or two jobs earlier in your career where you could have been enrolled into a workplace pension scheme. If you think you may have started a pension there are a few things you can do to try and find it. The government’s Pension Tracing Service is a good place to start. Simply enter either the name of your pension provider or your former employer and it will try to locate the details of your workplace scheme.

Alternatively you can contact your old employer for help or ask your new pension provider for assistance. PensionBee can help you locate all of your old pensions and transfer them into a new plan when you sign up. You just need to give us some basic information like a pension number or provider name and we’ll take care of the rest.

6. Consolidate your pensions into one

There are several self-employed pension options you can choose from. A personal pension will let you make contributions on a regular or ad-hoc basis and the value at the retirement will be based on how much you’ve saved and how your money’s been invested. A SIPP (self invested personal pension) lets you invest in a wider range of assets and you can decide how your money gets invested or defer to a professional money manager. A stakeholder pension scheme has a minimum gross contribution of £20 and fees are capped at 1.5% a year, for the first 10 years.

Whichever pension option you choose, it can be a good idea to consolidate your pensions so you can keep a closer eye on how your investments are performing. By transferring all of your pensions into one modern pension, you should end up with a pension that’s well matched to the amount of risk you want to take and you should save money on management fees too.

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7. Check your State Pension entitlement

Have you thought about the lifestyle you want in retirement, and how much you might need? Check your State Pension today and find out how much you could get – and when https://t.co/Umdfxhw3vS pic.twitter.com/VS1uje92Vt

— DWP (@DWP) 25 September 2018

Thanks to rising life expectancies and an ever-increasing State Pension age, there’s no guaranteeing what today’s younger workers will receive by the time they retire. At the moment all workers need to have paid National Insurance Contributions for at least 10 years to qualify for the State Pension, and to receive the full amount of £8,546.20 a year in 2018/19, they’ll need to have paid for at least 35 years. To ensure you’re on track to receive the full amount you can view your National Insurance record online using the government’s State Pension checker.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

Open Banking has the potential to be hugely transformative for millions of people in the UK - in both the short and long term.

Not only do millions of us struggle to stay on top of our day to day finances, but we also have no idea if we are paying too much for regular products and services, the so-called loyalty penalty.

So the arrival of apps to help us unlock spending data, see a complete picture of our financial health, make our money work better and for longer, and empower us to make smarter financial choices, couldn’t come sooner.

But here’s a thought, if Open Banking means we no longer need to spend our time worrying about our day to day finances, does that mean we all finally have the headspace to focus on the longer term picture and our future financial self?

Well at PensionBee we think it does, in fact we think Open Banking can help us fix the UK’s long term savings crisis - without needing to find extra money from our already squeezed finances - here’s how:

• Connect your pension to a money app that enables you to see all your balances in one place - your today money next to your tomorrow money
• Use money app features to scan your spending for wealth hidden in bad contracts and services you are overpaying for
• Repurpose this money to top up your pension and build the happy financial future you want and deserve!

Excluding pensions from a single view of your accounts is madness

We’ve been clear from the start: pensions need to be included in a complete picture of your financial health. Managing the day-to-day is great, but how can we see those small actions have a big positive impact in the long term?

That’s why we’ve now integrated with five Open Banking money apps and marketplaces using our Open API. So far it’s Starling Bank, Yolt, Emma, Moneyhub, Money Dashboard but we’re talking to lots more players in the ecosystem.

We are the only pension provider in the UK who allows their customers to pull their live pension balance alongside all their other balances. We’re pretty pleased to be the driving force behind rising consumer expectations that your pension is part of Open Banking, but also that we’re setting the API data standards for pension companies to integrate into the ecosystem going forward.

But how does this fix the long term savings crisis?

As a rough guide, we suggest customers need contribute roughly ^_ni_rate of their current salary to have a comfortable retirement. Next year AE contribution rates will rise to 8%, so we just need to make up the remaining 7% to start to address the crisis.

And where are we going to find that 7% from? Well we’re excited to see what magic Open Banking and the Government’s Smart Data Review can do on our accounts. Citizens Advice’s CMA Super-Complaint shows us that 8 / 10 people are paying a significantly higher price for remaining with their existing mobile, broadband, home insurance, mortgage or savings providers - totalling £877 a year in loyalty penalties per household.

That’s £4.1 billion a year - just from those five products - that we could all be putting into pensions instead!

And what about when you include electricity, gas, current accounts, credit cards, loans, pensions, travel, overdrafts, tv packages, gyms, plus every other regular account outgoings?

Alerts and auto-switching to better products that help you choose lower interest rates, overdraft charges or better deals will help you claw back real savings across the board.

In fact Open Banking apps will continuously scan your accounts to move you away from all high-charging, low-performing products and services, to ensure your money keeps working harder, for longer.

We’ve already seen Moneyhub enable auto-top up and sweeping rules to directly contribute into PensionBee when there’s extra money available at the end of the month.

Additionally you can set up a rule to contribute any money from an unexpected refund or saving that Moneyhub have found on your behalf, such as a rebate from your old energy supplier once you’ve switched! This how we start to fix the long term savings crisis.

We all need to understand our money better and make smarter choices in managing it.

Open Banking is here to empower us to do that, to help us use our existing money, smarter, wiser, better, and for longer - and give us the tools we need to build the happier, more resilient financial futures we all want and deserve.

Thanks to the creation of Auto-Enrolment, which compels you and your employer to contribute to your pension, you’re guaranteed to build up several pension pots through your working life. On one hand it’s great that so many of us are saving for retirement, but on the other, it can be tricky to manage our savings when we have a trail of small pension pots in our wake. Here’s everything you need to know when deciding what to do with a pension from an old employer.

You can’t cash in your pension before your 55th birthday

If you’re younger than 55 it’s not recommended that you attempt to cash in a pension from an old employer, as you’ll have to pay a hefty tax penalty. HMRC doesn’t look too kindly on early pension withdrawal and will charge you up to ^{_pension_release_tax_amount} tax on whatever you withdraw. Because of this penalty, no reputable pension provider would let you withdraw a pension early, so if someone offers to help you unlock an old workplace pension before 55, it’s highly likely to be a pension scam. That means you could risk losing your whole pension pot, and would still have to pay ^{_pension_release_tax_amount} of its value to HMRC on top.

But you can move your pension at any age

Although you might not be able to withdraw your savings straight away, if you’re under 55, you can move a pension from an old employer at any time. Too often savers trust that their pension is looking after itself when they leave an old job, but this isn’t always the case. That’s why it’s important to check your pension balance regularly and ensure your money’s being invested in line with your expectations. It’s possible that an old pension from several years ago could be stagnating, not necessarily losing you money but not growing your retirement savings either.

If, for example, you want to take more risks and give your savings more opportunities to grow, you may need to transfer to a pension that’s more closely aligned to your investment objectives. Excessive fees can also be a big motivator! We’ve written extensively about the hidden pension fees some providers charge, and each year we call them out in our Robin Hood Index. It’s alarming to see how much of their savings people can lose when they aren’t aware of what fees they’re paying. Old pensions are frozen the moment you stop paying into them, so instead of management and policy fees coming out of new money that you’re paying in, they’re taken from your balance which can keep going down over time if you don’t keep an eye on it.

The more pensions you have the more sense it might make to move them into one so you can get an accurate picture of what your money’s doing, and avoid leaving any behind. If you think you might have already lost a pension from an old employer, you can use the government’s Pension Tracing Service to try and track it down. This pension finder is free to use and, if you know the details of your employer or the provider your company pension’s with, it should be relatively straightforward to find a pension. PensionBee can also help you move all of your old workplace pensions into a new online plan. We just need some basic information like the pension provider name and ideally the policy number.

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It might not always make sense to transfer, though

While transferring all of your old workplace pensions into a single personal pension is one of the best ways you can keep track of your retirement savings, there are some instances when it won’t make sense to move an old workplace pension. While most workplace pensions are defined contribution schemes, which are valued on how much you’ve paid in and how your investments have performed, some older ones are defined benefit schemes, which are valued based on your salary and the number of years you worked for your employer.

Defined benefit pensions can come with some special benefits that you’ll lose if you leave the pension scheme. These can include anything from a guaranteed annuity rate upon retirement to critical illness or life cover for the duration of the policy. For this reason it’s a legal requirement to seek the advice of an IFA if you’re considering transferring a defined benefit pension worth more than £30,000. If you have a public sector pension it’s unlikely you’ll be able to transfer to a new pension scheme. If you think you might have a defined benefit pension you should double check what special pension benefits it comes with by referring to your paperwork or speaking to your provider.

Cashing in your pension from 55 with PensionBee

Once you turn 55 we can help you take cash from your pension via drawdown. Our drawdown option gets activated as soon as you reach your 55th birthday and you can withdraw whatever money’s in your old workplace pensions, taking up to ^{_corporation_tax} tax-free. Withdrawals over ^{_corporation_tax} will be taxed at your marginal rate so you’ll need to consider how much you take out in one go to ensure your money lasts for the duration of your retirement.

Drawdown from PensionBee is a simple, stress-free way to take cash from your pension and you can request withdrawals from your Beehive in just a few clicks.

PensionBee does not permit unauthorised payments, before the age of 55, under any circumstances. This information should not be regarded as financial advice. As always with investments, your capital is at risk.

News that Standard Life Aberdeen is selling its insurance business to Phoenix Group has sent shockwaves around the pensions industry, with many worrying about what will happen to these pots under the management of a company well known for its ‘zombie funds’.

If you’re one of the millions of savers who has a pension with Standard Life Aberdeen, read on to find out how you can ensure your retirement savings don’t get trapped in a zombie pension fund.

Zombie pension funds explained

A zombie pension fund is a closed or dormant fund that stops issuing new policies but typically holds on to the money invested until the existing policies mature. Critics of zombie pension funds believe that they’re unlikely to generate a good return for savers due to the lack of new money being invested and the charges they often impose.

Zombie pension funds have made the headlines before, most notably during the 2016 BHS pension scandal. When the company went into administration and its pension fund collapsed, members were put into a zombie scheme. At the same time new rules were introduced by the government’s Pension Protection Fund to ensure pensions are paid when a company goes bankrupt.

Potential zombie pensions

Your pension savings could become a zombie pension if:

• You have a [defined benefit pension/ukpensions-explained/pension-types/what-is-a-defined-benefit-pension) or defined contribution pension
• You think there’s a pension deficit
• Your employer is reporting a poor performance
• Your employer is considering a merger or acquisition
• Your provider sells your pension to a zombie firm (similar to Standard Life Aberdeen’s deal with Phoenix Life)

How to protect yourself from a zombie pension fund

Follow these five tips to ensure your pension savings don’t get trapped in a poorly performing zombie pension fund.

1. Locate your old pensions

Finding all of your old pensions is the first step to securing your retirement fund and ensuring you’re not caught up in any zombie schemes. If you’ve had a few jobs since Auto Enrolment was first introduced in 2012, it’s likely you’ll have started several workplace pensions by now.

While there’s nothing technically wrong with having your savings spread in a range of pension funds, there’s a risk that as you get older and change jobs a few more times you might lose track of your older pensions. Plus, if you don’t know where your money’s saved, you won’t have any idea how it’s performing.

As zombie pension funds tend to occur where funds are older and closed down, leaving your money where it is until you retire might not be the most shrewd move – especially if you’re several decades away from retirement. Tracking down your old pensions and having greater oversight of your money has no downsides.

2. Combine your pensions

Once you’ve located any savings trapped in a zombie scheme it could be worth moving the pensions into one pot. This can give you more control over your savings, simplify your retirement planning and may even offer better value. It also means that any new workplace pensions you start can be paid directly into this pot, ensuring your money will always remain in one place.

If you learn that one of your old pension schemes is closing down, or an old employer or provider is being merged or selling the pension part of their business to a zombie provider, consider moving your pot. If you have a defined benefit pension, you can transfer up to £30,000 into a defined contribution pension like the ones offered by PensionBee. However, if you’d like to transfer more than £30,000 you’ll need to seek advice from a regulated financial adviser first.

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3. Monitor the performance of your pension

If you transfer all of your old pensions into one pot, you’ll be able to manage them through one central account. Depending on the provider you go with, you may still find yourself receiving paper statements which, while inconvenient, should be checked on a regular basis.

You’ll need to monitor the performance of your fund and make sure your provider is claiming things like tax relief on your contributions. You should also check what fees you’re being charged and if there are any charges above and beyond an annual management or administration fee. Old and frozen workplace pensions could be incurring charges such as inactivity fees which, if left unchecked, could be eating away at your balance.

You should check what fees you’re being charged

If you’re a PensionBee customer we’ll charge you one annual fee, which decreases the more you save. We’ll also take care of your tax relief for you and will apply for it on the 15th of each month with funds usually added to your balance by the 28th of the following month. You can also easily manage your money online through your customer dashboard which we call the BeeHive. Here you can check all of the payments in and out of your account and can also adjust your pension contribution levels.

4. Keep an eye on the business pages and our blog

Unless you have a keen interest in the financial markets and are a regular subscriber to the FT, it’s unlikely that you’ll hear about every merger and acquisition and the impact this could have on your savings.

To keep on top of what’s happening with the major lenders, insurers and pension providers it’s a good idea to get into the habit of skim reading the business pages every time you read the paper. Also, make sure you open any emails and post sent by your pension provider in a timely manner as they’ll have a duty to keep you informed of any changes that might affect your money.

The PensionBee blog is also a good source of industry news and the Pensions Explained section of our website answers some of the most commonly asked pension questions.

5. Speak to your pension provider

If you have any concerns whatsoever about your pension, you should contact your provider. They’ll be able to answer any questions and can indicate how changes may affect your savings.

If you’re already a PensionBee customer, your designated BeeKeeper will be more than happy to help or alternatively you can get in touch with the PensionBee team.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

If you’ve got kids approaching university age, you might be feeling the pressure of the rising costs ahead. From tuition fees and student accommodation to everyday expenses like course books and nights out - it can all add up quickly.

Whether your child is just a few years away from starting university or preparing to begin this autumn, there are always practical steps you can take to save money and manage your finances more effectively.

How much does university cost?

To help cover the costs of going to university the government provides two loans to students; the Tuition Fee Loan and the Maintenance Loan.

The Tuition Fee Loan works by paying the cost of your child’s tuition directly to the university. Maintenance Loans are means-tested, and to apply you’ll have to provide details of your household income. They’re designed for covering living expenses when your child’s at university and are paid directly into their bank account at the start of each term.

Even though tuition fees often grab the headlines, it’s the living costs that most students actually struggle with. A new report from the Higher Education Policy Institute found that students need £61,000 to have a minimum socially acceptable standard of living over a three-year degree. But for students in England, the maximum Maintenance Loan amount would only cover around half of that.

Here’s a recap of the Tuition Fee and Maintenance Loan available to UK students.

Tuition Fee Loan

Almost all UK students are eligible for a Tuition Fee Loan. The amount is paid directly to their university, without ever touching the student’s bank account.

There are two factors that determine tuition fees: where the student’s from and where the student’s studying. For most UK students, it’ll cost £9,535 a year (^{_current_tax_year_yyyy_yy}).

• Students from England and Wales - a tuition fee cap of £9,535 a year (^{_current_tax_year_yyyy_yy}) applies for full-time courses in the UK.
• Students from Northern Ireland - the same £9,535 a year (^{_current_tax_year_yyyy_yy}) tuition fee cap applies for full-time courses in most of the UK, with a discounted rate of £4,855 if studying in Northern Ireland.
• Students from Scotland - again, the £9,535 a year (^{_current_tax_year_yyyy_yy}) tuition fee cap applies for full-time courses in most of the UK, with free tuition available if studying in Scotland.

While tuition fees can be covered upfront by the government’s Tuition Fee Loan, students will still need money for accommodation and day-to-day living costs.

Maintenance Loan

The Maintenance Loan can feel a bit more complex, but it’s an important part of helping students cover their living costs while at university.

Simply put, the higher the household income, the smaller the Maintenance Loan tends to be. As it’s expected that parents may cover some of the living expenses.

Students from England can receive a Maintenance Loan (that’s repayable) through the student finance system. Like most of the UK, the amount available depends on two factors: the student’s living situation while studying and the household income of their non-university residence.

For the ^{_current_tax_year_yyyy_yy} academic year, students from England can receive:

• between £3,907 and £8,877 if living with parents;
• between £4,915 and £10,544 if living away from home but outside of London; and
• between £6,853 and £13,762 if living away from home and in London.

Students from Wales can receive a combination of a Maintenance Loan and Grant from the Welsh government. The amount of money given is the same for all students. The difference is how much is covered by the Grant and the Loan, which is determined by the exact household income of the student.

For the ^{_current_tax_year_yyyy_yy} academic year, students from Wales can receive:

• up to £10,480 if living with parents;
• up to £12,345 if living away from home but outside of London; and
• up to £15,415 if living away from home and in London.

Students from Northern Ireland can receive a combination of a Maintenance Loan and Grant. Students with household incomes of £41,540 or more become ineligible for the Grant portion of student finance. The variations between the minimum and maximum amounts are determined by the exact household income of the student.

For the ^{_current_tax_year_yyyy_yy} academic year, students from Northern Ireland can receive:

• between £4,726 and £7,925 if living with parents;
• between £6,099 and £9,757 if living away from home but outside of London; and
• between £8,543 and £13,016 if living away from home and in London.

Students from Scotland can receive a combination of a Maintenance Loan and Bursary. Students with household incomes of £34,000 or more become ineligible for the Bursary portion of student finance. Unlike the rest of the UK, the Scottish system doesn’t distinguish different living situations. It also uses banded household income to calculate Maintenance Loan amounts.

For the ^{_current_tax_year_yyyy_yy} academic year, students from Scotland can receive:

• between £8,400 and £11,400.

How to pay for university

As a parent, your support can make a big difference in helping your child manage these costs and build good money habits. Here are five essential tips to guide you in supporting your student through this important chapter.

1. Start saving early

Engineering Manager at PensionBee, Stewart Tywnham says: “We saved for both our eldest, basically from when they were born. We were putting something like £25 a month into an ISA, the price of a takeaway pizza.”

Starting a university fund for your children when they’re a young age will help take the sting out of the cost of sending them to uni when the time comes. A Junior ISA is a tax-free way to put money aside for your child’s future and grandparents can contribute too. You can save up to £9,000 a year (^{_current_tax_year_yyyy_yy}) and your child won’t be able to access the money until they turn 18.

If you don’t want to go down the ISA route, you could always put a portion of what you’d spend on each birthday and Christmas present aside, or save a portion of your salary each month, the same way you’d set aside money for your pension. If you get into the habit of doing it, you might not even notice that the money’s missing at the end of the month.

2. Explore university financial support

Each university will have a range of support services available to new students including bursaries and scholarships. These cash awards aren’t just reserved for students from low socio-economic backgrounds and, depending on the university, you can find funding for disabled students and those from rural communities, for example. Whatever your circumstances, it’s worth doing some research.

3. Understand government loans and grants

Founder at Pennies to Pounds, Kia Commodore says: “I think I’m close to £90,000 [in debt]. Because I did a four-year degree and I had a lot in Maintenance Loan. It’s a big chunk of money.”

It’s important to fully understand how student loans and grants work before your child starts university. Loans don’t need to be repaid until your child is earning over a certain threshold and repayments are generally based on income rather than the amount borrowed. Grants, on the other hand, are non-repayable and can significantly reduce the financial burden.

4. Encourage part-time work

A great way to teach your children the value of money is to make them earn it. Whether that’s by doing jobs around the house in exchange for pocket money from a young age, or allowing them to get a Saturday job while still studying. This can give them a taste of the independence that’s to come. Plus, work experience can help them get that first job while studying at university.

5. Budget as a family

Communications Director at Save the Student, Tom Allingham says: “5^{_personal_allowance_rate} of students said that their parents contribute to them. Of those that do, they’re receiving an average of £171 a month.”

Having open conversations about money as a family can make a huge difference. Sit down together to create a realistic budget that covers essentials like rent, food, travel, and study materials. Encourage your child to track their spending and adjust the budget as needed. This not only helps prevent overspending but also teaches valuable money management skills that will benefit them long after university.

Don’t forget your own finances

Research from Save the Student found that parents typically give their children while studying around £170 per month. But before committing to making regular contributions to support your child through higher education, it’s essential to have a financial health check first.

Two major financial commitments to consider are your mortgage and pension.

• Almost 9^{_personal_allowance_rate} of over-50s homeowners are still paying off their mortgage - this means some parents are still facing the challenge of balancing mortgage payments alongside other living expenses.
• A moderate lifestyle in retirement would cost a couple £43,900 a year in 2025 - this could require substantial personal pension savings to cover this annual income in retirement.

So, if you’re still catching up on your pension or managing mortgage payments, it might be wiser to focus on strengthening your own financial foundation before contributing to your child’s finances.

It’s also important to consider how long this financial support will be needed. Many assume student courses last three years, but some degrees, such as medicine or architecture, require a longer commitment. Planning for the duration of support helps families prepare better and avoid surprises down the road.

Summary

Supporting your child through university doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With a little planning and clear communication, you can help them navigate this new chapter confidently. Here are five helpful tips to keep in mind as you support your student.

• Start saving early - put aside money regularly, whether through a Junior ISA, gifts, or monthly savings, so funds grow steadily over time.
• Explore university financial support - explore bursaries, scholarships, and hardship funds that your child may be eligible for beyond just income-based options.
• Understand government loans and grants - know how Tuition Fee Loans and means-tested Maintenance Loans work, and use tools like the student finance calculator to plan effectively.
• Encourage part-time work - support your child in finding part-time or summer jobs to help cover expenses and develop financial independence.
• Budget as a family - create a shared budget, cut unnecessary spending, and use money-saving apps to prepare everyone for managing university finances.

Listen to episode 42 of The Pension Confident Podcast where our expert guests debate whether parents should pay for their children to go to university. You can also read the full transcript.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

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Not so long ago, pensions savers across the UK were worried about falls in their investments. At the time, volatile markets were having a knock-on effect on pensions and savers were worried their balances would continue falling.

The good news is that the markets have recovered, with the FTSE 100 hitting record highs last week and trading at levels not seen since before the 2008 financial crisis.

Pension savings are bouncing back and you might have seen a small rise in your balance since then.

While we can all breathe a little easier for now, it’s important to remind ourselves that downturns in the market are perfectly normal, and to be expected.

The bad news is there’s going to be another downturn at some point in the not too distant future. And that’s not pessimism talking, it’s simply the way financial markets work. Market prices fluctuate and can move suddenly with little or no warning, but we’re prepared for it.

Right now, inflation has fallen and there’s still uncertainty in the market. The US and China have been threatening an all-out trade war for weeks, and renewed political tensions in Italy have sparked fresh fears for the future of the eurozone. Confidence is fading and the international markets are already beginning to react.

Here are three things to bear in mind the next time your pension value goes down.

Pension fluctuations are normal

One of the key causes of market change is political turbulence, and unfortunately there’s been a lot going on so far in 2018. From talk of nuclear wars and a lack of definitive Brexit decisions, through to not knowing what the US president will do from one day to the next, people are apprehensive.

It’s a mixture of factors like these that can have an impact on the value of stocks and currencies, which are just two of the asset classes pensions are typically invested in. Most downturns don’t usually last longer than a few months so there’s no need to worry.

Diversification protects your pension savings

When you invest money with PensionBee, we spread it in a mixture of stocks, shares, cash, property and even commodities, depending on which of our plans you’ve chosen. Investments are made in multiple locations around the world meaning that if any one market performs badly, there will be others in the mix with the potential to generate profits.

This diversification helps to protect your savings against dramatic fluctuations and gives them more opportunities to grow. For example, while some assets may decrease in value in the UK, values of other assets in Japan, Europe and North America may increase.

If you’d like to have a closer look at how your pension’s being invested, check our plans page and download the relevant factsheet for more information. While past performance is not indicative of future performance, you’ll be able to see all of the historic ups and downs and the impact they’ve had on the overall performance to date.

There’s no need to panic the next time your pension goes down

As long-term savers we have to take the rough with the smooth, and sit tight during the lows. Short-term fluctuations are unlikely to cause any lasting damage, especially if you’re several years away from retiring. It’s worth remembering though, that there are no certainties when you make any investment and there’s always a risk that you could get back less than you’ve invested.

The best thing to do is keep an eye on the business headlines and check the balance in your BeeHive regularly. Always let us know if you have any concerns and don’t hesitate to contact your BeeKeeper if you have questions.

Everyone fantasises about quitting their job and retiring early, but few can make their dreams a reality. If you’re serious about cashing out on your career, you’ll need to put a savings plan in place, and soon. Here are seven things you can do now to put your finances in the best possible position for the future.

How to retire early

1. Calculate how much you’ll need to save

An online pension calculator can help you figure out how much you’ll need to save to be able to retire at a specific age. If you want to retire at 60, for example, with a retirement income of £30,000 a year, all you need to do is input these details into the calculator, along with your current age and savings total.

It will calculate how much you’ll need to save between now and 60 to reach your £30k target. If the results aren’t what you were hoping for and the amount you’d need to save each month is too high, try inputting a slightly higher retirement age to see what’s achievable.

2. Increase your pension contributions

Once you’ve identified how much you’ll need to save each month, it’s likely you’ll need to increase your pension contributions. It’s easy to adjust the amount you pay into your workplace scheme or personal pension, and you should pay in as much as you can afford to sacrifice from your salary.

You should pay in as much as you can afford to sacrifice

If you’re serious about retiring early you’ll need to budget and tighten the purse strings in order to resist excess spending. There’s a range of money saving apps that can help you get your finances under control so any spare money can go into your pension.

While short term cash injections can really help your pension grow, it’s worth remembering that higher regular contributions will have the most significant impact.

3. Increase your employer’s pension contributions

If you have a workplace pension, it could be possible to increase the amount your employer pays in by fully embracing Auto-Enrolment. From 6 April 2018 it will be a legal requirement for your employer to make a minimum contribution of 2% of your annual salary through Auto-Enrolment. Depending on the nature of your workplace scheme, it may be possible for your employer to match your contributions to a set amount. If contribution matching is on offer, increasing the amount you save into your pension will help unlock higher contributions from your employer.

Having a workplace pension means that when you pay in, your boss pays in too. As Fred says, it's a win-win https://t.co/F7sbflMfbc pic.twitter.com/g3DJiND7sX

— DWP (@DWP) March 3, 2018

If it’s not possible to increase your employer’s contributions in your current workplace, it might be a good opportunity to shop around and see what other employers are offering. While changing your job won’t always be possible in the short-term, increasing your salary and pension contributions is a great way to help you get closer to your retirement savings goal, faster.

4. Find your old pensions

No matter how short your career, it’s likely you’ll have had more than one employer, which means more than one workplace pension. If you can’t remember where the old ones are or how much they’re worth, you’ll need to track them down.

The government’s Pension Tracing Service lets you enter some basic details about your old employer to help locate the contact details of the pension provider. You’ll have to contact them individually to find out how much your pots are worth and to update your contact details.

It’s much better to have sight of how your money’s performing

Whatever you do, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you’ll be pleasantly surprised the longer you leave your pots to grow, as this isn’t always the case. It’s much better to have sight of how your money’s performing so you can make informed decisions on how to manage it.

5. Check how much you’re paying in fees

The more old pensions you have, the more you could be paying in fees so it’s a good idea to check your statements regularly. While fees will vary from provider to provider, you can expect to pay an annual management fee for each one as a minimum.

Less standard is an inactivity fee which is charged when you don’t make any payments into your pension over a set timeframe. This means that you could be being penalised for not making regular contributions, and your pensions could be shrinking without your knowledge. In the worst case scenario, fees like these might leave you with with nothing at all…

Travesty of the vanishing pension https://t.co/nCKazpEa1g via @thisismoney

‍— Philipcrawford (@Philipc37782932) September 21, 2016

Elsewhere, when you close each of your old pensions you may face an exit fee - typically charged to cover the administration costs for closing your account. In contrast, there’s no exit fee if you leave PensionBee at any point. Plus there’s also a 30-day cancellation policy, which means we will return your pensions to your old providers (assuming they are also willing to take them back) free of charge if you cancel your PensionBee plan within 30 days of opening it.

6. Transfer your old pensions into one pot

To avoid having lots of pensions with different providers, it’s possible to transfer all of your old pensions into one. PensionBee can help you track down and combine all of your old pensions and consolidate them into one simple plan.

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From here you’ll be able to track the performance of your money much more easily and will only have one fair fee to pay. It won’t always makes sense to transfer them all into one plan - particularly if you have a defined benefit pension or two - but it can make sense if you’ve gots lots of disparate defined contribution pots, being eaten away by hefty fees and poor performance.

7. Make sure you’ll qualify for the full State Pension

While your State Pension will be off limits until you reach the State Pension age (66 for men and women by the end of 2020, rising to 67 by 2028), you’ll want to make sure that you receive the maximum amount when the time comes.

To qualify for a full State Pension you’ll need to have been working and paying your National Insurance for at least 35 years or have a good reason why not, in which case you’ll qualify for credits.

How much could you get? Find out more about your State Pension today https://t.co/jNnawlldMx pic.twitter.com/Xr7892ypaQ

— DWP (@DWP) March 7, 2018

Most people will automatically meet the requirements, but it’s sensible to double check your State Pension eligibility well in advance of your retirement. If you haven’t paid enough, you can top up with voluntary National Insurance Contributions. Plus National Insurance credits can be claimed for periods of unemployment, sickness or parental and care leave.

Can I retire early?

Once you’ve started digging into your savings and have a clearer understanding of your pension you’ll be able to decide if you really are in a position to retire early. The longer you leave it before you start investigating, the more you’ll likely need to save each month to get yourself back on track.

But what if you are on track? what’s the earliest age you can start accessing your pension?

Early pension release

While the age at which you get your State Pension is non-negotiable, it’s possible to access your workplace or personal pension earlier. The law changed in 2015 so that those who’ve reached their 55th birthday can take greater control of their savings and access their pension.

You’ll be able to withdraw a portion or all of your funds via drawdown and can use your money to purchase an annuity, or spend as you see fit. No matter how big your pot or what you decide to do with it, you can take the first 25% as a tax-free lump sum. If you’re under 55 you won’t be able to access your pension.

Beware of early pension release scams

Unfortunately there are several early pension release scams targeting those approaching retirement so if you’re contacted by a company out of the blue, claiming they can help you access your pension even earlier than 55, it’s unlikely to be trustworthy.

Don’t give out any personal details about your pension and don’t be fooled by a good sales patter or slick website. You can check the Financial Conduct Authority register to see if a company’s regulated and there’s also an Financial Conduct Authority warning list which gives details of unregulated companies you should avoid.

Are you on target to retire early? Tell us your tips in the comments!

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

For richer or for poorer, when you get married you’re in it for the long-haul! What’s yours is theirs and what’s theirs is yours, and money is just one of the things that’s included into the bargain.

But what happens if one of you is a conscientious saver and the other has very different ideas when it comes to managing the finances? Or what if your earnings are on opposite ends of the pay scale? Here are our top tips for managing money in a marriage, and maintaining marital bliss until death do you part.

1. Be transparent about your earnings and goals

With the average cost of a wedding estimated to be around £27,000, it stands to reason that married couples should already know a thing or two about each other’s finances. Or so you’d think! 2017 research found that almost half of Brits have no idea how much their partner earns, or whether they have debts.

Almost half of Brits have no idea how much their partner earns

In true British fashion it seems that we’d rather discuss sex and embarrassing health problems publically than talk about our finances in private. Much like in other areas of your marriage, it’s important to be honest and open about money – from how much you earn to your preferred way of managing it.

If you earn a similar amount it can be relatively straightforward, but where you don’t, lying about it or covering it up can lead to serious trust issues and even debts. Being fully transparent about how much money you have and what you’d like to do with it will ensure you and your partner are on the same page from the very beginning and can work out the best approach to managing your money together.

2. Don’t feel like you have to share everything

Sharing is caring, but you don’t have to share absolutely everything with your husband or wife. While pooling your finances can absolutely simplify the day to day running of your home it’s important not to lose the independence that comes with managing your own money.

Have some pocket money that isn’t under the microscope

If setting up a joint bank account seems easier than keeping tabs of who’s turn it is or who spent what, be sure to set clear boundaries for its use. Being equals means you should each pay a similar amount into the joint account, whether that’s a financial value or portion of salary.

Elsewhere, agree what the money can be spent on in advance – whether it’s groceries, holidays or petrol – this will avoid arguments about how much each of you is spending.

Keeping a portion of your earnings for yourself is just good sense when you consider that money matters are one of the biggest causes of stress and conflict among married couples and are often cited as a main reason for the dreaded ‘d’ word (d-i-v-o-r-c-e).

This way you can spend some of your money on the things you enjoy without it having a negative impact on your shared plans and life goals. So whether you enjoy splurging on clothes or showering your loved one with lavish gifts and surprises, you’ll have some pocket money that isn’t under the microscope.

3. Think selfishly when it comes to building your pension

Whatever else you have going on in your life money-wise, it’s important to save for your retirement. Shared property and investments are all well and good, but you’ll want to ensure that you have enough money to live independently in later life, should you need to.

You can use a pension calculator to help you figure out how much you should be saving each month. Simply enter your current age, the age you’d like to retire, how much you have in savings and, most importantly, your retirement goal. Your goal is the target amount of money you’d like to receive as an annual income in retirement.

Aside from the peace of mind that comes with pension saving, there are several other benefits, including tax relief from the government and contributions from your employer, that can help your money grow.

Once you get to grips with your pension you should encourage your spouse to do the same. That way you can ensure you’re able to live the same quality of life in retirement, and will both have the option of accessing your savings from age 55 and over.

The full State Pension pays just £159.55 a week, and the age at which you can start withdrawing it is rising. It’ll be 65 for men and women by the end of the year, increasing to 66 by 2020. It’s highly unlikely you’ll be able to live on this alone, so the earlier you both start saving whatever you can afford, the better.

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4. Plan for the end of the road

Our own mortality is a sad thing to consider, especially when it comes to imaging life without our partner or leaving them behind. But as it’s highly unlikely that you and your partner will pass away at exactly the same moment, you need to give some thought to what happens to your shared and individual finances when one of you dies.

Writing a will is the first step, and it’s a lot easier than you may think. While everything should automatically go to your spouse, it’ll help remove the avoidance of doubt. A will is where you can legally state what you’d like to happen to your estate once you pass away, and can help ensure your loved one inherits your money, property and belongings.

It’s possible to decide what happens to the rest of your pension

Being co-signatories on any properties you own is good practice as is naming your partner as the beneficiary of any insurance policies taken out in your name. One example is death in service benefit usually arranged by your employer.

For instance, if you die while employed, a death in service benefit pays a tax-free sum of money from your pension to the person(s) you choose.

It’s possible to decide what happens to the rest of your pension in death too, however your options will depend on how old you are when you die, what type of pension you have and whether you start drawing money out of it before you die. If you’re a PensionBee customer and you’re keen to set up beneficiaries, you can do so in the Account section of your BeeHive.

In some scenarios your entire pension can be passed to your beneficiaries tax-free, and in others your partner may need to pay inheritance tax. Annuities are a little more complicated so it’s important to consider all of your options carefully.

Following these four simple tips should help achieve a rich marriage, free from financial worry.

What are your top tips for managing money in a marriage? Tell us in the comments below.

This article was last updated on 26/07/2023

If you’re planning to take time out of work to have a baby, chances are your pension isn’t high on your list of immediate priorities. Yet just as preparing for sleepless nights and the emotional rollercoaster of being a new parent is essential, so too is ensuring your finances are in order.

In addition to your maternity pay, it’s important to factor pension contributions into your financial planning for a baby. Here’s everything you need to know about what happens to your pay and pension during maternity leave.

How does maternity leave work?

Since April 2015 parents are allowed to share up to 12-months of leave following the birth of a child. That means a full year of maternity or paternity leave, or a combination of the two which is usually called Shared Parental Leave and can last for up to 50 weeks. It’s not compulsory to take a full year off, however it is your legal right, should you wish to.

Typically maternity leave‘s split into two parts; Ordinary Maternity Leave and Additional Maternity Leave. Ordinary Maternity Leave covers the first 26 weeks of your leave and if you go back to work during this period you can return to the exact same job you had before leaving to have a baby.

Additional Maternity Leave covers the last 26 weeks and your rights change slightly during this time. If you go back to work during this period you can return to the same job, but only if it’s available. If it isn’t your employer has to offer you a similar job with the exact same pay and conditions.

Maternity pay

How much maternity pay you’ll receive will vary from employer to employer, however you’re guaranteed to receive 39 weeks’ pay at the statutory minimum or above.

With Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) for the 2023/24 tax year, you’ll receive 9^{_personal_allowance_rate} of your average weekly salary for the first six weeks then either £172.48 or 9^{_personal_allowance_rate} of your average weekly salary for 33 weeks (depending on which is the lowest). If you decide to take a year’s maternity leave and claim SMP, the last 13 weeks will be unpaid. Note that Statutory Maternity Pay payments will be taxed and National Insurance will be deducted.

A person earning the average weekly UK salary of £571 would receive £513.90 for the first six weeks, then £172.48 for the following 33 weeks.

To qualify for SMP you’ll need to earn at least £123 a week and have worked for your employer for 26 weeks when you reach the 15th week before your due date. If you earn less than £123 a week or are self-employed you may be entitled to Maternity Allowance.

Maternity rights

During your time away from work you’re allowed to benefit from all the things you usually would such as paid holiday, employee protection from unfair dismissal, employee benefits and employer pension contributions.

Pensions and maternity leave

If you’re eligible to receive maternity pay during your leave you’ll also continue receiving regular pension contributions from your employer. Due to Auto-Enrolment, all employers have to enrol their staff into a company pension scheme and contribute at least 3% of their annual salary to the pension in 2023/24.

Maternity rights state that those on maternity leave must receive the same benefits as they would if they were at work, which includes pension contributions. You won’t need to do anything as your employer will make these payments automatically, however you must ensure you remain in your pension scheme, continue with your payments and don’t opt-out.

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Pension contributions during maternity leave

If you receive SMP, your employer has to keep paying into your pension for at least 39 weeks and possibly longer, depending on what’s agreed in your contract. Payments will usually be based on the salary you received before you went on maternity leave, and if you’re in a pension scheme where your employer matches your contributions, they’ll also be matched to the level of contributions you made before your leave began.

The contributions you make to your pension during maternity leave will be based on your actual earnings during this period which may be lower than your usual payments. That means your contribution level may fall over the duration of your maternity leave, if you don’t increase your payments.

Unless your contract states otherwise, your employer won’t have to make a contribution to your pension during the period of your maternity leave where you’re not being paid, such as the last 13 weeks if you receive SMP. This period is considered as unpaid leave and you may want to make extra contributions to cover it when your leave ends and you go back to earning your full salary.

Topping up your pension after maternity leave

When you return to work after maternity leave you may want to consider topping up your pension. You can contribute up to ^{_annual_allowance} to your pension each year so if you haven’t used this allowance during your maternity leave, you may want to make up for any personal or employer contributions that reduced towards the end of your leave.

Topping up your pension will ensure your savings aren’t adversely affected by any time taken out to raise children and can help keep your savings on track for retirement. This is especially important the more children, and therefore the more breaks, you have throughout your career.

It’s a good idea to review your pension every so often and see how your savings are performing. If you have several workplace pensions, PensionBee can help you move them into one simple plan that you can manage online. Find out more about how PensionBee works and sign up today.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

The PensionBee office was abuzz with excitement last week as we clicked the final ‘submit’ button to get our freshly minted app into the Apple App and Google Play Stores.

Customers can now access their real time pension balance with PensionBee, without needing to log into the BeeHive through a web browser.

It’s just another step in our goal to enable people to take control of their pensions, simply.

How did we get here?

It was a bit of a learning curve for our team, many of whom had not been involved with native app development before. Here at PensionBee though, we believe in developing all our developers so they can get involved in any type of tech work that’s needed, so we reached out and found support from the team at Built.ie to upskill our development team to be ready to take on the world of app building!

You asked, we listened

There’s no point making something no one’s going to use, so when we started hearing the refrain of ‘where’s the PensionBee app?’ and ‘I can’t find you in the App Store’, we thought ‘hey, maybe we should look into making a mobile app!’. It was heartwarming to see ‘PensionBee app’ getting searched for a lot – long before we decided to create an app.

We engaged with our PensionBee community to sign up testers whom we owe a huge thank you to, and about 1,574 builds later (each tiny change, from line spacing to the ‘forgot password’ button requires a new ‘build’), we finally got to a point where we were happy to release to the general public.

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What’s next?

Now that the PensionBee app is released, we won’t stop there of course. Over the coming months we’ll be building out new features such as:

• Transfer tracker

This will essentially mirror the visibility customers have in the current BeeHive, allowing them to keep on top of where in the process a pension sits.

In addition to the ability to keep track of transfers, we want to enable push notifications, so that your dedicated BeeKeeper can let you know what’s happening or request actions from you without needing to email.

• Contributions

The key to a healthy pension is making contributions over the course of the investment, so we want to make this as easy as possible, including the ability to make additional contributions with just a few clicks in the app.

• Analytics

Making contributions to help your pot grow is great, but how do you know how much to put in? What can you expect to see in retirement?

Our analytics capability will build on our currently available pension calculator to enable you to make an informed decision on how to manage your pension.

As always with anything PensionBee, we’re happy to listen to feedback, so feel free to drop us a note by emailing me at martin@pensionbee.com!

This article was last updated on 24/06/2024

When a person dies it usually falls to their close friends or relatives to manage their estate. In order for them to make decisions about the deceased’s property, money and possessions they’ll need legal permission, which can either be expressed by the deceased in their will or granted by the Probate Registry.

If you’re expecting to inherit a property and want to sell it, there are a few things you’ll need to bear in mind. Depending on how much the property is worth and your relationship to the deceased, you may need to pay Inheritance Tax (IHT) on the property. Plus, what you do with the property before you sell it will affect how much capital gains tax (CGT) you’ll have to pay. Here are three things you’ll need to do to sell an inherited property.

1. Find a will

In order to confirm who stands to inherit the deceased’s estate, you’ll need to find their will. This legal document will outline how they’d like to split their assets and should also name an executor, who is the person they trust to manage their estate and carry out their wishes.

Wills can be found in a wide variety of places so it’s a good idea to check the obvious ones first. In most cases a copy of a will is stored in a safe place within the home such as a filing cabinet, lockable drawers or inside a safe.

Another option is to contact the deceased’s solicitor as it’s possible that they either worked on the will with your loved one or are storing it for them. If the will was created a long time ago, and you find that the solicitor is no longer in business, you can contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority for help. It could also be worth contacting their bank as, like the solicitor, it’s possible they may have a copy of the will on file.

If you can’t find a will by exploring any of these avenues you can contact your local Probate Registry or search the government’s probate database, which stores a public record of wills for people who died from 1858 onwards.

2. Apply for probate

Probate Registries are branches of the court that can help you get legal permission to carry out your role as the executor of a will. If there isn’t a will you’ll need to apply for a ‘grant of representation’, or ‘probate’ at your local Probate Registry.

A ‘grant of representation’ is also known as ‘probate’, and is a document that’ll give you the legal authority to act on behalf of the deceased. Once you have this you’ll be able to access their bank accounts, investments and tax affairs. After their debts have been settled you’ll be able to distribute their estate to the next of kin or those named in the will.

If you live in England and Wales you can make an application yourself on gov.uk, or alternatively you can go through a solicitor. If you live in Scotland, you’ll need to apply for ‘confirmation’ or a ‘grant of probate’ if you live in Northern Ireland.

When you may not need to apply for probate

There are some instances where you don’t need to apply for a grant of representation or probate. If the deceased has a spouse or civil partner and assets in the estate are jointly owned, no action will need to be taken. This typically applies where the surviving partner is named on assets such as a mortgage deed or bank account records. A grant of representation or probate isn’t usually required if the deceased’s estate doesn’t include property, land or shares and investments.

Get a house valuation for probate

As part of your application for a grant of representation or probate, you’ll need to find out the value of the deceased’s estate. To do this you’ll need to get access to their financial paperwork and contact banks and financial institutions to find out how much money they have in bank accounts, pension funds and investments.

Their home and any other properties they own also have to be valued, even if the beneficiaries aren’t planning to sell. The value you report to HMRC should be consistent with the amount the property could sell for if it was put on the open market on the ‘date of transfer’, which is usually the date the deceased passed away.

The process of valuing an estate can take six to nine months, possibly longer, so you should be mindful of what the deadlines are for reporting the value of the estate to HMRC and paying any inheritance tax that becomes due.

3. Pay Inheritance Tax (IHT) on property

IHT is a one-time tax that’s due on the total value of someone’s estate when they die. The amount of IHT collected by HMRC will vary depending on the total value of the estate and who inherits it.

IHT is charged at a rate of ^_higher_rate on any proportion of the estate that goes over the current ^{_iht_threshold} threshold. This is usually referred to as the ‘nil-rate band’. Everyone can pass on ^{_iht_threshold} of assets before their beneficiaries will need to pay IHT, but if the deceased was married or in a civil partnership, their partner can inherit any of their unused allowance which means they could receive up to £650,000 worth of assets.

If the deceased’s assets aren’t worth more than ^{_iht_threshold}, IHT won’t be charged. And, if the deceased leaves everything to their spouse or civil partner, IHT won’t be applicable, even if the estate is worth more than ^{_iht_threshold}. The same rules also apply if the estate is left to a charity.

Specifically where property is concerned, direct descendants of the deceased will see their tax-free threshold increase to $450,000. That means children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, stepchildren, adopted and foster children can all inherit property without having to pay any IHT up to £450,000.

However, other relatives such as siblings, nieces and nephews, and other parties named in a will, are required to pay IHT on any amount over the ^{_iht_threshold} threshold. Visit the gov.uk website to find out more about the IHT rates and how you can calculate how much tax is due.

Check the capital gains tax on the inherited property

Capital gains tax (CGT) is a tax that’s charged on the profit you make when you sell an asset that’s increased in value. You pay tax on the amount of money you’ve gained, rather than the whole amount.

CGT is sometimes applicable if you go on to sell part of an inherited estate. For example, if as a beneficiary, you were to sell a property and its value has increased since you inherited it, you might need to pay CGT on the profit you make.

If you were to live in the inherited property and use it as your home before you decided to sell it, you’d automatically qualify for private residence relief, which means your property sale would be exempt from CGT.

On the other hand, if you were to sell the property without ever living in it as your main residence, you’d need to pay CGT. Everyone has a capital gains tax-free allowance of £3,000 per year (2024/25) before tax is charged and you might be able to reduce your bill further.

You’d be able to deduct some of your costs such as those associated with selling the property, legal fees and any expenses you were to incur improving the value of the property, for example if you decided to install a brand new kitchen or bathroom. You can find out more about how CGT works and if you need to pay it on the gov.uk website.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

Pension scams come in many shapes and sizes, all promising to convert your hard earned pension savings into cash before retirement. While HMRC is taking steps to deter scammers, thousands of people are affected each year, with 1 in 10 over 55s fearing they’ve been targeted by a pension scam since 2015.

Citizens Advice found that 10.9m consumers received unsolicited contact about their pension in the year following the 2015 pension freedoms, with as many as eight scam calls being received every second.

It’s likely pensions will continue to be an attractive target for fraudsters as the life savings of just one person can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. That’s why it’s more important than ever to know the warning signs to watch out for and the steps you can take to protect yourself from a pension scam.

1. Pension liberation scams

Once you reach the minimum age of 55 you can access the money in your pension however you want. If you try to withdraw your pension any earlier you’ll have to pay a high tax bill, unless you can prove that you meet certain criteria such as a medical condition preventing you from working, or being medically advised that you have less than 12 months to live.

For most people this won’t apply and you won’t be eligible for early pension release, but pension liberation scammers will try to convince you that you can get access to your pension before 55 anyway. They’ll sometimes offer you cash incentives and might refer to it as a ‘pension loan’ or ‘saving advance’.

While it may be tempting to take up an offer like this, you should avoid anything related to pension liberation as it’s likely that you’re being asked to transfer your money into an unregulated scheme. You could end up losing your whole pension to a bad investment or fraud.

Many people who fall victim to pension liberation scams aren’t aware of the tax implications of withdrawing their savings early. If you access your pension before 55, HMRC will view this as an unauthorised payment and you’ll have to pay 55% tax on your withdrawal. Even if you lose your pension to a scam, HMRC will still charge you so you could end up losing 155% of your pension’s value (100% lost by the scam, 55% by the tax charge to HMRC).

2. Cold calling pension scams

Pension cold calling ban could be in force by June https://t.co/T91tdjup8Q #pensions #scams

— Pension Geeks (@PensionGeeks) 7 March 2018

Cold calling pension scams occur when someone contacts you out of the blue and tries to get you to move your pension savings into another investment. The scammer might offer a last-minute opportunity to invest in a luxury property development or an overseas deal and will say anything they can to get you to send them your pension.

Scammers might pressure you into making a fast decision and it’s not unheard of for documents to be couriered over for a signature straightaway. Cold calling pension scams don’t just happen on the phone, they can happen at every point of contact including text message, email, post and in person.

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3. DWP scams

A common way for scammers to get in touch is via post, sending fraudulent letters from trusted companies such as banks and government bodies like HMRC or the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). They’ll either ask you to provide updated bank details along with other personal information, or they’ll tell you that they’ve updated their bank details and you should arrange for all of your payments to go to the new account.

Last autumn Middlesbrough residents received official looking letters claiming to be from the DWP, asking them to confirm their bank details. The letters were found to be fraudulent after a resident googled the phone number on the letter.

4. Annuity scams

An annuity is a product that you can buy with your pension to guarantee an income for the rest of your life. Scammers often target those looking to buy an annuity and try to convince them to buy products at an inflated cost or that aren’t suitable for their financial circumstances.

They may target older savers who have poor health or who are losing their memory, and are therefore more vulnerable. Sometimes annuity scammers might promise a cash incentive or signing bonus to try and convince you to sign. They might also claim that the deal is only valid for one day.

How to protect yourself from a pension scam

Pension scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated and it can sometimes be hard to spot one until it’s too late. Here are six things you can do to protect your pension savings.

Keep your pension details to yourself

Whether you’re approached by phone call, text message, email or letter, don’t share any details about your pension with anyone you don’t know. Even if they appear to know specific details about your pension, don’t drop your guard.

Cold calls and text messages are common pension scam tactics. Find out more https://t.co/9extvy48pn #scamaware pic.twitter.com/BoYevjnd6u

— DWP (@DWP) 5 July 2016

If a friend or family member asks you about your pension, you can relax a little bit but it’s never a good idea to share sensitive information or passwords with anyone.

Don’t be fooled by clever use of language

Some pension scammers will use phrases like ‘pension liberation’, ‘saving advance’, ‘pension loan’, and ‘cashback’ to trick you. ‘Legal loopholes’ are often cited as a way to get access to your pension before 55, but no such thing exists. You should also be mindful of anyone offering a ‘free pension review’ or someone who neglects to mention how much it will cost to withdraw your pension.

Avoid anything that sounds too good to be true

Can you spot pension scams? Most can detect 'too good to be true' offers - but may miss the 'clone' menace https://t.co/WqAEXYxBaB #scams

— Pension Geeks (@PensionGeeks) 21 February 2018

Whether you’re the one looking for help and advice or are contacted out of the blue, you should avoid any firm who offers cash incentives or tax-free access to your pension. Never click on links to websites and social media profiles offering easy access to your pension savings without checking their credentials.

Always read the small print and ensure there are no hidden fees or clauses that will cost you more money in the long run. In general, if the sales pitch seems too good to be true, it’s probably a scam.

Contact your pension provider

If you’re unsure about something that someone’s telling you about your pension, always contact your pension provider and ask for confirmation. Depending on what it is that you’ve been told, your pension provider should be best placed to provide you with more information. You should also let your pension provider know if someone has contacted you out of the blue, but knows sensitive information about your pension savings.

Check the Financial Conduct Authority register

Don’t fall prey to pension scams – follow the link to get advice and stay #scamaware https://t.co/m1yLqXoKj4 pic.twitter.com/ctVuZmA9QY

— DWP (@DWP) 6 July 2016

If anyone offers you financial advice or claims they can help you with your pension, it’s a good idea to check the Financial Conduct Authority register and confirm that they’re authorised to provide financial advice. It’s not a good sign if you can’t find them on the register, but you may want to also check the Financial Conduct Authority Warning List which highlights firms you should avoid.

Report any concerns to the Financial Conduct Authority and Action Fraud

If you’ve been approached about early pension release out of the blue, and the firm isn’t on the Financial Conduct Authority register, you should report it so the Financial Conduct Authority can investigate. You can report anything suspicious by calling the consumer helpline on 0800 111 6768 or via the Financial Conduct Authority website.

If you’ve already agreed to something that you’re having second thoughts about, contact your pension provider straight away. If your savings are still in your account they may be able to prevent any pending transfers from going ahead. You should also call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or visit the Action Fraud website to report the crime.

How do you feel about your financial future? My thoughts have changed significantly over time and vary depending on my life stage. I thought it would be interesting to speak to a few of my friends aged over 50 to understand their thoughts, provisions and views towards their financial future and how they are providing for themselves.

Pension gap research

Firstly a few stats. PensionBee recently completed some research on the pension gap. You might have heard this term in the media and not paid much attention, but it’s pretty shocking. The average UK pension pot for a man is £23,416 and the average for a woman is £16,083 – a significant 31% difference.

The geographic gap is even starker in certain areas of the country, with women in the North East facing a 5^{_personal_allowance_rate} gap and women in Northern Ireland struggling with a pension that’s 76% smaller. Greater London, as maybe expected, fairs better with a gap of 27%. Take a look at how your region compares on the pension landscape microsite.

The gap worsens beyond the age of 50

The research highlights a huge problem here; women are far less prepared financially for older age than men. Even more shocking is an analysis of pension gaps and age, which worsens as women get older. Women over 50 experience a gap of almost 5^{_personal_allowance_rate}, with men at an average pot of £53,400 and women at £31,300*.

Why do women have less in their pension pots?

Of course, women have babies, which can affect our finances in a big way. I know I stopped my pension contributions during all three of my maternity leaves to maximise my earnings in that financially difficult time. Many women take a career break for several years to bring up their children. These women may then struggle with a return to work and/or take lower paid jobs to work around their children’s school hours. These factors inevitably affect our earning potential and pension contributions during our 30s and 40s, meaning that the pot in our 50s and beyond is much less.

I know I stopped my pension contributions during all three of my maternity leaves

Many women realise that a return to the corporate world is a huge challenge after children, hands up Lynn! I tried it for one year after my maternity leave with my third child Jack. I couldn’t hack it. Commuting four days a week, working 12-hour days and not seeing my three boys was tough. I negotiated redundancy one year after my return to work. My pot stood at £43,000 at that point of leaving and is now growing nicely with PensionBee. Since then my pension pot hasn’t been added to.

Real-life examples of women in their 50s

I wanted to speak to a cross section of my friends in their 50s to explore how they are doing with their pension and financial planning for retirement. I asked them all the same five questions and their responses were very different and very interesting.

• Are you employed/self-employed? Do you have a pension pot, and how much is in it?
• What is your savings/investment/pension strategy for retirement?
• At what age do you plan to retire?
• How do you feel about your pension and do you have enough money for retirement?
• If you don’t think you have enough saved, what are your plans to address this?

M - Executive Director (aged 51)

M has a current pot of £87,000 and currently contributes 12%, plus her employer matches 1^{_personal_allowance_rate}. M had children early in life and started her corporate career in her 40s. Her intention is to keep going with pension contributions increasing them by 1% each year.

She plans to have a phased retirement by reducing her hours upon reaching 60, health dependant. M feels like she doesn’t have enough in her pot, but realises she still has time to build it up. M has an ISA as extra savings and expects to receive some inheritance to boost her pot.

Helena - self-employed yoga instructor (aged 51)

Helena and her partner are both self-employed and neither has a pension. They do own a property in London, which has equity of around £250,000 and is increasing in value each year.

Helena loves her job and sees no need to retire at any point really

Helena loves her job and sees no need to retire at any point really. She takes time when needed and trusts that the rest is looked after. She’s one of the healthiest, zen people I know and doesn’t stress about money – it comes and goes. She finds it when she must, and it flows in and out. She has no worries about the future as she has no idea what that holds.

Justina - self-employed business owner (aged 50)

Justina runs her own business and has done for ten years, for which time she has been self-employed. She doesn’t have a pension pot. Her financial provisions include property and developing her business model. The property plan includes selling property when the time is right, downsizing and living off the capital. She is currently exploring options with a financial planner.

Justina has created a global franchise model around her business. The plan is that through ongoing franchises across the world and the royalty fees they pay, she will be able to draw passive income for years to come.

She will carry on working for as long as she can. She feels comfortable with property investment, as she will have a substantial amount left if she sells, even after paying off the mortgage. The business aspect is a bit riskier as you never can be sure of outcomes, but fingers crossed it will work out the way she intends.

Justina and her partner have some investments in other companies, which will also provide good revenue if and when they sell (that is their exit strategy). She is comfortable that this is enough provision for retirement.

D - self-employed accountant (aged 56)

D was employed for most of her adult life by the same employer and has a pension pot of £650,000. She is now a self-employed accountant. She is intending to manage her pension fund in a tax efficient way by drawing down on annual allowances, and plans to retire at 65.

She recognises that her current pension pot value is good and given current market conditions should provide a good standard of living. D’s concerns for retirement include the cost of being cared for in old age. She believes that her pension provisions and the equity in her home will provide enough cover for this.

Summary

Those are four very different provisions for the future. Each woman has a provision of money set aside but each is very different. All are suitable for their life position, employment status and intended expenses in retirement - there is no one-size-fits-all number. Everyone has a different intention and view of retirement, so think hard on this as you save.

There is no one-size-fits-all number

These provisions will all be on top of the State Pension currently set at £164.35 per week. For impartial advice for the over 50s check out Pension Wise and have a read about what I did with my pensions moving them all over to PensionBee, turning frozen pots from two employers into a fully accessible and trackable pot, currently worth £48,000.

How does your pension situtation compare? Let me know in the comments section at the bottom of the page, or tell me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

Lynn Beattie is a PensionBee customer and CEO/Founder of Mrs Mummypenny, a personal finance website. She is also an ACMA management Accountant, previously working in commercial finance for Tesco, EE & HSBC. Lynn is a single mum to three boys, living in Hertfordshire, and is the author of ‘The Money Guide to Transform Your Life‘ published in September 2020.

*Source: PensionBee, based on a sample of 5,098 savers

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

The summer holidays can be expensive. I have six weeks looming ahead with three boys who need constant distraction and amusement. Holiday clubs, days out, extra food and the moanings of ‘I’m bored’, all have financial consequences. Put very simply, we cannot afford to shell out the estimated £133 per week to keep the children amused.

Here’s a list of the best ideas to get you through the school holidays without spending a penny.

1. A countryside walk

We all live close to nature, even if you live in the middle of a city. Go to the woods and create houses from trees and branches or find some green space and explore. My family lives near fields of wheat and corn and I love to walk around the edges of the fields spotting wildlife and flowers, and looking for grass snakes.

I like to write a list of 20 flowers, trees, animals and birds that the children need to search for whilst we’re out for the walk. The winner with the most things ticked gets to choose dinner or a film to watch when they get home.

Before you set off to explore, put a big bottle of water in your rucksack and fruit and energy snacks for when the kids start moaning that they’ve walked too far.

2. Geocaching

An extension to the country walk is the treasure hunting excitement of Geocaching. Check out this website for a great explanation of what you have to do. I’ve just done a quick search and there are 10 treasure spots within one mile of my house alone! I can see how recently they’ve been visited and how easy they are to find.

You’ll need to take some treasure with you to replace the treasure that you find. I am sure your kids can find a toy or gift that you no longer need to put in the treasure chest.

3. Visit a free museum

So many museums are free, from the huge Science Museum or Natural History Museum in London to the smaller places more local to you. We love RAF Hendon. Money Saving Expert has a fab list of free museums where you search by location. In Eastern England, particularly Cambridge, we have the choice of around 10 free museums to visit and then another 20 in London. Top of our list to visit this year is the Bank of England museum where you get to learn about money and hold a gold bar.

4. Go to a splash park

We love a splash park in this household. Luckily, we’re surrounded by them in lots of parks, so I’m guessing it’s the same for you as well, wherever you’re reading this post. We have them in St. Albans, Stevenage, Letchworth and Royston. All very near to where we live. Just take a couple of towels and your packed lunch, and you’re good to go.

5. Do a park assault course

Check out your local park’s assault course or exercise course. Our most local big park is Fairlands Park in Stevenage, which has a course of apparatus running through the fields and trees. The boys can do pole climbs, monkey bars and chin-ups. They like to compete and have me take videos of their chin-up records!

6. Free community activities

Check out the free classes at your local church, library or children’s centre. All these organisations offer freebie activities. There will be play in the park, messy play and rhyme time. Ask around in local Facebook groups or Google your local children’s centre.

7. Plan your summer with Clubcard vouchers

The boys are very keen to go to Legoland this summer. We’ve been before, and it’s amazing, especially for three boys who all adore Lego. Alas, I’m not paying full or even half price for tickets as it’s so expensive. For one adult and three boys it’s £188 for us to go with advanced booking. Yikes!

I tend to save them up, so I have a bigger chunk of vouchers to use each summer

Instead I will use my Clubcard vouchers and get four tickets from there. The tickets will cost just £63 in Clubcard vouchers. I tend to save them up, so I have a bigger chunk of vouchers to use each summer. I’m going to ensure I bring plenty of drinks, a packed lunch and snacks as we’ll be avoiding the shops! Look at your Clubcard account for lots more days out ideas.

8. Fruit picking

July-August is a great time to hit the berry farms and go fruit picking. Near me I have them all; strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, even the blackberries are starting to ripen. And, of course, you don’t have to pay for what you eat! I have a few places I know where we can go proper freebie blackberry picking or foraging so we’re going to do that. Make sure you know what a blackberry is and don’t go picking them near a road or below a metre in height (where animals might have had a call of nature).

9. Recycling box creativity

There are loads of things to do in the summer holidays at home too… you don’t have to go out all the time! I always have a craft box suitable for any given moment of inspiration. Whenever I get stuff from goodie bags or packaging it all goes into the craft box. I just let the boys go wild with creativity. There are tons of amazing printables and card models online that you could find. Only today I’ve been printing out Incredibles colouring-in pictures for some amusement whilst mummy gets a bit of work done.

Lynn Beattie is a PensionBee customer and CEO/Founder of Mrs Mummypenny, a personal finance website. She is also an ACMA management Accountant, previously working in commercial finance for Tesco, EE & HSBC. Lynn is a single mum to three boys, living in Hertfordshire, and is the author of ‘The Money Guide to Transform Your Life‘ published in September 2020.

Now that you’re retired, you can finally reap the benefits of saving into a pension your whole life. Without a boss to worry about or any rules to follow, you can enjoy the retirement you’ve always imagined for yourself. But, before you get carried away and risk undoing decades of hard work, there are a few things to bear in mind. Here are five of the most common mistakes to avoid in retirement.

1. Taking too much of your pension too soon

Even if you only have a modest pension pot, gaining access to it can feel like winning the lottery. Pensions are often out of sight, out of mind so when you’ve suddenly got thousands of pounds to your name, it can be easy to withdraw more than you actually need.

There’s a reason why the age you’re able to access you private pensions is set to rise to 57 in 2028. People are living longer and savings accessed in our 50s may need to last us into our 80s – and perhaps beyond. Taking your pension early or withdrawing too much too soon can have a dramatic impact on your overall pension pot size and how long it will last. And, once you’ve withdrawn all of your pension there’s no getting it back.

2. Not understanding how pension tax works

As per the new rules introduced in 2015, you can take up to 25% of your pension as a tax-free lump sum from the age of 55. Another option is to take the first 25% of each withdrawal tax-free. Whichever method you choose, only the first 25% is tax-free and you’ll need to pay pension tax on everything else.

All of the pension money you receive is treated like income and HMRC will charge you income tax at your usual rate of 20%, 40% or 45%, depending on how much you withdraw. You’ll get a tax-free allowance of £11,850 (for 2018/19) before tax is charged.

The more money you withdraw from your pension in any given tax year, the more tax you’ll have to pay. For this reason it’s important to be mindful of the pension tax rates and income tax thresholds, and consider spreading your withdrawals if you don’t need money urgently.

Pension tax isn’t optional or something you can sort out later. Instead it’s automatically deducted by your pension provider before each withdrawal is paid to you in the same way income tax is deducted from salaries by employers using PAYE. You’ll find more information about how pension tax is calculated on your pension statement.

3. Maintaining an expensive lifestyle you can’t afford

Just because you’re retired doesn’t mean you can’t have fun! But without the option of picking up overtime or pulling in extra cash another way, chances are the money you have now is going to be all you’ve got.

Getting to know your pension and its limitations is an important part of retirement planning. Before you withdraw pension lump sums and take risks with your savings, you need to figure out how much you can afford to withdraw each year to ensure you have enough to last for the rest of your life.

If your old salary far exceeds your retirement income you’ll need to make some adjustments – and soon. It’ll be impossible to maintain the same standard of living you had before, unless you’ve reached another financial milestone, such as paying off your mortgage, or will be reducing your overheads in some way.

You need to be realistic about what you can afford and what you’re prepared to sacrifice to ensure you don’t get left short in later life.

4. Forgetting about old pensions

Although you’ve already started drawing your pension, it’s possible that there could still be an old workplace pension that you’ve forgotten about somewhere. The days of a job for life are long gone and it’s likely that you’ll have had a few jobs throughout your career and could have easily lost track of a pension along the way.

In retirement every little helps, so if you think there’s some money that you could be missing out on it’s worth trying to find it. The government’s Pension Tracing Service can help you find an old pension, provided you remember either who the pension provider is or the name of your employer at the time. Should you choose to combine your pensions with PensionBee we can also find those old pensions for you - all we need is some basic info like a pension number or a provider name.

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5. Being resigned to your financial fate

While it can be hard to dramatically improve your financial position in retirement, there’s usually something you can change – especially if you’re unhappy. No matter how far into retirement you are it’s important to check your pension statements regularly to see how your money’s being managed. If you find that you’re being charged high fees for the service you’re getting or don’t think your funds are being managed well, it’s quite straightforward to change pension provider.

Elsewhere, drawdown is one of the most flexible ways of taking your pension and also allows your money to stay invested until you need it.

This can be a great way to boost your pension pot when you’ve already retired, although investing your savings later in life does come with risks.

A key benefit of flexi-access drawdown is that you can always change your mind if you feel it’s not delivering the returns you were expecting or are concerned about the size of your pension pot. In contrast, when you decide to purchase an annuity with your pension you’ll be making a commitment that can’t be undone. That’s why it’s important to research the best annuity rates and consider all of your pension options before going down this route.

There are a number of pension providers that can help you regain control of your pension. PensionBee, for example, makes it easy to transfer your pension and can help you find any old pensions you might have lost. Managing your pension can be simple too, with an online pension dashboard and app, which lets you see your balance in just a few clicks.

Are you in retirement? What mistakes would you tell other retirees to avoid? Tell us in the comments.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

In times gone by previous generations could look forward to their retirement, living out their golden years without financial burden. Nowadays the pension landscape is a lot more complicated and financial security in later life isn’t guaranteed.

To prevent a retirement savings shortfall it’s time to get serious about your pension - whatever your age. Here are four of the most common mistakes you should avoid.

Your current contributions aren’t big enough

Thanks to auto-enrolment British employers have to place all eligible staff in a workplace pension scheme and contribute a minimum amount by law. Typically, contributions will be matched by your employer to a certain percentage and then it’s up to you, the employee, to contribute above and beyond.

Several factors can influence the level of contributions needed to reach your retirement savings goal, chief among them how much time you have until retirement. For instance, retirement saving research from consumer brand Which? found that a couple hoping to secure an annual income of £26,000 in retirement would need to save just £194 per month in their 20s, £253 in their 30s, £351 in their 40s and £591 in their 50s. The longer you leave it before you start saving, the more you’ll have to save each month.

Our pension calculator can also help you find out how much you should be saving. Simply set yourself a retirement goal based on your desired income for each year of your retirement, input your current age and the age at which you hope to retire, plus details of any savings you may have. It’ll then tell you how much you’ll need to contribute each month to make your goal a reality. While the results might not be what you were hoping for, it’s better to identify a retirement savings shortfall sooner rather than later, and while you still have time to rectify it.

To ensure you’re saving enough, it’s a good idea to check what your contribution level is, and increase it to as much as you can afford. Most workplace schemes can be adjusted easily so if your circumstances change and you need to reduce your payments, you can do so with minimum fuss. Whatever you do, make sure you’re paying in enough to get the maximum amount from your employer.

You haven’t paid enough National Insurance

When it comes to the State Pension, most people know that it may not be enough for them to live on, yet few know that the full amount isn’t always guaranteed. For in order to qualify for your full basic State Pension you’ll need to have paid National Insurance, or received credits, for 30 years or more.

National Insurance credits also count towards the 30 years

If you’ve worked for most of your life chances are you’ll have paid National Insurance for more than 30 years and will automatically meet the requirements, but if in doubt you should always check. On gov.uk you can find out how much State Pension you’re eligible for, when you can claim it and what you can do to increase the amount.

If you find that you have gaps in your National Insurance record, you can top them up with voluntary National Insurance contributions. National Insurance credits also count towards the 30 years and can be claimed for periods of unemployment, sickness or for time taken out of work as a parent or carer.

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You’re paying hidden charges

All pensions come with charges, yet while you can expect fees to vary from provider to provider, transparency around each charge isn’t always the same. It’s a good idea to thoroughly read your paperwork, looking out for the charges that are to be expected, and those that may be buried in the small print.

The most common pension charge is an annual management fee which covers any admin costs your provider incurs looking after your fund. Exit fees are also applied on some older plans, and are charged the moment you withdraw or transfer your pension savings. Staggeringly some are as high as 77.60%, as our most recent Robin Hood Index revealed.

Less familiar are contribution charges and inactivity fees – the very definition of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t”. If your pension provider applies a contribution charge, it means they’ll take a percentage every time you add to your pension. While this is a fee that’s becoming less common, over time it could have a big impact on the size of your pot, if you make regular contributions.

Inactivity fees are charged when you don’t make any payments into your pension in a given time period so it’s especially important to look out for such charges on old pensions. Service fees, policy fees and underlying fund fees are often defined as management fees to cover the cost of administration, despite being charged in addition to an annual management fee.

Several cases have hit the headlines where small pension pots have been wiped out, thanks to ongoing charges. An engineering machinist from Rotherham lost an entire £1,300 pension pot after being charged six different fees.

While a young technology executive was told he’d have to pay an exit fee of £14,000 to move his pension. As of 31 March 2017 the government has imposed a 1% cap on early exit charges, but so far this only applies to people aged 55 and over.

To avoid falling victim to hidden charges it’s crucial to check statements regularly and keep track of old pensions. At PensionBee We only charge one annual fee across each of our plans, ranging from 0.5-0.95%. Plus, once your pension grows larger than £100,000 your fee will start decreasing - we’ll halve the fee on the portion of your savings over this amount.

You don’t know what your old pensions are worth

With the concept of a job for life disappearing faster than you can say “LinkedIn recruiter”, it’s now considered the norm to change jobs several times in your career. Whether you move on in search of better opportunities, career progression, job satisfaction or that all important pay rise – it’s important to keep sight of the benefits you clocked up in each role.

But what about your really old pensions? With the best will in the world it can be a challenge to manage multiple pensions, and with the passing of time it’s not uncommon to lose track. To find out the details of old pensions you can use the government’s Pension Tracing Service which uses the details you provide to find the names and contact details of your pension providers.

If you’re happy to put in the legwork you can trace previous pensions yourself by contacting former employers to request the details of the plans they have in place, before contacting each provider. Depending on the restrictions of each pension scheme you may be able to transfer some pots into your current workplace pension or a private pension, within a set period of time.

One of the most straightforward options is to combine all of your pensions into one with the help of a specialist pension service that can easily consolidate them on your behalf. At PensionBee we can transfer all of your old pensions into one simple plan. This will make them more manageable, but could help to reduce your fees too. We just need a few simple details, like your old provider name, policy number and National Insurance number. The more details you have like this, the better, as it makes locating and consolidating all your old pensions much simpler. Get started today.

Are there any other signs should savers look out for? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.

Risk warning The information in this article should not be regarded as financial advice.

This article was last updated on 20/07/2023

They say 50 is the new 40, and you’re only as old as you feel. Take Noel Gallagher for instance – he’s in his 50s now and he’s still throwing parties that are ‘better then Glastonbury’.

As dull as it sounds though, it’s also an age when you’ve got to start thinking about your pension sensibly. Your 50s are a crucial decade when it comes to your retirement, especially if you haven’t started thinking about it already.

So, where you should be by now? And how can you fix things if you’ve fallen behind?

The average pension pot at 50

Research from insurance company LV= found that Brits aged 45-54 have an average pension pot worth £71,342. Our own, recent study of nearly 200,000 PensionBee customers, showed that males and females over 50 had an average pension pot of £43,954 and £23,962, respectively.

To put this into some context, a recent study by Which? suggests that a combined pot of £115,000 would give a couple a comfortable retirement if you opt to withdraw from your pension via drawdown. *Drawdown figures are based on a saver withdrawing all their money over 20 years from age 65, and assume investment growth at 3%, inflation at 1% and charges of 0.75%

So, what can you do to get your pension on track?

Firstly, consider finding and combining

A good place to start is to find out what you have hidden away. Almost half of those over the age of 50 admit they don’t know the value of their pension, thanks in part to the patchwork of old workplace pensions that they’ve left unclaimed.

Collating all of these old pensions and putting them into a single pot is an easy antidote to this, as it’ll clarify your pension position and make monitoring the performance of your funds a lot more straightforward.

We can do this for you at PensionBee - on average, it takes up to 12 weeks to locate and transfer your old pensions - or alternatively you can use the government’s free Pension Tracing Service to track down those old pensions. Discover more about finding and transferring pensions in our dedicated section.

To put this into some context, a recent study by Which? suggests that a combined pot of £115,000 would give a couple a comfortable retirement if you opt to withdraw from your pension via drawdown. *Drawdown figures are based on a saver withdrawing all their money over 20 years from age 65, and assume investment growth at 3%, inflation at 1% and charges of 0.75%

So, what can you do to get your pension on track?

Firstly, consider finding and combining

A good place to start is to find out what you have hidden away. Almost half of those over the age of 50 admit they don’t know the value of their pension, thanks in part to the patchwork of old workplace pensions that they’ve left unclaimed.

Collating all of these old pensions and putting them into a single pot is an easy antidote to this, as it’ll clarify your pension position and make monitoring the performance of your funds a lot more straightforward.

We can do this for you at PensionBee - on average, it takes up to 12 weeks to locate and transfer your old pensions - or alternatively you can use the government’s free Pension Tracing Service to track down those old pensions. Discover more about finding and transferring pensions in our dedicated section.

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Secondly, put a saving plan in place

Once you’re clearer on your pension position, it’s time to start to thinking about the future.

A smart place is to start is our pension calculator, as this can help you determine how much you’ll need to save between now and retirement. Simply set yourself a retirement goal based on the income you’d like to receive and the age you’d like to start receiving it. Then input your current age, and details of any pensions and savings already in place, to discover how much you’ll need to contribute each month to reach your target.

Thirdly, stay positive

If the size of your pension isn’t quite where you’d like it to be there’s still time to make a positive impact. No matter what your age, it’s never too late to come up with a plan and start saving – even if you were to start saving from ground zero aged 50. It’ll take a bit more effort, but it’s by no means impossible!

Above all else don’t panic, as it’s suprising what’s possible. Start by seeing how some small switches could make help you put an extra ^{_higher_rate_personal_savings_allowance} a month in your pension, and make you sure you avoid missing out on ways to boost your State Pension.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.