Millions are left in limbo about locating their lost pensions
More than four in five employees do not know where all their pension pots are, reports pension research agency Raindrop.
This comes after it was recently revealed that there is an estimated £31.1 billion in missing pension pots, according to the Pension Policy Institute.
Locating their missing retirement nest eggs could provide a much-needed boost for the 19 percent of workers who worry they won’t have enough money to retire, Raindrop says.
The Pension and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) says a single person needs £43,100 a year for a comfortable retirement, while a moderate pension – which takes into account replacing a car every seven years and two weeks abroad – costs £31,300 per year.
In terms of your total pot, this means it should be £490,000 for a moderate pension and £790,000 for a comfortable pension. This assumes that you want to convert your pension into an annuity for a guaranteed annual income.
Rising pension costs will force many to work longer; seven million people say they will have to postpone their retirement plans due to limited financial resources.
Search: Finding their missing retirement nest eggs could provide a much-needed boost to the 19 percent of workers who worry they won’t have enough money to retire
Vivan Shridharani, co-founder of Raindrop, said: “Millions of savers have lost pension pots, putting their pensions at risk.
‘Locating all previous pension pots should be the first step savers take to boost their retirement income and maximize the value of the pots they have already built up.’
To find a lost pension, you must first list all the places you worked and find out which pension providers they used.
You can do this by contacting your previous employers or checking old paperwork.
Please contact the pension provider so that they can look up your pension. You will need your social security number, previous names and addresses (if they have changed), and details of when you worked for the company.
Contact details for pension schemes can be found on the government website. Pension Tracing Service. See gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details.
Always keep your details up to date, because moving or changing your name – and not informing pension providers – are the most common ways people lose track of their money.
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