MILLIONS of savers could be missing out on a lost pension pot worth £13,000 on average.
Retirement may seem like a while off yet, but PensionBee chief executive Romi Savova said planning ahead now could help you uncover a secret stash of cash.
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Discovering a hidden pension pot could provide relief to those who are struggling to save for the future while a cost of living crisis ravages budgets.
Millions of families can barely pay their soaring energy, food, fuel and transport bills, let alone put aside money for their retirement.
But latest estimates from the Association of British Insurers shows that around 1.6million forgotten pension pots are waiting to be rediscovered.
Collectively, £20billion is stashed away in these accounts – which means that there is an average of £13,000 stashed away.
The cash will come in handy as research shows the state pension is simply not enough to get by in retirement.
It could also affect when you can retire, Ms Savova said.
“Losing track of these pension savings can have a significant impact in later life, and could see millions of people working for far longer than they would otherwise need to before they can afford to
comfortably retire,” she said.
If you think you’ve got a lost pension pot ready to be claimed, Ms Savova gives her tips on how to track yours down – and how to avoid losing your pension account in the first place.
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Ms Savova is one of the experts on The Sun’s Squeeze Team panel, here to help you through a crippling cost of living crisis.
If you’re worried about making ends meet, are struggling to pay off your debts or don’t know how best to manage your cash, get in touch by emailing [email protected].
Tracking down your cash
To track down your pension cash stash, gather all the documents you have for the lost account.
You should get annual statements sent by post to your address. Keep your address up to date so you’ll get important documents in the future.
If you see pension providers you don’t recognise, get in touch with them as they can tell you about any account you may have – and how much is in it.
Contact your old employers who will help you find which pension provider you signed up with.
Otherwise, you can use the government’s free Pension Tracing Service.
This lets you search a database of hundreds of thousands of pension scheme contact details to find your provider.
You can search online by entering the name of your employer or old pension provider.
The service will tell you who managed your old company’s scheme and you will then need to contact them.
How to avoid losing your pension pot
To avoid losing your pension pot in the first place, Ms Savova said workers should try to consolidate your old workplace pensions every time you switch jobs.
“This way their personal pension becomes their ‘home’ pot that they’ll keep until retirement, and they’ll only ever have to manage this and a current workplace pension,” she said.
It will also help you keep track of exactly how much you’ve got tucked away for your retirement – and whether you need to increase how much you’re saving.
Keeping your personal details up to date will ensure that pension providers can get in touch with you about any changes to your account.
“It’s easy to either forget to update your contact details your provider or lose your providers’ details if you move house or change personal information,” she said.
“But savers should keep their pension providers well informed of any personal changes to ensure they avoid losing out on their hard-earned retirement savings.”
Another pensions expert has revealed four common mistakes that could see you miss out on THOUSANDS in retirement.
While one saver tracked down a missing pensions account to discover it was worth £20,000.
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