One in five people with multiple pensions has lost track of their savings, new research has found.
According to Aegon, more than 6.6 million people may have misplaced some of their retirement savings as a result of having more than one pension.
Many people have diverse careers often involving multiple jobs with different companies. The introduction of auto-enrolment has also led to more than seven million people saving into a pension. As a result, a majority of people now have more than one pension.
The findings highlight the challenge of a broader trend towards a career involving an average of 11 jobs and the difficulty of keeping tabs on workplace savings.
With a majority of people holding multiple pensions, as many as two fifths (39%) did not know the value of their pensions.
One option to prevent losing track of different pension pots is to combine them with one pension provider and Aegon’s research found 67% of people would be interested in consolidation.
However, while 30% thought there were benefits to doing so, 43% said they would need further information on the benefits.
Kate Smith, head of Ppnsions at Aegon said: “There can be benefits to consolidation as many older-style pensions often have complex or more expensive charges. They are also unlikely to offer access to the new range of pension freedoms or give access online. However, it’s important people take time to understand the pros and cons of consolidation and are clear on whether it’s right for them. This is where professional financial advice will really add value.
“Looking to the future, the launch of a pension dashboard in 2019 should simplify the process of finding lost pensions, and has the additional bonus of seeing all your pensions, including the State pension, in one place. It should also make it simpler to consolidate in future, but people don’t have to wait until then to get their pensions in order. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) pension tracing service can already help people find lost or forgotten pensions they built up many years ago.”
Get your pensions in order with 4 simple steps:
- Use the DWP Pensions tracing service to find your pension by entering your old employer’s name which will generate the current contact address. Simply write to this address, with your current and any previous name, current and previous addresses and your National Insurance number.
Go to: www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details
- Some pension schemes won’t have been updated for some time. To get the contact details you will need to fill out an online form with your name , email address and any information you believe is relevant such as the dates you were at the company and your national insurance number.
- Get a State pension forecast, either in paper format or online www.gov.uk/check-state-pension
- And once you’ve tracked down your pensions, get advice before consolidating them to make sure you don’t lose out on any valuable benefits.
