Moving into retirement

For us, the first step when you’re making the move to retirement is to think about what you want from your life in the years ahead. Maybe you’d like to move house, upgrade your car or travel more frequently. Then there’s how you use your day. Perhaps you’ll still work part-time (which means some extra income coming in), volunteer, take up a new hobby or dedicate more time to an existing one.

Having a picture in your head can make it easier to work out what your retirement might cost – and if you’d like some help getting started, try our retirement calculator.

Your pension is just one part of your retirement income picture (though, for many people, it is a pretty big part). You might also have ISAs, other investments, rental income from a property and so on.

It can take a bit of time, but there are two good reasons to work out everything you have. First, it can make your plans a lot more effective, as you’ll have a much better idea of what you can achieve. Second, you may well find that you have more than you think, which is always a nice surprise – and it may mean you can do more than you expected with your retirement.

There are lots of different places where you might get an income for your retirement. You’ll need to know what they are and how much you have so you can plan ahead effectively. You could take a flexible retirement income (pension drawdown), take lump sums (Uncrystallised Funds Pension Lump Sum or UFPLS) or take guaranteed income for life (annuity). If you’d like to know more you can read a quick overview or download our retirement income guide if you want the full details.

While many people move pensions around during their working lives, some don’t realise that there are good reasons to do this just before they retire as well. For a start, if you’ve changed jobs a few times, it’s likely you’ll have several schemes in different places. Bringing them together can make it much easier to plan – and help you look after your money in the years ahead as well.

Equally, it could open up more investment options or more types of retirement income. It might even save you money as costs can vary significantly between providers – and over a long retirement, small changes in price can lead to a big difference in how much you have over time.

With our SIPP you’ll have access to a wide investment choice (funds, shares, investment trusts, ETFs), so you have more ways to help your money to grow, access to easy to use investment selection tools, a service fee of typically just 0.35% (depending on what you invest in, other fees will apply such as ongoing fund charges), along with flexible income options at retirement with guidance and advice.

Important Information - pension transfers are a complex area and may not be suitable for everyone. Before going ahead with a pension transfer, we strongly recommend that you undertake a full comparison of the benefits, charges and features offered. To find out what else you should consider before transferring, please read our transfer factsheet. If you are in any doubt whether or not a pension transfer is suitable for your circumstances we strongly recommend that you contact Fidelity’s retirement service on 0800 368 6891 or refer to an authorised financial adviser of your choice.

Before you turn your pension savings into an income, they will be exposed to the ups and downs of financial markets. Depending on how you plan to access your pension money, they may continue to be invested once you begin taking an income as well. 

Markets are never completely calm so it’s worth keeping tabs on them - and the value of your pot - more closely in the period leading up to retirement. Consider whether you have a mix of assets that is diversified so that the risk of large falls in any one area is minimised and, if possible, build some flexibility into your timing of when you access your pension so that you have a chance of avoiding withdrawing money immediately after a fall in the market. Read more about your pension and market uncertainty.

After your house, your pension could be the single biggest asset you have. Unfortunately, this makes it a target for scams. There are lots out there, and some can seem very convincing, but the usual rules of thumb apply. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is and you should never act on anything without checking it thoroughly first (particularly when someone contacts you without you asking them to). Read more about some pension scams.

Big decisions need more thought, but that doesn’t mean you have to do everything yourself. We provide helpful guidance on our website (including the tools we’ve already highlighted), plus we have a team of dedicated retirement specialists who can give you free guidance or paid-for advice. The team is there to help you make the most of your money.

Find out about the difference between guidance and advice – and learn more about how our team can help you with your income decisions.

After years and years of saving, there can be a strong temptation to start enjoying the money you’ve put aside. However, some decisions can’t be reversed – even if you quickly realise that they weren’t right for you. Taking the time to do some research, and speaking to a specialist if you need to, can make a world of difference to your income in retirement.