Existing customers – retirement steps

When you took out your Standard Life pension plan, you gave us a retirement date. As you approach this date, you’ll need to think about your options.

We’ll help you all the way

There’s a lot to think about. For a start you might not want to retire when you originally planned, or you might have taken out pension plans with other companies and are wondering what you can do with them. Whatever your questions, don’t worry, we’ll help you plan your retirement the way it suits you.

We’ll write to you six months and six weeks before you’re due to retire and you can get in touch with us whenever you want – just call our customer services team. The number you call depends on the type of pension you have with us.

You don’t have to buy your annuity from us. You can shop around to see if you can get more income. This is known as the open market option.

This is when we send you your retirement quote. If you’ve already talked to us about your needs, we’ll completely personalise your quote.

If you’ve not talked to us about your plans, your retirement quote will be more general. So although it’s based on the amount of money in your pension pot, it doesn’t take into account your other personal circumstances and other choices you've made for your retirement.

It is at this point you’ll need to decide when and how you want to take your pension income. If you don’t contact us, we’ll change your target retirement date to the day before you turn 75. It is better if you tell us when you want to retire – then we can give the right information and support at the right time.

If you want to talk to us about your pension income options, just call our customer services team.

Contact us on 0845 272 8810 (call charges will vary).

It’s a long journey but one day all those years of retirement planning will come to an end, and retirement will begin.

By now you’ll have made all the major financial decisions about your pension income. You’ll have gathered quotes from Standard Life and others and chosen the options to suit you.

Remember, we’re only a phone call away so if you need some support, information or an explanation of anything, just call us.

We hope you’ll choose Standard Life when you retire. If you do, we’ll make the process of taking your pension income as seamless and straightforward as we can.

We’ve been helping people with their financial needs for over 185 years. When you choose us for your pension, you’ll still get access to our expertise, and benefit from our award-winning service.

If you have pension plans invested with different companies, you can combine them with us or another provider so that you get just one source of income in retirement.

You should always seek financial advice before deciding to transfer any pension plans.

There is no guarantee that what you will get with the new plan will be higher.

Transfer your pensions to a single plan and you could get:

• More control – a single set of figures makes it easier to review performance. Their combined total will mean more accurate forecasts of your pension income too.
• More choice – you may be able to choose from more investment options.
• Fewer charges – instead of a charge per pension, one set of fees could save you money.

You’ll also have one point of contact. And with Standard Life you’ll be able to manage your pension online, keep track of its progress and make changes whenever you want.