Approaching retirement

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

First of all, you’ll need to decide if you want to stick to your original date or change it. You can normally take your benefits at any age from 55 to 75. To find out more, simply call our customer services team. The phone number you need will depend on the type of pension product you have with us. 

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You then need to decide how you want to receive your pension income.

There are lots of options to suit your needs – including the traditional annuity route or the more flexible income drawdown option. Both allow you to normally take up to 25% of your pot as a tax-free lump sum.

We’ll write to you six months before your chosen retirement date with information to help you make decisions about your income in retirement.

You can also call us for a personalised retirement quote based on your individual circumstances. For example, if you have other sources of income, or dependants, this could influence the options you choose. Simply call us so we can show you the amount of your tax-free lump sum and your pension income.

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.

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.

You can choose to take a tax-free lump sum normally up to 25% of your total pension pot. You then have to use the rest of your pension to either buy a guaranteed annuity income or pay into a more flexible income drawdown plan.

You must take your tax-free lump sum and any pension benefits before you reach age 75.

When deciding who to buy your annuity from it is worth remembering that it is a long-term decision and that you need to be comfortable that you’re taking it out with someone you trust. At Standard Life we have been helping people with their financial needs for over 180 years. Not only will you get access to our expertise, you will also benefit from our award-winning service.

More on annuities and Income Drawdown