Hi, I’m Eleanor, and I’m here to answer a question we’ve been asked quite a lot lately – how do I find out how much is in my pension plan?
For starters, if you have an online account with your pension provider or you use their app, you’ll normally be able to check the current value of your plan by logging in.
Alternatively, you could try contacting your provider.
You should get an annual statement, which tells you how much your pension plan is worth at its anniversary date, how much has been paid in, and what it was worth the year before.
You could get these in the post, online or through your provider’s app.
You should still get annual statements for old plans that you’re no longer paying into.
If you haven’t been receiving annual statements, get in touch with your provider.
If you have a defined benefit plan, sometimes called a final salary or career average plan, you might not always receive an annual statement, but you can still contact your provider to find out what your plan is worth.
And here’s a little bonus question – how can you check how much money you could have in your plan further down the line?
Well, your annual statement will usually show an estimate of how much your plan could be worth in future.
You might also be able to find an estimate on your online account or your provider’s app.
Or you can find a free online pension calculator to check how much you could potentially get from your plans in future.
Remember, with a pension plan, you're investing, so the value can go down as well as up and you could get back less than was paid in.
That's why it's important to keep an eye on where you’re invested and how your plan is doing.
