Choosing when to take money from your pension pot

Leaving it invested: What you need to know

Here’s a quick breakdown of things to know when choosing not to take money from your pension plan:

• You can stay flexible: You can keep your options open. If you don’t need the money right away, you can keep paying into your pension plan to potentially build up more retirement benefits for the future
• Keep benefiting from tax relief: Your pension plan will still be tax efficient if you choose to delay taking your money and continue to pay in. Our pension basics guide has a breakdown to show how this could help you
• Stay invested: If you don’t take money from your plan, your money stays invested. This gives it a chance to potentially grow over time and give you a higher retirement benefits. Remember that as you are still invested, your plan value can fall as well as rise
• Support your family: You can tell us the people or causes you’d like to pass any remaining pension money to when you pass on. We’ll consider your choice when we come to decide where to pass the money to
• You may have other sources of income: you might keep working or have other sources of income – for example: Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) or other savings and investments
• Shop around: It's important to shop around to find the best retirement option for you. Some pension providers might not offer the option you want, so it's worth comparing what each of them can offer
• Update your retirement date: If you decide to leave your plan invested you should let your pension provider know by updating your retirement date as this could have an impact on your investments. If you have a pension plan with us you can update your retirement date in your online account or contact us to let us know