Music teacher Michael Bryan had no idea how much money he had in his retirement pots when he was offered the option to consolidate his pensions after starting a new job
Over half (51%) of people now have more than two workplace pensions pots, according to latest research from Scottish Widows.
Nearly one in ten (9%) don’t know how many workplace pension pots they have and 23% plan to consolidate their pension pot, but don’t know how to.
Music teacher Michael Bryan, 38, from Dumfries in Scotland, had no idea how much money he had in his retirement pots when he was offered the option to consolidate his pensions after starting a new job.
The father-of-two had two pension pots – one worth £20,768 and the other worth £412 – and is now urging others to start thinking about their retirement plans sooner rather than later.
Figures from the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) show there is an estimated £31.1billion lying in unclaimed, inactive or lost pensions – with the average pot worth £9,469.
He told The Mirror: “It was about two years ago when I changed job. At that point, I was made aware i could consolidate some of my pensions, so that set the ball rolling.
“It was a little cumbersome. There is no one size fits all for all the different pension funds. I consolidated three different pensions and each fund had their own procedures and different way of doing things.
“Be a bit dogged with it and make it a priority – and do it sooner rather than later.”
You should always seek independent financial advice before deciding to consolidate your pension pots. The main positive of consolidating, is that you have all your pensions in one place, so it is less admin.
But it is important to check how any charges of your old pension compare to the one you will be consolidating into, and if you will be subject to any exit fees.
You also want to see if there will be any perks in your existing pension that you would miss out on, such as guaranteed annuity rates.
Michael is still tracing down other pension pots from part-time work he had when he was a student. He has also now set up a private pension, which he drip feeds money into to top up his pension fund.
How to track down lost pensions
The Pension Tracing Service is free to use and allows you to search a database of more than 200,000 workplace and personal pension schemes.
It will only tell you the contact details of a provider – not the amount you could have in a pension – so you’ll need to contact the pension administrator yourself to find out if you have any funds with them.
Alternatively, you can contact your employer and they should be able to provide you with the right details. Pension Wise is a Government service that offers free pension guidance and advice.
The Mirror previously reported on how one mum found £48,000 in just one forgotten pension pot.
PR director Karin Ridgers, 52, who is mum to 17-year-old son Callum, said she had no idea how much money she had accrued in workplace pensions over the years.