Online pension calculator
How to work out what you will need in retirement.
When you start to calculate the fairly considerable sums you need to put away for your pension, you may be tempted to throw your hand up in horror, cry ‘I’ll never do it’ and hide in a hole.
Hold on there, you can do it. Simply remember that everything you save for your retirement comes in addition to any entitlement to a basic state pension.
So the first thing to do is go online at www.pensions.gov.uk
Once there you can get a free forecast of your state pension from the government. If you’d rather speak to someone, you can call 0845 300 0168 (Lines are open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 1pm Saturday. Calls are charged at local rates).
With that information under your belt, you can tackle the pensions calculator. If you go online and visit the FSA website at www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk you can find out instantly what income you can expect in retirement, using a basic long term savings model. Simply tap in your age, sex, income, your target retirement age, how much you think you can contribute and the calculator does the rest.
By now, you’re probably getting quite interested in the subject of retirement and hungry for more information. There a number of websites where you can satisfy your appetite. Visit these sites and see what other facts you can dig up:
www.direct.gov.uk
www.dwp.gov.uk
