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Managing in retirement

Step 1 – Take stock

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You can use our online Budget calculator to help you list money that's coming in and what's going out, or you can print off the page and fill it in by hand.

Have any recent pension statements, bank statements and regular bills handy to help you fill it in accurately.

Tips to help you take stock of your money situation

  • If you're about to retire, get a pension forecast from The Pension Service so you know how much money you'll get from the State.
  • If you have a personal or occupational money–purchase pension bear in mind there are different lifetime annuities to choose from – see Retirement options. In most cases, you don't have to buy your annuity from your current provider – you may be able to get a better deal by shopping around at Compare annuities. You may also be able to get a better deal if you have health problems, are a smoker or are overweight.
  • If you've already retired, make sure you've got the most recent bank statement showing the payments you're receiving – for example, pensions or any other benefits. Some pensions and most benefits are increased annually.
  • If you've changed jobs during your working life and you've lost track of a pension you had, contact the Pension Tracing Service. This is a database with over 200,000 occupational and personal pension schemes – it could include one you'd forgotten about.
  • Trace any forgotten savings or investments. The Unclaimed Assets Register has a database of unclaimed life policies, pensions, unit trust holdings and share dividends drawn from many companies. It charges a fixed fee for a search.
  • Check whether you've got any personal savings or current accounts that you haven't used for a while, for example if you've moved home and forgotten to notify your bank – these are known as dormant accounts. You can trace long-lost accounts through a free service run by the British Bankers' Association (BBA) and the Building Societies' Association (BSA). Just complete a simple claim form, available from banks, building societies, libraries, Citizens Advice Bureaux, the BBA or BSA. You can also trace long-lost National Savings and Investments (NS&I) by downloading a form on their website.
  • Don't forget to budget for leisure items. You'll have more spare time now than previously, which means that you may be spending more on things like days out and hobbies.
  • Think about how your partner or spouse would manage if you died. Do they have their own financial arrangements or are they dependent on you?
  • Make sure you review your budget regularly.

If you have enough money coming in and more to spare, Step 2 will give you information on what you might want to consider doing with it.

If your budget isn't balancing and you don't have enough money coming in, Step 2 will also show you how you can make savings and where to go for help.

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