5 pension need-to-knows
Your pension comes with all sorts of perks that make it one of the best ways to save for retirement. The money contributed to your pension saving is free from Income Tax and National Insurance, meaning that money that would have gone to the government is instead contributed to your retirement income.
Here are our five ‘need-to-knows’ to ensure your workplace pension works for you.
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Activating your online account (RSA)
If you’re new to TPT, you’ll have received an email from us with instructions on how to set up your online account. Your RSA lets you see how much you’ve saved, change your contributions, update contact information, and more.
If you’ve been with TPT longer than three months and have not activated your online account, you can get help to access your online account by getting in touch with us via phone or via contact TPT.
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Reviewing your contributions
If you were automatically enrolled in your workplace pension scheme, you might not know how much of your salary goes into your pension every month, or how much your employer contributes on your behalf.
The minimum contribution is 8% of your monthly salary, with 5% coming from you and 3% from your employer. However, your employer may offer what’s known as ‘contribution matching’, which is where they match a portion of your contributions up to a certain limit.
It’s worth checking with your employer to see if you’re getting the most out of your pension plan. Raising your monthly contribution by just 1% could increase your employer’s contribution significantly.
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Keeping your contact information up to date
As your pension provider, we send you regular communications like monthly contribution notifications and benefit statements. It’s important that we have your personal email address so we can keep in touch with you if you decide to change jobs.
Over £26 billion is lost in UK pensions* because people have lost track of them during their careers
*The Pension Policy Institute’s study on lost pension pots
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Nominating your beneficiaries
Nominating a beneficiary for your pension is an important step in planning for your retirement and protecting your loved ones. It gives you control over who will receive your pension benefits in the event of your death.
Log in to your online account to add or update your beneficiaries.
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Checking if you’re on track
It's a good idea to check your pension regularly so you can make any necessary adjustments to keep on track for your retirement goals. If you find your pension isn’t on track, you might want to increase your contributions or adjust your investment strategy.
Try out our pension savings tool, to check if your savings are on track, or use our pension modelling tool in your online account.
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