Retirement planning becomes much clearer when every income source, important date and regular expense is in one place. The purpose of this checklist is information gathering — not deciding which pension to use first.
Pension information
- Latest statement for every defined contribution pension
- Latest benefit statement for every defined benefit pension
- Current values and statement dates
- Normal or selected retirement ages
- Contribution amounts
- Charges, investments and any guarantees
- State Pension forecast and date checked
Other income and resources
- Employment or self-employment income
- Savings and investments
- Rental or business income
- Expected inheritances only where sufficiently certain — keep uncertain amounts separate
- Partner’s income where planning jointly
Spending
Separate essential spending from discretionary spending. Use recent bank statements rather than estimating from memory.
Essential
Housing, utilities, food, transport, insurance, debt payments and basic household costs.
Discretionary
Travel, hobbies, gifts, home improvements, additional cars and other lifestyle choices.
Dates and changes
- Target retirement date
- Mortgage or major debt end date
- State Pension start dates
- Defined benefit pension dates
- Planned reduction in work
- Known large one-off spending
Questions to decide before modelling
- Are figures being shown before or after tax?
- Are amounts in today’s spending power or future pounds?
- Which inflation, return and charge assumptions are being used?
- How will poor early investment returns be illustrated?
- Which facts are known and which are estimates?
A useful retirement picture shows uncertainty.
It should not hide assumptions or present one projected outcome as guaranteed.