We have lots of features to help you plan and adjust for a happy retirement, from our Pension Calculator to our fund performance chart. But managing your pension also means keeping on top of other important features on your journey to and into retirement. This month, we take a look at how your Annual Statement can help you keep your retirement goals on track and why adding your pension beneficiaries matters.
Annual Statement
You can check your PensionBee pension’s balance from your BeeHive anytime. It’s a convenient way to keep track of how much you have, especially as your balance changes daily. Setting aside time to review your Annual Statement can be a good time to look at the wider picture.
Following the end of each tax year, we send you a summary of your PensionBee pension - your Annual Statement. It provides an easy-to-digest overview of your pension’s value and helps you see:
- whether your savings are on track to help support you financially in retirement; and
- whether you need to make any adjustments to help you achieve your goals.
Your Annual Statement shows you three things:
- how much money you already have in your pension plan;
- how much money you could have on your retirement birthday; and
- what you could do to give your savings a boost.
Our projections give you an idea of how your plan may perform over the coming years. Figures are estimates and consider the impact of inflation on your savings between now and your ‘retirement birthday’, i.e. the date you let us know you expect to retire.
When you look at how much your money could be worth in future, you’re looking at its purchasing power. So, the figure provided is an estimate of what we think the size of your pension on your retirement birthday would be able to buy you today.
Where to find your Annual Statement:
- log in to your BeeHive and go to ‘Account’;
- click on ‘Documents & Resources’ (‘Resources’ in the app); and
- scroll to find all your Annual Statements here.
Your Annual Statement and our retirement planning tools
You can combine the information in your Annual Statement with our other tools to help you plan or adjust for life in retirement. For example, use your BeeHive’s ‘Retirement Planner’ to see how adjusting your contributions could impact the value of your pension and how much retirement income you could have.
Nominating your beneficiaries
Naming your beneficiaries is all about ensuring that when you die, your pension goes to the person or people you want it to. Pensions aren’t generally considered part of your estate, so you won’t be able to pass them on through a will. If you don’t nominate anyone, your pension will often go to your next of kin. But to be sure it goes to who you prefer, it’s important to let your pension provider know.
You don’t have to leave your entire pension to just one person. Instead, you can leave a portion of it to multiple people or even a charity.
How to add your beneficiaries
It’s quick and easy to add your beneficiaries to your BeeHive.
- Login to your BeeHive and click ‘Account’;
- click or tap on ‘Beneficiaries’;
- choose if you want to add a ‘Person’ or ‘Charity’; and
- add your beneficiary’s details and how much of your PensionBee pension you want to leave them.
Alternatively, watch our how to add a beneficiary video.
After you’ve added your beneficiaries, you can leave special instructions for how you’d like your PensionBee pension to be treated.
You can name up to four beneficiaries through your BeeHive. If you’d like to add more, email your BeeKeeper to let them know.
Understanding what could happen to your pension when you pass away is an important part of financial planning. It can be tricky to navigate, but you can find further helpful information on our Pensions Explained centre, starting with our pension rules after death article.
Future product news
Keep your eye out for our next product blog or catch up on previous blogs. We’re looking forward to spotlighting more of our handy features and free financial tools, plus we’ve got lots of great new updates in the works, we’re looking forward to bringing you. Once released, we’ll let you know what they are and how they can help you save for a happy retirement.
Risk warning
As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.
