A quick online check will let you see how much money you are due in retirement, before reaching 66. New research from retirement specialist Just Group suggests that more than a third of retirees did not check their State Pension forecast before they retired despite 1.2 million households relying on the State Pension as their primary source of income in retirement.
The survey of more than 1,000 retired and semi-retired people aged over 55 found that four in ten (38%) had not checked their forecast, rising to 40 per cent among those who had not yet reached State Pension Age (55-64 year olds) and 46 per cent for those who claimed to have retired earlier than they had expected. Among the two-thirds of retirees who checked their forecasted State Pension income, nearly a fifth (17%) said that it was - at a minimum - £250 less per year than they were expecting. On the other hand, one-in-ten (9%) retirees said that it was at least £250 more per year than they were expecting.
Commenting on the findings, Stephen Lowe, group communications director at Just Group , said: “It’s easy to see why people may assume they’ll simply get the full State Pension, but for many people this won’t be the case. The last thing these households need when they come to retire is the nasty surprise that their State Pension is less than they thought. “The government offers a State Pension forecast service and we urge anyone approaching retirement to use it - ideally in advance of beginning to reti.
