Published: 25/02/2026 By Oliver O'Brien
While the big job for pension planning is to simply pay into it, there are still plenty of other things to be aware of when it comes to your pension. Don't get stuck in pension autopilot!For example, do you know what happens to your pension when you die? It’s not just about who will get it but how they will get it. Ensuring the right people get the funds, in the most tax efficient manner is extremely important.
You may know where your pension is invested right now but do you know if that will change as you get closer to retirement? Pensions often have “de-risking” strategies which may mean you end up taking more or less risk than you may want to.
It’s also an important distinction to make that pensions are not distributed via your Will and require a specific, separate instruction to the pension trustees.
Wait, I’ve got to do something....!
One of the most common things we hear is “My pension company wrote to me, I have to make a decision on how to access it!”. Usually this is just the pension company fulfilling their legal obligation to write to a policyholder 6 months before their nominated retirement date, it doesn’t mean you have to act.
It also shows how often retirement creeps up on people; by then it may be too late if you realise there is an issue with your pensions.
I’ll take my 25% and leave it!
A common misconception is that all pensions offer the same functions. Drawdown is a relatively new addition to pensions and older pensions may not allow you to use it. This can cause a major headache when you expect to draw funds when you retire, only to find out you can’t.
Again, good planning can easily avoid these foreseeable issues.
These are just a taster of the various things you can do to get ahead and make sure you retire how you want to. Talk to a tba advisor today to see how we can help.
Call us on 020 8661 7878 or email advice@turpinba.co.uk