When I get my state pension I’ll be over 2 billion seconds old.

Even if I look at it in minutes (over 35 million) or hours (just under 600 hundred thousand) or even days (24,614) it seems like a decent period of time to wait!

Strangely it’s when I look at the age I’ll be (67 years, 4 months and 20 days old) is when it feels the longest.

Now I don’t know about you but I don’t intend to ‘retire’ at any specific age. The plans I’ve got for later in my life don’t involve ending work at a fixed time just because the government provides me with an income at some point in the (long distant) future.

However to make plans I need to know what I’m entitled to (including from the government) and how long I might need the money I’ve worked hard to build up to last…and there are two great tools available online which provide an opportunity to answer some of the questions we get asked by our clients on a regular basis…

How much and when will I receive in state pension?

Whilst future changes might impact the figures there is now a fantastically easy way you can get a state pension statement. This will tell you how much your state pension is expected to be, any shortfalls (together with what you might be able to do about them) and much much more.

All you need to do is follow this link:

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-your-state-pension

You’ll then go through a login process (you will need your passport and some personal details) to get immediate access to all of your state pension records (including when you’re expecting your state pension – although not in seconds, minutes or hours! To convert this information into seconds you need to go here.

By having this up to date and accurate information you can then start to understand what you currently have for ‘retirement’, what you need to have and what you need to do about. However getting a state pension calculation won’t help you answer the following question

How long does my pension need to last?

The reality is that no one knows. I’m hoping I’ll live fit and healthily until I’m really old.

However a cool tool from the office of national statistics might give you a better idea.

http://visual.ons.gov.uk/how-long-will-my-pension-need-to-last/

With this tool (which uses the office of national statistics data, your date of birth and your gender) it will give you a broad statistical analysis of how long you might live.

Often people underestimate how long we’re going to live and the reality is that whilst no one knows our specific date it’s important to understand whether you’ll outlive the savings you want to spend to provide the life you want! Whilst this tool is simple and doesn’t take into account many of lives circumstances which contribute to life expectancy it is a useful tool designed to provide a perspective on how long the money you’ve built up actually lasts…

By having this information it’s allowed me to put some of the decisions I make about my own finances as well as being able to have really meaningful conversations with some of our clients…

…I hope it’s useful for you too

You can call us on 01708 606202 or you can email us at cassiedaems@cervellofp.co.uk.