Martin Lewis has issued advice about a "relatively easy" pensions check that could be well worth your time. The consumer expert shared tips after a question on his BBC podcast about managing retirement savings.
Two online tools to track pensions
A fan asked if there is a quick way to track down pension savings pots, explaining that her husband had many jobs over the years and was unsure how much he had saved. In response, Mr Lewis highlighted two "relatively easy ways" to track down pensions.
One option is the Pension Tracing Service on the Government website. This tool helps find contact details for pension providers. Mr Lewis explained: "What you can do there is you can tell it all your past employers, and it will tell you who to contact." He added that if an old employer has been sold or its pension service moved, the service will reveal who now holds the liability. Users then contact the provider and ask, "I have a pension with you, how much is it worth, please?"
Potential for significant savings
Mr Lewis said he has heard of people being "shocked" to discover they have more than £100,000 in pensions through this service. He explained: "If you started a pension when you were 21, and you put a little bit in, and it's sat there and it was in a good investment, and you forgot about it, and you check back when you're 50, and you think it's going to be nothing, and I have had people who go, 'I've got £110,000!' You know, it can be like that. So it is well worth doing."
He noted that while the Pension Tracing Service requires some work, it has details of "almost every firm," giving users a good chance of finding their provider.
Alternative: fintech firm Gretel
Mr Lewis' other suggestion is even easier: a fintech firm called Gretel. "What you do with Gretel is you basically put your details in, and it does a search for you on every company in its database. So, instead of you having to write and go through that whole process, it'll just tell you, 'You've got a pension in this place.'" It also searches for other lost assets.
Gretel works because pension providers subcontract to Gretel to perform these searches, as they have a legal responsibility to reunite people with lost assets. However, Mr Lewis pointed out a drawback: "With Gretel, it only works with the companies that work with it. Now, it does have a pretty decent range of big providers, but it is not fully comprehensive."
Recommended approach
Mr Lewis advised: "If I were doing this, I would use the official service, but I would probably, in all honesty, I'd use Gretel first, see what Gretel comes up with, and then for the ones that aren't on Gretel, I would then go to the Pension Tracing Service and see what I find. Because I think that would be the easiest way around to do it."
