What can 80s TV star Timmy Mallett teach you about your pension?

TV star Timmy Mallett has launched a mock gameshow along the lines of his old hits Wacaday and Mallett’s Mallett to promote awareness of pensions.

Mallett is the new frontman of an industry campaign trying to persuade people to find out what they have in their pensions and do something to improve their future finances if necessary.

Watch Mallett enlist the support of Mallett’s Mallet and Pinky Punky in a special reboot of his old shows below.

Mallett has taken over from musician and TV star Big Zuu as ambassador for the initiative to interest 30 to 55-year-olds in their pensions.

After Big Zuu released a track about retirement saving last year, the industry-backed Pension Attention campaign surveyed 1,000 people in this age group from across the UK to find out the impact.

Some 19 per cent of the target audience recalled seeing the campaign with Big Zuu and of those 91 per cent took action, according to a spokesperson.

Mallett would not reveal details of his own pension. As campaign ambassador, he asks people to take a nostalgic look back and find their old pensions to ensure they are maximised for the future.

‘I suspect people in their 30s often think about their pension and feel they don’t need to engage, assuming it’s something to address as you approach stopping work,’ he said. 

‘But trust me, careers aren’t linear, and you might wake up one morning and suddenly you’re 55 and you go, crikey, what happened there? It zips along. That’s why it’s so important to think back to those different jobs over the years and think about any pensions that may be associated.

‘Doing “The Pensions Playback” and taking the simple steps to identify where you are on your pension journey will ultimately mean you’re setting yourself up as best as you can for the future.’

The campaign says: ‘Nearly all working people (eight in ten employees) in the UK have a workplace pension, yet many say they don’t know how to find information about these savings.

‘The gameshow directs the public to Pensionattention.co.uk to find out how they can do “The Pensions Playback” in three simple steps.’

The pension awareness campaign is run by the Association of British Insurers and the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, and funded by pension firms. 

How to sort out your pensions 

Mallet and the industry campaign offer the following tips to make sure you are heading for a decent retirement.

1. Find your old pensions

You are likely to have more than one from your working life. Use the Pension Tracing Service to help you find and collect any lost workplace pension pots.

The free service asks a few questions about past employers. To get started, you’ll need the name of your previous employer or pension service, any previous names it had, the type of business it ran, whether it changed address and when you belonged to the scheme.

2. Check how much is in your pensions today

It’s your money from your hard work. With the contact details of the pension’s administrator in hand, it’s well worth contacting them to find out whether you have a pension with them and the size of your pot. 

This will help you get a clear picture of what you’ve got saved today for your future.

When contacting the pension’s administrator to find out the size of your pot, they will typically need your name, date of birth and National Insurance number to find your pot with them, so you don’t necessarily need to know a policy number.

As part of this planning, it’s also a good idea to familiarise yourself with your state pension entitlement and when this will first be paid out.

The current state pension age is 66, but this is set to rise to 67 by 2028. Remember, while the state pension might not be enough to live off alone, factoring this into your existing pension savings can give you a real boost in retirement.

The current state pension rules mean that you’ll need 35 years of National Insurance contributions to get the full entitlement, but you can top up your state pension if you have years missing.

3. Think about what income you might need in retirement

Once you’ve got an overview of your current pension savings, it’s time to map out how you envisage retirement. What is your desired retirement lifestyle – any big trips, property ambitions, wealth you want to pass on to others?

There are a few key questions to ask at this stage including how your savings and investments will factor into your retirement plans and where you’re invested, all of which will depend on when you can comfortably afford to retire.

It’s also worth considering exactly what you’re investing in and whether there are options you’d like to choose to ensure your pension is doing a bit of good for the planet too.

Before you decide anything, it’s always best to speak to your employer, a financial adviser or sites like moneyhelper.co.uk which can help you understand your current and potential future retirement fund, and how to get there.

When thinking about your retirement plans, the Retirement Living Standards have been developed to help you picture your future and what it might cost.