Getting the most from your annual pension statement

Your annual statement only shows the workplace pension we look after for you, so it’s important to remember that when you retire you might also have other sources of income. You’re likely to receive a State Pension, for example, and may have other private or workplace pensions as well.

You can check how much your State Pension may be and when you can claim it at gov.uk/check-state-pension

When we work out how much income your pension could give you, we have to assume you’ll retire at a certain age. This may be the default retirement age for your scheme, or it could be an age you have given us yourself.

If you have just passed your scheme’s default retirement age or the age you told us yourself, we will use that age plus two years when we calculate your possible future income. Once you have passed your scheme’s default retirement age or the age you told us, we will add 5 years to your current age.

You can change your retirement age at any time. Just log in to PlanViewer, go to ‘My Profile’ and select ‘Personal Information’. You’ll then be able to edit your ‘Date Selected for Retirement’. Please be aware that rules of some schemes and/or rules set by HMRC may restrict the earliest date you can take benefits.

As soon as we are notified of your death, we will move your pension savings into your plan’s cash fund to minimise any fluctuation in value caused by stock market changes.

The administrator or trustees of your plan will decide who should inherit the money from your pension if you die. They will take account of anyone you have nominated to receive your pension on your Expression of Wish. They will also consider your personal circumstances, such as whether you have any financial dependants.

To help your trustees or Fidelity to make this decision, you should keep them updated on who you would like to benefit from your pension savings. It’s quick and easy to nominate who’d you like to receive your pension savings. You can generally log in to PlanViewer, go to ‘Manage my plan’ and select ‘Update beneficiaries’.

Once the decision has been made about who can benefit from your pension, we will write to the beneficiaries to let them know their options. These will depend on a range of factors, including the type of pension you had and how old you were when you died.

If you have pensions with other companies, it is worth checking whether they have different options for beneficiaries.

Your employer may also offer other death benefits, such as life assurance, but these are not arranged by Fidelity.

All charges are deducted within the funds and are reflected in the daily prices of the funds, so you will not see a separate deduction for charges on your transaction history on Planviewer.

The money invested in your plan has bought units in your selected fund(s). Charges apply to each fund which include:

• an annual management charge, and,
• other charges such as auditing and registry fees.

These are combined into what’s called a total expense ratio (TER) for each fund. The TER is expressed as a percentage, showing the amount you pay for the fund each year. For example, investment in a fund with a TER of 0.20% would mean a charge of 20p for each £100 invested in your account per year.

The TER charge is not an explicit fee that you pay, it is factored into the price of the fund that you invest in. So, the charges you pay each year depend on the level of the TER, which can vary from fund to fund. Just check the fund factsheets on PlanViewer if you’d like to see the TERs for your chosen funds – and the other investments offered by your pension.

In addition to the TER, there are transaction costs on your funds which cover the costs involved in buying and selling a fund’s underlying investments. These are also included in the fund price and the amount and impact can be viewed on our costs and charges page. You can switch your investments at anytime. You can log in to PlanViewer to see the range of funds available, their charges and the daily prices.