DIY Pension Review Checklist

Financial jargon, hidden fees and glossy brochures can make it hard to tell whether a pension is working for you. This checklist is designed to help you take control of your retirement savings and ask the questions that matter.

It works through five steps, from understanding what your pension actually holds to forensically checking fees and comparing performance with a basic low-cost tracker, and ends with a short action list you can complete with your provider.

Key findings

• Step one: know what you own. If your pension is mainly large-cap stocks, ask why you are paying someone to do what a basic ETF can achieve for as little as 0.07% per year.
• Step two: fee forensics. Add up platform, fund manager, advisory and hidden transaction costs, because you might unknowingly be paying over 2% a year.
• Step three: a performance reality check. Compare your pension’s 5-year and 10-year performance with a basic low-cost tracker, and check its maximum drawdown in a bad year such as 2022.
• Step four: position size and strategy. More than 50 holdings, or positions worth less than 1% of the portfolio, may be dilution rather than diversification.
• Step five: knowledge is power. A good adviser educates rather than obfuscates, so ask whether you leave meetings feeling smarter.

What the paper covers

1. Step 1: Know what you own, and why
2. Step 2: Fee forensics: follow the money
3. Step 3: Performance reality check
4. Step 4: Position size and strategy sanity
5. Step 5: Knowledge is power
6. Final action list