You don’t have to actually retire to take your pension savings. You can start to take your retirement benefits any time after you reach age 55.
We’ll normally use your State Pension age as your planned retirement age – the age you plan to retire at. Check your State Pension age.
If you want to retire earlier or later than your State Pension age, please tell us. It’s important we have an up-to-date planned retirement age for you as it affects when we begin to switch your savings from ‘growth’ investments (designed to help your pension savings grow over the long term) to ‘protection’ investments (designed to protect the value of your pension savings before you turn them into retirement income).
The value of your pension savings depends on, among other things:
- how much has been paid in
- how the money has been invested
- the charges you pay for your pension provider to manage your savings
- when you decide to take your pension savings.
The earlier you retire, the smaller your pension savings are likely to be. They’ll have received fewer contributions and had less time to grow. Also, because you’re retiring early, the income from your pension savings may need to last longer than if you’d retired later. It’s worth checking how much income you’ll need each year in retirement.