Reminders to review your pension and retirement savings: the annual check most people skip

Your pension is probably your largest financial asset, and most people look at it less often than they look at their current account balance. The nature of long-term saving makes it easy to set up a workplace pension or SIPP, choose default investments, and not revisit it for years. For younger savers, that neglect is understandable — compound growth works quietly in the background. But even long-term investments benefit from an annual review: contribution rates drift out of line with salary increases, investment allocations shift with market movements, and retirement projections need checking against actual goals. A scheduled annual reminder call makes the review happen.

What an annual pension review actually involves

An annual review doesn't require a financial adviser visit every year. Log into your pension provider's portal or app, check the current pot value against last year's, review your projected retirement income at your target age, check your contribution rate as a percentage of your current salary, and look at the investment funds you're in.

That last point matters more than most people realise. Default pension funds are typically balanced and moderate-risk, which is appropriate for the last decade before retirement but suboptimal for someone in their 30s who has 30 years of growth runway. If you've never actively chosen your investments, a one-time check could meaningfully improve long-term outcomes.

The trigger events that need an immediate review

Beyond the annual check, certain life events should trigger an immediate pension review: getting a salary increase (contribution rate hasn't kept pace), changing jobs (consolidation of old pensions), getting married or divorced (nomination of beneficiaries), and significant market falls (an opportunity to check you're comfortable with your risk level, not a reason to sell).

For each of these trigger events, set a one-time ReminderIt reminder with the specific action: 'Update pension nomination of beneficiaries following marriage' or 'Find old pension from previous employer and consider consolidation.'

Setting up an annual pension review reminder

Pick a fixed date — your birthday, the start of a new tax year in April, or the date of your next salary review — and set a recurring annual reminder. The message should include the specific actions: 'Annual pension review — log in, check pot value and projected income, review contribution rate, check investment fund choices.'

Add a second reminder a week later: 'Did you do the pension review? If not, 20 minutes now.' The follow-up converts a deferred intention into a completed task. Always seek independent financial advice for decisions about pensions and retirement planning.