Expert financial advice

An organisation providing guidance won’t make a personal recommendation. They’ll give you the facts you need and explain the choices open to you. But they’ll leave you to choose what you want to do.  When seeking financial ‘advice’ you’ll be asked specific questions about your finances. And after a review of your situation, the adviser will recommend what action you should take.

Learn more about the two by downloading our free guide to understanding guidance and advice. 

Yes - products will vary in the features provided, key considerations when looking at options for accessing your pension include:

• Flexibility
• Period of payout
• Lump sum
• Market risk
• Guaranteed income

Our deciding how to use your pension tool aims to help you understand some of the decisions you need to make when thinking about how to use your pension pot.

No - Different providers may have higher rates of payment, different options, features, qualifying criteria and charges.

The options they offer could have different tax implications for you.

Retirement planning goes beyond just picking investments. Financial advice covers everything from managing taxes and benefits to complex financial products like annuities, helping your retirement income last as long as you need it to.

Financial advice can help everyone, regardless of how much you earn or have saved. Our independent service is aimed at people with at least £50,000 in their pension pot, savings or investments. If you have less than that, you can find an independent adviser through unbiased.co.uk.

You’ll get access to years of expertise and insights, helping you navigate the complexities of retirement planning. That includes understanding your savings choices, seeing which retirement income products could be best suited to you, and making sure you’re on track to achieve your retirement goals.

It’s never too early to start saving into a pension – in fact, the earlier you start the better. Your money has more time to hopefully grow (though of course its value can also go down). That means you might not have to save as much later on to achieve your retirement dreams – and if you make the right long-term investment decisions you might even be able to retire early.

Even if you're retiring right now, advice can still be useful. Advisers can help you in many different ways. They can show you how to get the most out of your existing assets, top up any gaps in your State Pension, turn your pension pot into the best possible retirement income, find any lost pensions or even put back your retirement if you want to keep saving for a little longer.

The State Pension could make a difference to your retirement - but will it cover your ideal later lifestyle?

For the 2025/26 tax year, the full State Pension is £230.25 a week, if you’ve paid National Insurance for the full 35 years. That adds up to £11,973 a year. Would that support your ideal retirement lifestyle? Of course, you might be part of a couple. The two of you will get £23,946 a year – but that’s much lower than the £43,100 yearly income Retirement Living Standards suggested would be needed for a couple to enjoy a comfortable retirement.

Advice can help you identify other sources and solutions that could help plug any gap between the State Pension and the retirement you'd like.