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Mark Antrobus, 61, from Hull managed to locate six lost pension pots he had accumulated throughout his life and the first – and biggest – pot he found held a whopping £27,970
One man has managed to boost his retirement savings by over £80,000 after tracking down a handful of lost pension pots.
Mark Antrobus, 61, from Hull managed to locate six lost pension pots he had accumulated throughout his life. The first – and biggest -pot found held a whopping £27,970 and when he discovered this he said it gave him a “major boost”.
Mark told the Mirror that he knew he had some pension cash out there as he had an “awful lot” of temporary employment throughout his life as he worked for various companies throughout his 20s and 30s. He then began working for himself as a plumbing and heating engineer but he always left the running of finances to someone else.
Mark said: “I’ve never been on top of my pensions, I was honestly clueless. I knew I had some as I had various letters over the years and I believed everything was being managed by someone else and I just blissfully got on with what I was doing.”
However, after Mark separated from his partner a few years ago he knew he needed to take stock of his financial matters. At first, Mark contacted a financial adviser but soon came across the pension tracing service app Penny, which helps people find their lost savings pots as well as offers plans and pension investment options.
Have you found money in lost pension pots? Let us know: [email protected]
Penny does charge a 0.75% fee per year on the value of the pension which is called the Annual Management Charge (AMC) which they say falls within the Workplace Pension charge cap of 0.75%.
It is important to know that you can track down your lost pension pots yourself. You will need to contact ex-employers and dig out old paperwork. However, if this isn’t possible, then the Government has a free Pension Tracing Service tool. This is a free service and to use it, you will need the name of an employer or a pension provider. If you find an old pension pot then the service provides contact details for pension schemes run by employers, as well as for private schemes by pension providers.
However, you will only be able to get the details of your pension savings once you contacted the firm and they verify your details. The service will not tell you how much you have in this particular pension pot – you will need to contact the pension administrator yourself to find this out. You can use the Pension Tracing Service through the GOV.UK website here. You can also call them on 0800 731 019.
Mark first contacted Penny in early 2022 and after providing the details needed, Penny found Mark’s first lost pension pot a few weeks later. Mark said: “When I was told, it was an accumulation of jubilation and shock, I honestly had no idea what I had. I was truly gobsmacked.”
Not too long after Penny found Mark’s second lost pension pot which contained £25,111 and a little later a pot containing £15,462 appeared. By the end of the year, a further three more lost pots were found which contained a total of £12,446 and across all six Mark had managed to boost his retirement savings by £80, 989.
Mark said the findings had made a significant difference but were not going to change his plans. He said: “I’m not going to suddenly drop my work and retire, I’ve got two businesses and some property so I will keep going. But what it has given me is a little bit more reassurance that I have got something that I could fall back on If I needed to.
“What it did let me do was to help my son as I have him some money towards his deposit for his first flat because I knew I had this money. So I would say, that’s the lifestyle change it gave me if I didn’t have this money I wouldn’t have been able to help him. It gave me the security to be able to think if I needed that sort of money, I’ve got it there.”
Going forward, Mark says he is more focused and feels more in control of his retirement savings and will be keeping an eye on them more closely as he gets older. It is currently believed that there are around three million pension pots worth £26.6billion that are classed as “lost” or “forgotten” in the UK.
Mark says people – whether they believe they are on top of everything or not – should check and see if there are any lost savings pots out there. He said: “People change jobs more than they ever did years ago and it’s inevitable you’re going to lose track of what’s going on. So it would be worth it, because, I feel like I’m a good example of this, but you just never know.”
