Joining checklist
Getting your pension set up properly often gets overlooked. This section of the website captures everything you need to know and do to get you started.
Checklist
Your retirement journey is an important one, however far away it is. Run through this checklist to make sure everything is set up the way you want it.
- Most importantly, register your Personal Account on MyPru. Your account may not be available to register until up to three weeks after your first payday.
- Consider your investment choices – a Lifestyle Profile or Self-Select funds.
- Use the contributions calculator and change your contribution level on Workday to maximise your benefits with matching employer credits.
- To help you plan your pension savings, think about how much you’re going to need and when you might want it.
- Select your own retirement age (SRA) through your Personal Account.
- Complete an Expression of Wish form either online through your Personal Account or a paper Expression of Wish form.
Your investment choices
The money in your Personal Account is invested funds so there is a potential for its value to grow. Selecting the right investment strategy for you is a very important decision.
Find out more about your investment choices.
How much you save
Your pension is a great M&G benefit as for just a small personal contribution from you the Company will pay in much more on your behalf. So how does it all work?
The Company automatically pay in 8% of your Pensionable Pay, this we call your Employer Credit. In addition, it’ll match whatever you pay in, up to a maximum of an additional 5%. This we refer to as Additional Matching Employer Credits.
Initially, it’s assumed you’ll contribute 1% of your Pensionable Pay which the Company will match. So already, 10% a month going into your Personal Account, saving for your future.
The Company will match your contributions pound for pound up to a maximum of 5% of your Pensionable Pay. So you could be saving 18%, for just a 5% contribution from you.
And these contributions won’t cost as much as you think, as they’re deducted from your salary before income tax is applied, meaning it’s the best, tax efficient way of building savings for when you retire. Use our contributions calculator to find out how little your take home pay would change compared to how much you’ll be adding to your Personal Account – you’ll be surprised.
How to change your contributions
You can increase, reduce, or stop your personal contributions at any time via Workday.
Read more about your contributions and matching employer credits.
And by accessing your Personal Account at MyPru, you’ll be able to see for yourself how your savings are growing.
Expression of Wish
If you were to die, who would get any benefits payable from the Scheme? And if you were to die whilst you’re still employed by M&G, your beneficiaries could also receive a lump sum of up to 4 x your Pensionable Salary. But, who receives these benefits is for the Trustee to decide. And what’s more, unless you’ve asked them in writing, they may not easily be able to pay them to the people you care for the most.
So, here’s where you can help both the Trustee and your loved ones. An Expression of Wish tells the Trustee who you want to receive any benefits and enables them to pay them quickly and with minimal fuss.
Complete an Expression of Wish form either online through your Personal Account at MyPru or download and print a paper Expression of Wish form.
Remember too, circumstances can change. To make sure your wishes remain current, make a point to complete a new form every now and then.
Planning for your retirement
Retirement may be a long way off, but have you ever wondered how much you’re actually going to need when you stop working, or how old you might be before you think you’ll be able to retire? No matter how far away it is, thinking about these two points will help guide you to where you want to be.
How much?
How much you’re going to need will be personal to you. It’ll depend on lots of different factors such as:
- What commitments you have at the time — for example whether you still have a mortgage or loans to repay, or if you’ve loved ones you still need to support;
- How much you’ll want to fund the lifestyle you desire — you may take up new hobbies or plan to travel, will you have enough to make the most of the extra leisure time you’ll be able to enjoy;
- Do you have any pensions from previous jobs you’ve had — make sure you understand how much pension you’re likely to get from them, you may also like to consider transferring these into your Personal Account;
- Have a think about any other income you’re likely to receive — do you invest elsewhere or maybe you’re expecting an inheritance; and don’t forget to
- Check the State Pension forecaster to understand how much you’re likely to get, and when you’re likely to get it.
Take a look at our Retirement Living Standards Modeller. It’s been designed to help you to start thinking about how much you may need to save to pay for the lifestyle you’re hoping to enjoy in your retirement.
When?
This will differ from person to person and will be influenced by how much you think you’ll need and when you’re likely to achieve that, your appetite to continue working and perhaps when your State Pension will kick in.
Selected Retirement Age (SRA)
Your SRA will be automatically set to 65 but you can change this if you have another age in mind. The earliest age you can start to take from your Personal Account is 55, however this is due to rise to 57 in April 2028. You don’t need to stop working for M&G to start drawing on your pension savings.
It’s particularly important to consider your SRA if your pension is invested in one of the Lifestyle Profile options such as the Multi-asset Lifestyle Profile, as your SRA determines when your funds start to move into lower risk investments.
The Multi-Asset Lifestyle Profile is where you were automatically invested in when you joined the DC Section.
You can change your SRA through your Personal Account at MyPru.