It can be easy to overspend in the festive season, but January is a great time to reassess your finances and savings.

Wherever you’re at in your pension journey, whether you’re new to the Scheme, approaching retirement or somewhere in the middle, you can use this Financial Wellness month (January 2024) to set new saving and budgeting goals to help you have a great year, and a stronger financial future.

Here are some useful tools, hints and tips to help you boost your financial wellness for 2024.

Get familiar with your pension

Register or log into your free online pension account, where you can access all your important pension documents in one place, see your current savings and more.

Use the Lifestyle calculator to see how much you need

Your Lifestyle calculator is a quick and easy tool to help you see if your savings are on track for the life you want after work.

This will help you to get a rough estimate of how much you’ll need to save for your desired future. It considers lifestyle factors, such as how many holidays you’d like to take per year, how many club memberships you’d like to have, and where you plan on living. It’ll help you get a clearer vision of what you need to save now for the life you want after work.

Request an estimate of your benefits

You can request an estimate of the pension you will receive when you reach your Normal Retirement Age (NRA) anytime. You can do this in your online account. If you’d like to see how much your pension may be worth if you were to claim earlier than your NRA, you’d need to request an early retirement quote from Railpen, the administrator of the Scheme. Here’s how to contact Railpen.

Use the Retirement Living Standards to get a picture of what retirement may look like for you, financially

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association’s Retirement Living Standards help you understand your predicted lifestyle in retirement based on the type of income you might have. They show what later life may look like at three different financial levels, and what may be in for you to enjoy or live without. Considering the Standards is a good way to assess your current financial circumstances and take practical steps to tweak your saving habits now, if need be.

Think about saving more with Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs)

Saving extra towards your pension with AVCs is a good way to enhance your pension benefits, tax-free.  If you earn extra money, like bonuses or overtime, this could be a real boost to your savings. There are certain limits that apply, though.

If you pay AVCs, these count towards your Annual Allowance – the limit on your pension savings in a single tax year before you need to pay any charge. For the year 2023/2024, this limit is either 100% of your annual earnings, or £60,000 (previously £40,000), whichever is lower.

The Tapered Annual Allowance (TAA) generally applies to those on the highest incomes. This allowance gradually reduces the amount you can save into your pension plan annually depending on your income.  It may affect you if your income is over £260,000 (previously £240,000) from 6 April 2023. Please click here for more information.

More information on AVCs and the limits that apply is available in the AVC Guide.

Get some advice if needed

Visit MoneyHelper to get free advice on getting rid of some debt. You can also speak to a financial advisor if you’re unsure about your pension.

Pension Wise, by MoneyHelper, is a free service backed by the government, which provides impartial guidance on financial matters relating to defined contribution pension pots for over 50s. Call them free on 0800 011 3797.

Visit the Government website, which offers clear information on a wide range of financial issues. The 'Workplace and personal pensions' section in particular addresses a variety of pension-based topics in a handy A to Z list. There is also a separate section on the State Pension.