Preparing for retirement when you're 55+

How and when you could retire

You’ve reached the minimum pension age of 55 (rising to 57 in 2028 for some members) – the earliest you can take your benefits and savings unless you’re retiring because of ill health. This means you now have a range of options available to you.

If you retire from the Normal Pension Age (NPA) you can start receiving your benefits in full from the Retirement Income Builder – the defined benefit (DB) part of USS. The Retirement Income Builder gives you a guaranteed income for life in retirement and a one-off, tax-free (up to a certain limit) cash lump sum of three times your pension.

The following choices may also be available to you now:

• Retire from work earlier than the NPA and start taking Retirement Income Builder benefits.
• Start accessing any savings you’ve built up in the Investment Builder – the defined contribution (DC) part of USS - with a choice of flexible options. You don’t need to take these at the same time as your Retirement Income Builder benefits.
• Flexibly retire, reducing your working hours while receiving a proportion of your Retirement Income Builder benefits (subject to agreement with your employer).

Visit your options at different ages and stages for more information, and remember to think about how any decisions you make could impact your future retirement income. For example, your Retirement Income Builder benefits will be reduced if you start taking them before the NPA as you’ll be receiving them for longer.

Go to our you're flexibly retired page if you’ve already started flexible retirement, to find out more about your benefits and next steps as you continue your path towards full retirement.

Aiming for the lifestyle you want

As you move closer to retirement, think about how your retirement income is shaping up, how it fits with the lifestyle you want and whether you’ll need to adapt your spending.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has outlined retirement living standards based on three levels of income. Visit how much you’ll need for an idea of the income that could cover your basic needs, provide more flexibility with spending, or enable you to afford more luxuries.

Are your benefits and savings on track?

You can see the value of your Retirement Income Builder benefits and any Investment Builder savings in our online member portal, My USS. While you’re logged in, you can also use our Benefit Calculator for a personalised projection of what you could receive in retirement.

As long as you’re still contributing to USS, you have the option to pay additional contributions into the Investment Builder if you wish to save more for your future. You can set up one-off or regular contributions in My USS.

Remember, your Investment Builder investments could go up or down – it depends on how your investments perform.

You might also want to think about retiring a little later. For instance, if you don’t feel you’re on track to achieve the income you want in retirement, and making enough additional contributions may not be right for you, a later retirement could give you more time to build up your benefits and savings.

Get the full picture of your finances

Your USS pension may not be your only source of income in retirement. Tracking down and understanding any others can provide more clarity as you prepare, and they might include:

• Your State Pension, if you’re eligible to receive one. Find out how much you might receive, and when, on the government’s website.
• Other potential sources of income such as property, investments or savings with other pension providers. You can search for lost pension savings with the government’s Pension Tracing Service.

Any income may be subject to tax in retirement. Find out more about tax implications and your pension on our pension tax pages.