Six tips to refine for your future plans in 2025
The start of a new year is a good time to look ahead, and to explore any steps that could help you achieve your goals for life after work.
Retirement is getting closer but you still have time to think about whether any adjustments might be necessary, and to put any preparations in place.
Here’s some tips to help you check you’re on track:
1. Focus on the future you want
Although you’re moving closer to retirement, there’s still time for you to check if you’re on the way to the lifestyle you want after working life.
Understanding how much you’ll need for your retirement income can be key to knowing whether you might still need to make any further plans and adjustments for your future.
The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has put together some retirement living standards, based on a range of incomes, to help work out how much you’ll need.
2. Check the health of your finances
If your New Year’s resolutions include fine-tuning retirement plans, 2025 could be the ideal time for a Midlife MOT.
It can help you check the status of your work, health and finances, enabling you to prioritise as you continue with planning.
The government’s Midlife MOT website is a hub of useful resources to help you ensure you’re moving in the right direction.
3. Ensure your hybrid pension still works for you
Remember there are two parts to USS. There’s the Retirement Income Builder – the defined benefit (DB) part which gives you a guaranteed income for life and a one-off, tax-free cash lump sum when you retire. While you’re paying in, you automatically build DB benefits.
There’s also the Investment Builder – the defined contribution (DC) part. If you earn above the salary threshold, you’ll automatically build a DC pot which will offer flexibility when you come to access it. For as long as you’re still paying in, you have the option to save a bit more in your DC pot with additional contributions, or by transferring in from other pensions.
4. Weigh up all your options
Reaching the minimum pension age (55, rising to 57 in 2028 for some members) has opened up options for you to access your USS benefits. However, it’s important to understand how any options at different ages and stages moving forward could impact your retirement income.
For example, you might wish to retire before your Normal Pension Age (NPA) but it’ll mean your Retirement Income Builder benefits will be reduced as you’ll receive them for longer.
Or you might want to think about retiring a little later. If you don’t feel you’re on track to achieve the income you want, and making enough additional contributions may not be right for you, a later retirement could give you more time to build up your benefits.
5. Stay up to speed on other income sources
Your USS benefits that both you and your employer are contributing towards may not give the full picture of how your retirement income is taking shape.
You could be eligible to receive a State Pension to support you in retirement, however it might not be enough on its own. Find out more about what you could receive, and when, on the government’s website.
You may also have built up pension savings elsewhere, and you can search for any lost savings with the government’s Pension Tracing Service.
6. Use calculators and tools to help with plans and preparations
As you move closer to retirement, using our Benefit Calculator can provide you with a personalised projection of what you could get from USS.
Log in to My USS and the calculator will already be populated with some information such as your salary. You can explore the outcome of different retirement options, as well as the impact of making any additional contributions or transferring in.
Published: 21 January 2025