Retirement checklist for leavers

The Retirement Income Builder is the defined benefit (DB) part of USS. This will give you a pension – a guaranteed income for life – plus a one-off, tax-free (up to a limit) cash lump sum at retirement. All eligible members join this part automatically.

The Investment Builder is the defined contribution (DC) part. You’ll have savings here if you’ve earned over the salary threshold, made additional contributions or transferred in other pension savings.

You can view the value of your benefits and savings in My USS or on your leaver statement.

Find out what your benefits could give you and explore your retirement options with our Benefit Calculator available in My USS.

Retirement is a big lifestyle change. You might stop working completely or you might slowly transition into retirement but continue to work a little. Either way, it’s important to think about what you want to do, to help you understand how much money you’ll need for your future lifestyle.

It’ll be different for everyone – you may want to continue to work part-time, take up voluntary work or you may decide it’s time to relax or travel.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has created living standards to show what life in retirement looks like at three different levels. It gives an idea of the annual expenditure required to achieve each one.

Regular holidays abroad and plenty of hobbies may mean you’ll need a little more. But if you’re happy with less holidays and less spending then you might not need as much.

Useful resources:

• Visit Which? for more detail on how much you may need to retire and play around with their handy tools*.
• The MoneyHelper’s budget planner can help you plan what you’ll need.

It’s likely that you’ll spend your money and time in different ways as you move through retirement. Some costs might go up, such as holidays and hobbies, but others might go down like commuting to work and mortgage repayments.

Have a think about how your spending habits might change and where you might save money to work out how much you’ll need.

Useful resources:

• Visit Age UK for the benefits you might have access to when you retire to understand where you might save.
• Take a look at the MoneyHelper’s guide on saving money on household bills.
• Use the MoneyHelper’s budget planner to help you plan your spending.

Once you’ve got an idea of how much you’ll spend in retirement, where you might save and what your total income will be, you’ll start to see if you’ll have enough for the future lifestyle you want.

If you’re not quite on track you might want to consider saving a little more or retiring a little later. 

Use our Benefit Calculator, which gives you a personalised projection of your USS retirement benefits.

Your retirement income doesn’t all have to come from your workplace pension, you might be eligible for a State Pension from the government too. Find out how much State Pension you could get and when you’ll get it on the government’s website.

You may have other sources of income such as savings with other pension providers, property or investments. Think about what you might get from other sources to pull together a full picture of what you’ll get at retirement. Remember that any income may be subject to tax.

Find any lost pension savings with the government’s Pension Tracing Service.

Most members can start taking their Retirement Income Builder benefits from age 55 (rising to 57 in 2028) - but your monthly pension payments will be reduced to make up for it being paid out earlier than the Normal Pension Age (NPA). As a member who has left USS, you must take your USS pension by the NPA.

Use our Benefit Calculator to help you understand the Retirement Income Builder benefits you’ll receive, and any Investment Builder savings you could flexibly access, in retirement. You should think about taking financial advice if you aren’t sure what’s right for you.

Take a look at your options at different ages and stages for more information.

If you have a retirement quote from us, see how taking more or less tax-free cash might affect you by using our Benefit Calculator in My USS.

If you have Investment Builder savings

You don’t have to retire to start taking these – you can take them any time from age 55 (rising to 57 in 2028), independently from taking your benefits from the Retirement Income Builder. Use our Benefit Calculator to model a range of options.

Your Target Retirement Age (TRA) lets us know when you want to take your Investment Builder savings. Your TRA lets us know when to move your Investment Builder savings to lower risk funds as you get closer to taking them, if we’re managing them for you with the Do It For Me Option, or when to get in touch about your options, if you’re managing them yourself with the Let Me Do It Option. You can keep this up to date in My USS.

Watch our Target Retirement Age video and find out why it’s important to keep this up to date.

Read our guide to investing in the Investment Builder for more information on how we switch your investments if we’re managing them for you.

Any income from your pension benefits and savings is taxable. Just like a regular income, the rate at which it’s taxable depends on the amount of income you receive from your pension and other sources too.

Consider your options and personal circumstances carefully when deciding how to take your money.

Visit the MoneyHelper’s website for a guide to tax in retirement.

Complete or update forms in My USS to let us know who you’d like to receive your benefits when you die.