Simple Investing: Sort Out Your Pension: The Complete UK Pension And Retirement Guide For Normal People

You have a pension. You are probably not sure exactly where all of it is, what it is worth, or whether it will be enough.

This book is for you.

Written by someone who spent twenty-five years inside the industry Stuart Welch spent a career at the heart of UK financial services. He has watched, from the inside, how ordinary people engage with their pensions. Most don't. Not because they are irresponsible or financially illiterate, but because the industry that holds their money has spent decades making it feel impossible to understand. This book fixes that.

What's inside

• Finding your lost pots — how to track down every pension you have ever accumulated, using the free government tools most people have never heard of
• The State Pension — what you will actually get, how to check your National Insurance record, and how to fill gaps cheaply before the window closes
• Defined benefit versus defined contribution — the crucial difference, why it matters, and the one mistake that cannot be undone
• Charges — the number buried in your pension statement that is quietly costing you tens of thousands of pounds over a working life
• Are you on track — a simple framework for working out your target number and whether you are heading towards it
• Consolidation — when to bring your pensions together, when not to, and the guarantees you must check before you transfer anything
• Contributions — how much is actually enough, why the auto-enrolment default falls short, and how to close the gap without it feeling painful
• Investment — what your pension should actually be invested in, why the default fund may not be right for you, and how to fix it in an afternoon

You do not need a financial adviser on retainer. You do not need a complicated spreadsheet. You need a clear picture of what you have, a simple plan for building on it, and the confidence that comes from finally understanding it.

You have been meaning to deal with this for years. Now you can.