Help page

The HBOS Pension Planner consists of three screens:

• Input Form
  Enter a few basic details about yourself to get things started.


• Contribution Calculator
  Set your current salary and how much you want to contribute towards your retirement and see that figure grow - thanks to help from HBOS and sizeable tax breaks.


• Pension Calculator
  See a projection of your fund and what your annual pension and tax-free cash might be worth when you reach retirement.

You can move backwards and forwards between the screens at any time, by clicking on the buttons to the top right of the screen.

Wherever you are asked to input information you can either:

• use the keyboard to enter a value or
• use the mouse to click on the arrows or drag the sliders up and down.

If you see a blue question mark, click on this for more information and help about that item.

If you see a yellow warning triangle, you should click the triangle to see important information about the step you are at.

Specific information requirements

• Gender
  Pension Planner asks for your gender because different life expectancy rates for men and women will affect the projected retirement benefits.


• Age
  Pension Planner asks for your age, because it makes calculations based on your current age and your expected retirement age. Click on the arrows to select the value or input it directly using the keyboard.


• Job level
  Click on the arrows to select your current job level or input it directly using the keyboard.


• Current fund value
  Click on the arrows to set your current fund value or input it directly using the keyboard. This can be found on your latest pension benefit statement.


• Salary
  You should round your current salary to the nearest �1,000. To set your salary level drag the slider up and down.


• Contribution Rate
  To set your own contribution rate, drag the slider up and down. The contribution from HBOS will be set automatically, based on your own contribution and your job level.


• Retirement Age
  To set the age you expect to retire, drag the slider to the left or right.


• Investment Returns
  To set the annual level of investment return that you expect to receive, drag the slider to the left or right.
  
  Pension Planner sets the default investment return level to 7%, which is the value that the Financial Services Authority suggests should be used when illustrating Money Purchase Pension Schemes. However this is not a guarantee of future investment returns � these will depend on a number of factors, including future economic and financial performance, which are not predictable.
  
  You are strongly advised to use the Pension Planner to create different scenarios that show the effect on your retirement benefits of different levels of investment return. If you assume high levels of investment return which do not materialise in reality, then your actual retirement benefits could be significantly lower than you expected when you retire.


• Salary Increases
  To set the average level of salary increases you expect over the rest of you working life, drag the slider to the left or right.


• Tax Free Cash On Retirement
  To set the amount of tax-free cash you would like to receive on retirement, drag the slider up or down.