When people talk about their personal financial situations, it can be a hardy topic but if I was to say you’re losing out each day that goes by, in investments that your could be controlling with your pension funds, What would you say? How?

Well this topic should clear up your investment opportunities and get you thinking about how you can make money from your money.

How does my pension make its money?

Firstly you are paying into a pension whether it’s a state or a personal pension you will have paid into one these accounts for as long as you worked. Your money is then invested into opportunities that should be accelerating growth in your pot.

What is and how do I know what the value of my state pension?

State pensions are government owned and the only real way to discover your state pension value is to use the calculator that is available on the government site.

You really have no control over this, and these funds are only available to you when you hit the retirement age.

What is and how do I know the value of my personal pension?

Personal pensions are what you have contributed to outside of the state pension, usually you would have set this up yourself or you could have worked at a place that offers a private pension plan which in effect takes a set amount of your earnings and puts them into savings for when you retire.

To find the value of your personal pension you should contact the company you have control of your pension plan, they will be able to provide you with information about how your pension is performing and what your investments are expected to yield from their current plan.

If you don’t know who deals with your private pension plan, it would be wise to get a free pension review. This service will give you details of all your current savings with X amount of companies if you have more than one plan.

How do I make more money from my pension?

You could manage your own investments, taking away the management fees of your current investments, but if you aren’t confident with the stock market you should leave it to the professionals.

Firstly look at what your management fees are and is it too high? If you find that your management fees are too high, you have a couple of choices you can

• Move your pension to a company with lower management fee
• Take control of your own pension fund investments

Beware of your investments

You should be aware of the investments your money is been put into and what it is expected to give you in return for your money by the time you retire and ask yourself Is it enough?

Once you know what you could be entitled to when you retire, you can start to look at what will give you a better return on your investments. A personal pension advisor will be able to help you with this.

Once you have chosen your new plan, with an estimated better return for your investments you can sit back and let it run. Always make about your management fees they will still apply with your new plan and many companies hide the amount they are taking out of your pension.

Review your pension regularly

You should always ensure you are reviewing your pension funds regularly to ensure you are securing your financial future and your family’s wealth fare after you have gone.

You can always have a specialist pension review company to review your personal pension plan, it is completely free with most companies and the gains they have are fantastic opportunities for generating more money through investments.

You will receive all the details of your plan, and be offered better performing plans.