Martin Lewis has issued a warning to everyone with a pension, urging them to check for lost savings after one man found £121,000 in forgotten pension pots.
The Money Saving Expert highlighted the issue in his latest MSE email, warning that significant sums of money could be sitting in pots they had forgotten about.
The average worker has 11 jobs over the course of their career, meaning many end up with several small pension pots, which can be easy to lose track of.
Martin said there is currently around £27 billion in lost or forgotten pension pots.
Writing in his Money Saving Expert newsletter, Martin explained: “Are you one of those with £10,000s hidden?
"After watching one of my TV shows on lost pensions, Rob got in touch to say he'd checked the free Pension Tracing Service, after it'd triggered a memory of signing up to a long-forgotten pension in his first job 30 years ago.
"This helped him locate his old provider, and he found he'd paid in £24,500, and it was now worth £97,000.
"Gobsmacked, he then checked through his box of old papers, and found another pension from the 1990s he'd paid £600 into, traced it, and was shocked to find it was now worth £24,000.
"This is my long way of saying... it's worth a check."
The Pension Tracing Service is a free service that you can use to find contact details to search for a lost pension.
It will not tell you whether you have a pension, or what its value is.
You need the name of an employer or a pension provider to use the service.
Warning. Don't accidentally leave your pension to your ex!
— Martin Lewis (@MartinSLewis) April 20, 2023
You CAN’T leave pension savings in your will. Die before taking your private/company pension and the provider/trustees decide what to do with it.
An expression of wishes (or nomination) form tells them your preference.… pic.twitter.com/iaIn3Grf7e
Taking to Twitter, Martin Lewis has also issued a warning to people to make sure they are not leaving their pension to their ex.
He explained: “You CAN’T leave pension savings in your will. Die before taking your private/company pension and the provider/trustees decide what to do with it.
“An expression of wishes (or nomination) form tells them your preference. Fill one in (your provider should have them). If you have, but years ago check it’s up to date or as I was told…‘Colleague's ex-husband was still on her nomination form. Family had to contest. Nightmare for all involved’"
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