Blog
A deep-dive into a variety of pension topics to help you understand and learn more about your pension and the Scheme.
5/8/2026
Editorial
<div>By the time you reach your 50s you may have a pretty good idea of what you want later life to look like. Retirement probably doesn’t feel like a distant concept anymore, and you may be starting to give it more thought. </div><div><br></div><div>If you’re only just embarking on your pension saving journey, you still have a good few years to prioritise retirement planning and to save up for a decent life after work.</div><div><br></div><div>Whatever your situation, your 50s is the ideal time to up your saving game and make the most of the opportunities available to you. Here are a few ideas to help you enhance your pension saving journey and make sure your retirement savings are on track to support the lifestyle you hope for when you stop work.</div><div> </div><h4>Define your retirement goals</h4><div>If you haven’t yet given later life a thought, now is a good time to start. How do you imagine your lifestyle? You’d probably want to enjoy some treats now and then, like a holiday abroad, meals out taking up new hobbies. You may also need to think about whether you’ll have any caring responsibilities or want to support a family member financially.</div><div><br></div><div>Crystallising your retirement goals while you still have a few years to save may help you fund the lifestyle you want when the time comes.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/" target="_blank" data-sf-ec-immutable="">The Retirement Living Standards*</a> can help you with that. They have been developed to help you picture what kind of lifestyle you could have in retirement. The standards show you what life in retirement could look like at 3 different levels, and what a range of common goods and services would cost at each level. For example, a single person will need approximately £45,400 per year for a comfortable standard of living when they finish work.</div><div><br></div><div>If your current level of saving isn’t on target to pay for the standard of living you hope for in retirement, you may need to think about saving more. One way to do this is by paying Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs).</div><div> </div><h4>Consider boosting your savings with AVCs</h4><div><span style="background-color: initial; font-size: inherit; text-align: inherit; text-transform: inherit; word-spacing: normal; caret-color: auto; white-space: inherit">You may want to consider paying extra into your pension, if you can. Paying even a little more into your pension savings now could add up to a lot more to enjoy when you stop work. AVCs provide a real opportunity to build up your savings and make up for lost time.</span></div><div><br></div><div>The <a href="https://www.railwayspensions.co.uk/defined-benefit-members/saving-more-BRASS-AVC-Extra" data-sf-ec-immutable="">main AVC arrangement for defined benefit (DB) members</a> of the Railways Pension Scheme is called BRASS. You can pay as little as £2 per week or £10 per month on top of the normal contributions you make to your pension. There’s a maximum you can pay in each year – usually 15% of your gross earnings. If you want to pay more than the BRASS maximum, you can join AVC Extra (not available to Network Rail members).</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.railwayspensions.co.uk/iwdc-members/Im-still-working/saving-more" data-sf-ec-immutable="">Defined contribution (IWDC) members pay AVCs</a> directly into their investment accounts.</div><div><br></div><div>There are many benefits to saving extra with AVCs:</div><ul><li>you can save as little as £2 a week</li><li>you don’t need to save a set amount every month</li><li>you can pay into AVCs with money from overtime and bonuses, which don’t qualify for your main scheme pension</li><li>you get tax relief on what you put in, up to Annual Allowance tax limits</li><li>you don’t need to save a set amount every month</li><li>you can pay into AVCs with money from overtime and bonuses, which don’t qualify for your main scheme pension</li><li>you get tax relief on what you put in (up to Annual Allowance tax limits)</li></ul><div><br></div><div>To see how much your RPS income will be, log in to (or register for) your <a href="https://member.railwayspensions.co.uk/login" data-sf-ec-immutable="">myRPS account</a>. Use the ‘Pension Planner’ to model how saving more with BRASS could make a big difference and help you meet your target.</div><div><br></div><div>You should also bear in mind that there is an annual pension savings limit that can benefit from tax relief. For most people, this is £60,000 a year or 100% of your taxable earnings, whichever is lower. Read more about this limit below.</div><div><br></div><h4>Are you making the most of your Annual Allowance?</h4><div><span style="background-color: initial; font-size: inherit; text-align: inherit; text-transform: inherit; word-spacing: normal; caret-color: auto; white-space: inherit">Annual Allowance is the limit on the total amount you can save towards your pension in a single tax year before you pay any tax on your pension savings. It is currently either 100% of your annual earnings or £60,000, whichever is lower, unless the Tapered Annual Allowance** applies to you.</span></div><div><br></div><div>The Annual Allowance renews at the start of every tax year (in April) so it may be worth paying in as much as you can over the next few years to make sure your savings benefit from tax relief. Saving tax free for your future is one of the most valuable benefits of paying in a workplace pension and it’s worth making the most of it where you can. That doesn’t mean paying in the full allowance, but paying in as much as is realistic and affordable for you.</div><div><br></div><div>You may also be able to carry forward any unused allowances from the last three years.</div><div> </div><h4>Your pension savings are invested so compounding is a big plus!</h4><div><span style="background-color: initial; font-size: inherit; text-align: inherit; text-transform: inherit; word-spacing: normal; caret-color: auto; white-space: inherit">We’ve covered <a href="/knowledge-hub/news-and-views/blog/rps-blog/2023/06/19/pension-planning-your-20s---making-the-most-of-a-pension-plan-when-you're-young">compounding in previous articles from the pension planning series</a> but it’s worth highlighting its valuable role in making your money grow, especially as you approach the end of your working life. It’s a key factor when it comes to investing and one of the most significant benefits of having your money invested in a pension.</span></div><div><br></div><div>Compounding is the process of your investments achieving growth not just on the original sum invested but on any growth already achieved. It can be especially powerful if your money has been invested for a while, but even if you start saving for a pension now, it can still help your money grow.</div><div><br></div><div>Compounding only applies to members in the Industry-Wide Defined Contribution (IWDC) scheme and members who pay in Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) towards their pension.</div><div><br></div><h4>Re-evaluate your attitude to risk</h4><div><span style="background-color: initial; font-size: inherit; text-align: inherit; text-transform: inherit; word-spacing: normal; caret-color: auto; white-space: inherit">If you’ve been saving into an IWDC pot or with AVCs for a while, you may want to consider <a href="https://www.railwayspensions.co.uk/iwdc-members/managing-investments/fund-choices" data-sf-ec-immutable="">reviewing your investment fund choices</a> now you’re on the run-up to retirement. You may have had a riskier approach so far, but it’s perhaps time to reduce your exposure to higher risk funds to ensure you’re not taking any unnecessary risks. </span></div><div><br></div><div>The value of money invested can go down as well as up, so it’s important to consider whether the savings you’ve built up to date are ‘safer’ being invested in more ‘stable’ funds which have lower risk of losing value over time.</div><div><br></div><h4>Turn to Pension Wise for free guidance</h4><div><a href="https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-wise" target="_blank" data-sf-ec-immutable="">Pension Wise</a>, a government-backed service helping people to understand the pension options available to them, offers free, impartial guidance for over 50s. </div><div><br></div><div>You can book an hour-long appointment with one of their pensions specialists. They’ll talk you through the options available to you and anything else you may need to keep in mind in the run-up to retirement.</div><div><br></div><h4>Speak to a financial adviser</h4><div><span style="background-color: initial; font-size: inherit; text-align: inherit; text-transform: inherit; word-spacing: normal; caret-color: auto; white-space: inherit">You may want to seek expert financial advice if you have little or no experience of managing your pension and wider finances, or if you don’t feel confident in making decisions about them. Go to <a href="https://www.unbiased.co.uk/" target="_blank" data-sf-ec-immutable="">https://www.unbiased.co.uk/</a> to find an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) who could help you take control of your financial future.</span></div><div> </div><div><br></div><div><em>*Retirement Living Standards – the Standards have been developed by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) and provide a rule of thumb guidance on common costs for three different levels of expenditure in retirement to help pension savers understand how much money they will need to live the lifestyle they want in retirement <a href="https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/" target="_blank" data-sf-ec-immutable="">https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/</a></em></div><div><br></div><div><em>**Tapered Annual Allowance - the Tapered Annual Allowance (TAA) generally applies to those on the highest incomes. This allowance gradually reduces the amount you can save into your pension plan annually depending on your income. It may affect you if your income is over £260,000 (previously £240,000) from 6 April 2023.</em></div><div><br></div>
<div>By the time you reach your 50s you may have a pretty good idea of what you want later life to look like. Retirement probably doesn’t feel like a distant concept anymore, and you may be starting to give it more thought. </div><div><br></div><div>If you’re only just embarking on your pension saving journey, you still have a good few years to prioritise retirement planning and to save up for a decent life after work.</div><div><br></div><div>Whatever your situation, your 50s is the ideal time to up your saving game and make the most of the opportunities available to you. Here are a few ideas to help you enhance your pension saving journey and make sure your retirement savings are on track to support the lifestyle you hope for when you stop work.</div><div> </div><h4>Define your retirement goals</h4><div>If you haven’t yet given later life a thought, now is a good time to start. How do you imagine your lifestyle? You’d probably want to enjoy some treats now and then, like a holiday abroad, meals out taking up new hobbies. You may also need to think about whether you’ll have any caring responsibilities or want to support a family member financially.</div><div><br></div><div>Crystallising your retirement goals while you still have a few years to save may help you fund the lifestyle you want when the time comes.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/" target="_blank" data-sf-ec-immutable="">The Retirement Living Standards*</a> can help you with that. They have been developed to help you picture what kind of lifestyle you could have in retirement. The standards show you what life in retirement could look like at 3 different levels, and what a range of common goods and services would cost at each level. For example, a single person will need approximately £45,400 per year for a comfortable standard of living when they finish work.</div><div><br></div><div>If your current level of saving isn’t on target to pay for the standard of living you hope for in retirement, you may need to think about saving more. One way to do this is by paying Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs).</div><div> </div><h4>Consider boosting your savings with AVCs</h4><div><span style="background-color: initial; font-size: inherit; text-align: inherit; text-transform: inherit; word-spacing: normal; caret-color: auto; white-space: inherit">You may want to consider paying extra into your pension, if you can. Paying even a little more into your pension savings now could add up to a lot more to enjoy when you stop work. AVCs provide a real opportunity to build up your savings and make up for lost time.</span></div><div><br></div><div>The <a href="https://www.railwayspensions.co.uk/defined-benefit-members/saving-more-BRASS-AVC-Extra" data-sf-ec-immutable="">main AVC arrangement for defined benefit (DB) members</a> of the Railways Pension Scheme is called BRASS. You can pay as little as £2 per week or £10 per month on top of the normal contributions you make to your pension. There’s a maximum you can pay in each year – usually 15% of your gross earnings. If you want to pay more than the BRASS maximum, you can join AVC Extra (not available to Network Rail members).</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.railwayspensions.co.uk/iwdc-members/Im-still-working/saving-more" data-sf-ec-immutable="">Defined contribution (IWDC) members pay AVCs</a> directly into their investment accounts.</div><div><br></div><div>There are many benefits to saving extra with AVCs:</div><ul><li>you can save as little as £2 a week</li><li>you don’t need to save a set amount every month</li><li>you can pay into AVCs with money from overtime and bonuses, which don’t qualify for your main scheme pension</li><li>you get tax relief on what you put in, up to Annual Allowance tax limits</li><li>you don’t need to save a set amount every month</li><li>you can pay into AVCs with money from overtime and bonuses, which don’t qualify for your main scheme pension</li><li>you get tax relief on what you put in (up to Annual Allowance tax limits)</li></ul><div><br></div><div>To see how much your RPS income will be, log in to (or register for) your <a href="https://member.railwayspensions.co.uk/login" data-sf-ec-immutable="">myRPS account</a>. Use the ‘Pension Planner’ to model how saving more with BRASS could make a big difference and help you meet your target.</div><div><br></div><div>You should also bear in mind that there is an annual pension savings limit that can benefit from tax relief. For most people, this is £60,000 a year or 100% of your taxable earnings, whichever is lower. Read more about this limit below.</div><div><br></div><h4>Are you making the most of your Annual Allowance?</h4><div><span style="background-color: initial; font-size: inherit; text-align: inherit; text-transform: inherit; word-spacing: normal; caret-color: auto; white-space: inherit">Annual Allowance is the limit on the total amount you can save towards your pension in a single tax year before you pay any tax on your pension savings. It is currently either 100% of your annual earnings or £60,000, whichever is lower, unless the Tapered Annual Allowance** applies to you.</span></div><div><br></div><div>The Annual Allowance renews at the start of every tax year (in April) so it may be worth paying in as much as you can over the next few years to make sure your savings benefit from tax relief. Saving tax free for your future is one of the most valuable benefits of paying in a workplace pension and it’s worth making the most of it where you can. That doesn’t mean paying in the full allowance, but paying in as much as is realistic and affordable for you.</div><div><br></div><div>You may also be able to carry forward any unused allowances from the last three years.</div><div> </div><h4>Your pension savings are invested so compounding is a big plus!</h4><div><span style="background-color: initial; font-size: inherit; text-align: inherit; text-transform: inherit; word-spacing: normal; caret-color: auto; white-space: inherit">We’ve covered <a href="/knowledge-hub/news-and-views/blog/rps-blog/2023/06/19/pension-planning-your-20s---making-the-most-of-a-pension-plan-when-you're-young">compounding in previous articles from the pension planning series</a> but it’s worth highlighting its valuable role in making your money grow, especially as you approach the end of your working life. It’s a key factor when it comes to investing and one of the most significant benefits of having your money invested in a pension.</span></div><div><br></div><div>Compounding is the process of your investments achieving growth not just on the original sum invested but on any growth already achieved. It can be especially powerful if your money has been invested for a while, but even if you start saving for a pension now, it can still help your money grow.</div><div><br></div><div>Compounding only applies to members in the Industry-Wide Defined Contribution (IWDC) scheme and members who pay in Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) towards their pension.</div><div><br></div><h4>Re-evaluate your attitude to risk</h4><div><span style="background-color: initial; font-size: inherit; text-align: inherit; text-transform: inherit; word-spacing: normal; caret-color: auto; white-space: inherit">If you’ve been saving into an IWDC pot or with AVCs for a while, you may want to consider <a href="https://www.railwayspensions.co.uk/iwdc-members/managing-investments/fund-choices" data-sf-ec-immutable="">reviewing your investment fund choices</a> now you’re on the run-up to retirement. You may have had a riskier approach so far, but it’s perhaps time to reduce your exposure to higher risk funds to ensure you’re not taking any unnecessary risks. </span></div><div><br></div><div>The value of money invested can go down as well as up, so it’s important to consider whether the savings you’ve built up to date are ‘safer’ being invested in more ‘stable’ funds which have lower risk of losing value over time.</div><div><br></div><h4>Turn to Pension Wise for free guidance</h4><div><a href="https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-wise" target="_blank" data-sf-ec-immutable="">Pension Wise</a>, a government-backed service helping people to understand the pension options available to them, offers free, impartial guidance for over 50s. </div><div><br></div><div>You can book an hour-long appointment with one of their pensions specialists. They’ll talk you through the options available to you and anything else you may need to keep in mind in the run-up to retirement.</div><div><br></div><h4>Speak to a financial adviser</h4><div><span style="background-color: initial; font-size: inherit; text-align: inherit; text-transform: inherit; word-spacing: normal; caret-color: auto; white-space: inherit">You may want to seek expert financial advice if you have little or no experience of managing your pension and wider finances, or if you don’t feel confident in making decisions about them. Go to <a href="https://www.unbiased.co.uk/" target="_blank" data-sf-ec-immutable="">https://www.unbiased.co.uk/</a> to find an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) who could help you take control of your financial future.</span></div><div> </div><div><br></div><div><em>*Retirement Living Standards – the Standards have been developed by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) and provide a rule of thumb guidance on common costs for three different levels of expenditure in retirement to help pension savers understand how much money they will need to live the lifestyle they want in retirement <a href="https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/" target="_blank" data-sf-ec-immutable="">https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/</a></em></div><div><br></div><div><em>**Tapered Annual Allowance - the Tapered Annual Allowance (TAA) generally applies to those on the highest incomes. This allowance gradually reduces the amount you can save into your pension plan annually depending on your income. It may affect you if your income is over £260,000 (previously £240,000) from 6 April 2023.</em></div><div><br></div>
Blog
Over 50? Up your saving game
You may still have a decade or more to prepare for retirement but now may be the perfect time to make sure you're saving enough.
By the time you reach your 50s you may have a pretty good idea of what you want later life to look like. Retirement probably doesn’t feel like a distant concept anymore, and you may be starting to give it more thought.
If you’re only just embarking on your pension saving journey, you still have a good few years to prioritise retirement planning and to save up for a decent life after work.
Whatever your situation, your 50s is the ideal time to up your saving game and make the most of the opportunities available to you. Here are a few ideas to help you enhance your pension saving journey and make sure your retirement savings are on track to support the lifestyle you hope for when you stop work.
Define your retirement goals
If you haven’t yet given later life a thought, now is a good time to start. How do you imagine your lifestyle? You’d probably want to enjoy some treats now and then, like a holiday abroad, meals out taking up new hobbies. You may also need to think about whether you’ll have any caring responsibilities or want to support a family member financially.
Crystallising your retirement goals while you still have a few years to save may help you fund the lifestyle you want when the time comes.
The Retirement Living Standards* can help you with that. They have been developed to help you picture what kind of lifestyle you could have in retirement. The standards show you what life in retirement could look like at 3 different levels, and what a range of common goods and services would cost at each level. For example, a single person will need approximately £45,400 per year for a comfortable standard of living when they finish work.
If your current level of saving isn’t on target to pay for the standard of living you hope for in retirement, you may need to think about saving more. One way to do this is by paying Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs).
Consider boosting your savings with AVCs
You may want to consider paying extra into your pension, if you can. Paying even a little more into your pension savings now could add up to a lot more to enjoy when you stop work. AVCs provide a real opportunity to build up your savings and make up for lost time.
The main AVC arrangement for defined benefit (DB) members of the Railways Pension Scheme is called BRASS. You can pay as little as £2 per week or £10 per month on top of the normal contributions you make to your pension. There’s a maximum you can pay in each year – usually 15% of your gross earnings. If you want to pay more than the BRASS maximum, you can join AVC Extra (not available to Network Rail members).
Defined contribution (IWDC) members pay AVCs directly into their investment accounts.
There are many benefits to saving extra with AVCs:
- you can save as little as £2 a week
- you don’t need to save a set amount every month
- you can pay into AVCs with money from overtime and bonuses, which don’t qualify for your main scheme pension
- you get tax relief on what you put in, up to Annual Allowance tax limits
- you don’t need to save a set amount every month
- you can pay into AVCs with money from overtime and bonuses, which don’t qualify for your main scheme pension
- you get tax relief on what you put in (up to Annual Allowance tax limits)
To see how much your RPS income will be, log in to (or register for) your myRPS account. Use the ‘Pension Planner’ to model how saving more with BRASS could make a big difference and help you meet your target.
You should also bear in mind that there is an annual pension savings limit that can benefit from tax relief. For most people, this is £60,000 a year or 100% of your taxable earnings, whichever is lower. Read more about this limit below.
Are you making the most of your Annual Allowance?
Annual Allowance is the limit on the total amount you can save towards your pension in a single tax year before you pay any tax on your pension savings. It is currently either 100% of your annual earnings or £60,000, whichever is lower, unless the Tapered Annual Allowance** applies to you.
The Annual Allowance renews at the start of every tax year (in April) so it may be worth paying in as much as you can over the next few years to make sure your savings benefit from tax relief. Saving tax free for your future is one of the most valuable benefits of paying in a workplace pension and it’s worth making the most of it where you can. That doesn’t mean paying in the full allowance, but paying in as much as is realistic and affordable for you.
You may also be able to carry forward any unused allowances from the last three years.
Your pension savings are invested so compounding is a big plus!
We’ve covered compounding in previous articles from the pension planning series but it’s worth highlighting its valuable role in making your money grow, especially as you approach the end of your working life. It’s a key factor when it comes to investing and one of the most significant benefits of having your money invested in a pension.
Compounding is the process of your investments achieving growth not just on the original sum invested but on any growth already achieved. It can be especially powerful if your money has been invested for a while, but even if you start saving for a pension now, it can still help your money grow.
Compounding only applies to members in the Industry-Wide Defined Contribution (IWDC) scheme and members who pay in Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) towards their pension.
Re-evaluate your attitude to risk
If you’ve been saving into an IWDC pot or with AVCs for a while, you may want to consider reviewing your investment fund choices now you’re on the run-up to retirement. You may have had a riskier approach so far, but it’s perhaps time to reduce your exposure to higher risk funds to ensure you’re not taking any unnecessary risks.
The value of money invested can go down as well as up, so it’s important to consider whether the savings you’ve built up to date are ‘safer’ being invested in more ‘stable’ funds which have lower risk of losing value over time.
Turn to Pension Wise for free guidance
Pension Wise, a government-backed service helping people to understand the pension options available to them, offers free, impartial guidance for over 50s.
You can book an hour-long appointment with one of their pensions specialists. They’ll talk you through the options available to you and anything else you may need to keep in mind in the run-up to retirement.
Speak to a financial adviser
You may want to seek expert financial advice if you have little or no experience of managing your pension and wider finances, or if you don’t feel confident in making decisions about them. Go to https://www.unbiased.co.uk/ to find an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) who could help you take control of your financial future.
*Retirement Living Standards – the Standards have been developed by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) and provide a rule of thumb guidance on common costs for three different levels of expenditure in retirement to help pension savers understand how much money they will need to live the lifestyle they want in retirement https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/
**Tapered Annual Allowance - the Tapered Annual Allowance (TAA) generally applies to those on the highest incomes. This allowance gradually reduces the amount you can save into your pension plan annually depending on your income. It may affect you if your income is over £260,000 (previously £240,000) from 6 April 2023.
