What is Guided Retirement?
It’s a way of managing the money you have in your pension across your whole retirement. After all, retirement might last for 25 years or more, and you could go through many changes – big and small – during this time. Trying to build a plan for this with the money you’ve been paying into your pension all these years is a huge decision, one that can be stressful with so many 'ifs' and 'buts' to consider.
Guided Retirement helps you address these by dividing your pension into three separate pots. Each pot is slightly different, and they work together to support your income needs at different stages of life once you retire.
As all your money in Guided Retirement is invested, its value can go up and down and you could get back less than you invested.
How the pots work
Flexible Income Pot
For the early years of retirement
You may decide to travel, take up new pastimes and spend more time with your friends and family. Alternatively, you may want to continue working and ease into retirement more gradually. This pot allows for flexible, regular withdrawals so you can vary your income to suit your needs. You'll get guidance from us to help this last through until the later years of retirement.
Guaranteed Income Pot
For the later years of retirement
You might be slowing down and enjoying the simple pleasures in life. At this point, you may appreciate the security of a steady income. An annuity provides a guaranteed income for the rest of your life. It’s paid like a fixed, regular salary and will help cover your monthly outgoings. You can choose the age that you want to use the money in this pot to buy an annuity.
Occasional Spending Pot
For all the way through retirement
Not everything can be anticipated. For the more unexpected moments – a broken boiler, big bills, or even a trip away – you can choose to have a pot set aside especially for one-off expenses, though this pot is optional and you don't have to.
Watch our Guided Retirement video
Our short video shows you how Guided Retirement works.
Transcript for video Watch our Guided Retirement video
Thinking about retirement.
Sometimes it can feel like staring at a map with too many routes to choose from.
That's why we created Guided Retirement. A new way to navigate your retirement income options with confidence.
Guided Retirement aims to help to make sure your income lasts throughout your retirement.
Imagine your pension as three helpful money pots, each serving its own purpose in your retirement journey.
The Flexible Income Pot is designed to provide flexibility in your early retirement years.
Not sure exactly what you'll need yet?
No problem. This pot lets you fine tune your income to meet your changing needs
Your Guaranteed Income Pot is like your future safety net.
It's set aside to buy an annuity in later life, when you might prefer the security of a guaranteed income. It aims to grow your money while you are taking an income from the Flexible Income Pot, then to prepare you for buying an annuity.
The occasional spending pot is your “just in case money”.
There for life's unexpected detours or celebrating meaningful moments along the way.
Each pot invests in a dedicated fund, which has been carefully chosen by us to meet the pot’s specific goals.
As your money is invested, it can go down as well as up in value, and you could get back less than invested.
Our Guided Retirement Modeller tool helps you decide how to divide your money between pots and when you might want to buy an annuity.
It estimates how much income you could receive during each phase of retirement, allowing you to see the effect of any changes.
Think of it as a “practice run”, seeing how your choices might work out before committing to anything.
And remember, you can revisit the modeller at any time during your Guided Retirement journey, if you want to change things.
Retirement might feel like a big step into new territory, but you’re not travelling alone.
With Guided Retirement, Aviva stays with you throughout your journey, with regular check-ins to keep your retirement plan on track.
Take the first step with us today and explore how Guided Retirement could work for you.
We'll support you all the way
This is the ‘guided’ part of Guided Retirement. We’re by your side, throughout your retirement, with:
Our Guided Retirement Modelling tool
We'll point you in the direction of our dedicated modelling tool that could help with any decisions you need to make.
Clear information at the right times
We’ll offer guidance and information at key points and – through your online account – instant access to key details about your pension, such as suggested regular withdrawal amounts.
Someone to speak to
You'll have the option to chat to our team if you're not sure about anything and need to talk it through.
Tailor-made investments
Each pot has its own dedicated investment strategy in line with how and when it will be used.
Find out more about Guided Retirement
Our Guided Retirement brochures have a more detailed explanation of what Guided Retirement is, how the pots work, and the investment strategy behind it all. We recommend you read these before you log in to get started.
How this could look for you
Our online Guided Retirement Modeller tool lets you change the figures and dates to help you decide how much to put into each pot based on the value of your pension today. Here's how to find the tool in your online account:
If you're aged 55 (57 from 6 April 2028 unless you have a protected pension age) or older, you can start creating your retirement in your online MyAviva account.
Here you'll be able to keep track of your pension as well as access our Guided Retirement Modeller tool.
Other support is available
Pension Wise, is a government-backed free guidance service. They won’t tell you what you should do, but they’ll help you understand your options.
Guided Retirement isn’t the same as professional advice. While you won’t get a personalised financial recommendation, it’s designed to help you make better informed decisions about meeting your income needs throughout your retirement. For tailored advice, speak to your financial adviser. If you don’t have one, you'll find an up-to-date list of regulated financial advisers at MoneyHelper. You may have to pay for any advice you get but there are usually a number of ways to pay the fee.
Your Guided Retirement questions answered
What other options are available to me?
Guided Retirement is available in your existing pension and is just one of the many options available to you. Find out more about the different ways you can use your pension money.
Choosing the right retirement option will depend on your own personal and financial circumstances. MoneyHelper's pension & retirement guides are a great place to start, they can help you to understand the things you'll need to consider, before making a decision.
How much do I need for Guided Retirement?
You'll need a minimum pension pot of £20,000 in order to move into Guided Retirement. If your pension pot is less than £20,000, but you have pensions with other providers, you could consider bringing those pots together.
To check the current value of your pension with us, log in to your online account.
Before you transfer any pension to us, you should check to see if the pensions you want to transfer have any special features, including guarantees or protections, as they could be lost when transferring. And make sure you compare charges, investment choices and retirement options, to help you make your decision.
Our free Find and Combine service can uncover lost or older pensions and present you with information about each one. You can then use that information to help you decide if combining into one is right for you. For more information on the service visit our dedicated page.
Can I move my money from one pot to another?
Yes, you can. Just be aware that moving money from one pot to another may reduce the amount of income you receive. For example, if you move money from your Guaranteed Income Pot into your Flexible Income Pot, this will reduce the amount you have available to buy your annuity, meaning the annuity payments you'll receive will be less.
Another example could be, if you find that you haven't needed to spend the money in your Occasional Spending Pot, then you could choose to add it to your Guaranteed Income Pot, which would increase the amount you have available to buy an annuity.
Is the money in the Guaranteed Income Pot guaranteed?
No. Like the other pots, the Guaranteed Income Pot is invested so its value can go down as well as up. The money in this pot is invested with the aim of using it to buy a guaranteed income, in the form of an annuity, at a later date. This is not an automated process and there are no guarantees for this income until you’ve purchased the annuity. You can choose to buy an annuity with us, or by shopping around elsewhere.
Can I leave Guided Retirement?
You can leave Guided Retirement at any time. You can change to another drawdown product or buy an annuity, either from us or another provider. Alternatively you can take your money as a taxable lump sum if you wish. To leave Guided Retirement you can call our dedicated Retirement Call Centre on 0800 096 9170.
Can’t I just mix cash, drawdown, and annuity options anyway?
Yes, you can. Guided Retirement provides information and tools that help you to make informed decisions about how and when to take those options. Just remember, Guided Retirement provides guidance however it doesn’t offer financial advice.
What does it cost?
There are no costs to pay to move into Guided Retirement. As you do now, you'll pay administration and investment charges, and these may be higher or lower as the investments move into the Guided Retirement funds. If you want to compare the investment charges, you can log in to your online account. You can also find more information in our Guided Retirement Investment Brochure.
