Academy of Life Planning · Ask My Pension update
Government, the Financial Conduct Authority and The Pensions Regulator have published proposals for “guided retirement”. We have updated Ask My Pension so you can test any default against your own life before you accept it.
What has been proposed
The Department for Work and Pensions, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and The Pensions Regulator have launched a consultation on guided retirement. The aim is to spare people saving in a workplace pension from having to make complex decisions about how to take their money.
In outline, a pension provider would place each saver into a “default” retirement arrangement designed for a group, or cohort, of people with similar features. The person could then choose something else.
These are proposals, not final rules. The consultation closes at 11:59pm on 21 December 2026, and details may change.
There is real good in this. Many people find the choices bewildering, and a sensible starting point could help.
The question we think is missing
Being placed in the right cohort is not the same as understanding what is happening. It does not give you real agency over it. And it does not show that the arrangement suits your whole life.
A cohort is built from what a provider can see, such as age and pot size. It cannot see:
- other pensions, savings or property
- a partner’s position, or who depends on your income
- your health, and whether you want to keep working
- caring duties and housing costs
- what you actually want retirement to be for
That gap is where people can be harmed, quietly and with the best intentions on all sides.
What has changed in Ask My Pension
We have added the Guided Retirement Challenge. It does not tell you to accept or reject a default. It helps you ask better questions of it, across six areas:
- The provider’s assumptions. What has been assumed about you, and where are you different?
- Your Total Wealth position. Money, health, relationships, home and purpose, all in view together.
- Income and longevity. A range of outcomes, including living longer than expected, shown as projections and not promises.
- What can and cannot be undone. Which steps are reversible, and what would make you comfortable with one that is not.
- Tax. The consequences to check before you commit.
- Support. The human and regulated help that exists, and how guidance, targeted support and advice differ.
You finish with a short summary and no more than five questions to put to your provider.
As always, Ask My Pension checks for signs that your situation is complex or difficult, such as divorce or legal orders, before it goes further. If you need a person, it says so.
Why we did it now
Our principles are simple. Plan life before money. Advice out. Agency in. AI should support human judgement, not replace it.
If defaults become the normal route into retirement, people will need a way to understand what they are being offered. We would rather build that now, in the open, and learn from the people who use it.
Our response to the consultation
We are responding to the consultation. Our central point is the one above: allocation to a cohort should never be mistaken for understanding, agency or suitability across a person’s life. We are also asking for plain-English statements of provider assumptions, tested understanding before irreversible steps, an easy way to say “this doesn’t describe me”, and success measures that include whether people felt they had a real choice.
If you work with people approaching retirement, or have experienced this yourself, you can respond too. The consultation is on GOV.UK.
What this tool is, and is not
Ask My Pension is a planning and understanding tool. It is not regulated financial advice, and it can be wrong. Please check any figures with your provider, and consider regulated advice before irreversible decisions. Your conversations are processed by the Anthropic API and are not stored by us beyond your own browser session.
Try it and tell us what you think
Go to www.askmypension.app and ask: “Run the Guided Retirement Challenge on my provider’s default.”
Then use the feedback link in the app and tell us what worked, what confused you and what we missed. Every improvement so far has come from people like you.
The Academy of Life Planning is a movement advancing Total Wealth Planning™ — a life-first approach to financial, personal, social, environmental and human wellbeing.
