Pension Annual Review Record

Who this is for

One pension's yearly statements, copied onto one page. Each year's value, your contributions, your employer's and the charges shown go on a line with the projection and fund, and the sheet splits the change in value into what was paid in and growth after charges.

Members of workplace and personal pensions who get a yearly statement and want to see the trend rather than one year at a time, and anyone preparing questions for a provider or an adviser.

What this helps you track

• The value on each yearly statement, year after year
• What you and your employer paid in each year
• The charges each statement shows
• How much of each year's change came from growth after charges
• The fund, its risk level and the projection the statement gives

How to use it

1. Write the pension and provider, the last few digits of the policy number, whether it is a workplace or personal pension and the age the projection uses.
2. When each yearly statement arrives, copy the date, the value, what you and your employer paid in and the charges it shows.
3. Add the projected income if the statement gives one, and the fund name and risk level.
4. Change and Growth are worked out in the browser and the workbook from the line above; on paper, take last year's value from this year's, then take off what was paid in.
5. Go through the review questions and note any change you decide to make.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

What does the growth column show?

The change in value since the last statement minus what you and your employer paid in. Charges taken from the fund are already reflected in the value, so the figure is growth after charges. It can be a minus figure.

Why is the first line's change blank?

Change and Growth compare each statement with the one before, so the first line has nothing to compare with. Start with the oldest statement you have, and the figures fill in from the second line.

Can I use it for several pensions?

Use one sheet per pension so the years line up. The pension and policy schedule lists every pension you hold on one page, and this record keeps the detail for each one.

Is the projected income a promise?

No. A projection is the provider's estimate, built on assumptions the statement sets out, and it changes when they change. Writing it down each year shows how the estimate has moved.