Money: the complete guide to getting clear and making it last

There is a particular kind of quiet dread that arrives somewhere in your fifties. It is the feeling that you ought to know where you stand financially, and that you don’t — not really. You have a pension from a job you left in 2004, a workplace scheme you never looked at, a mortgage with a few years to run, and a vague sense that “it’ll probably be fine”.

This guide is for that feeling. It will not make you rich and it will not tell you what to buy. It will get the whole picture onto one page, point you to the free official sources that can tell you your own numbers, and lay out the big decisions so you can take them slowly and on purpose.

One thing before we start: everything here is general information, not financial advice. A regulated adviser can look at your own situation; this page can only show you the shape of the problem.

Start with one page

Before pensions, before downsizing, before anything, you need two simple lists.

What you own and what you owe. Your home (roughly what it would sell for), savings, ISAs (tax-free savings accounts in the UK; think Roth or brokerage accounts in the US), every pension pot, any investments. Then the other column: mortgage, loans, credit cards, anything you owe family. The difference is your net worth. It is a number, not a verdict.

What comes in and what goes out. Monthly, after tax. Wages, any pension already being paid, rent from a lodger, benefits. Against that, the honest monthly spend — including the things that happen once a year and ambush you every time (car insurance, the boiler, Christmas).

Do it in pencil on paper if a spreadsheet makes you feel sick. The point is not precision. The point is that for the first time you can see all of it at once, and most people are surprised — sometimes pleasantly.

If you want this done in a structured way over a month, with a page for each of these steps, that is exactly what The Money Reset workbook is for.

Your state pension: check the real number

For most people over 50, the biggest single source of retirement income is the state.

In the UK that is the State Pension (the government pension; Social Security is the US equivalent). Gov.uk has a free “Check your State Pension forecast” service that tells you, in its own words, “how much State Pension you could get”, “when you can get it” and “how you could increase it (for example, by paying to fill gaps)”. You need to sign in, and you may be asked to prove your identity with photo ID. It is not available if you are already receiving your State Pension or have deferred it, and Gov.uk notes that State Pension age is regularly reviewed, so the result may change.

In the US, the Social Security Administration’s my Social Security account gives you your Social Security Statement, which includes “a bar graph displaying your personalized retirement benefit estimates at nine different ages”, plus your earnings history and a way to report errors. You can also verify your reported earnings and estimate your future benefits from the same account.

Do this check even if retirement feels far off. Gaps in your record are far easier to deal with when you have years in hand.

Workplace and private pensions

Beyond the state, you probably have one or more pots.

In the UK these are mostly defined contribution pensions (a pot of money you and your employer paid into, invested, and drawn down later) or, if you are lucky and were in the right job, a defined benefit pension (a promised income for life). The US equivalents are the 401(k) and the IRA (defined contribution) and, less commonly now, a traditional employer pension.

Two things matter at this stage. First, find them all — people lose track of pots from old jobs, and we have a separate guide on how to find lost pensions and old retirement accounts. Second, for each one, write down the provider, the rough value, and whether it is defined contribution or defined benefit. That is all. Consolidating, moving or drawing them are later decisions, and some of them are irreversible.

Where the free, official help lives

You do not have to work this out alone, and you do not have to pay for the first conversation.

MoneyHelper (UK) describes itself as “backed by government” and offering “free, impartial guidance” across money and pensions. It is run by the Money and Pensions Service, an HM Government organisation.

Pension Wise (UK) is a MoneyHelper service. In its own words, “A free Pension Wise appointment explains the options for taking money from your defined contribution pension. It’s impartial and backed by government.” It is for people “50 or over” with a UK-based defined contribution pension, and covers when you can access your pension, ways to take it, tax and how to avoid scams. You can have an online appointment at any time or book a slot with a specialist.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (US) has a retirement section covering the decision of when to claim Social Security (“The age you claim Social Security affects the amount of monthly benefits you’ll receive”), pension lump-sum choices, home equity and reverse mortgages, choosing a financial adviser and carrying debt into retirement.

Guidance, note, is not advice. It explains your options; it does not recommend a product. For many people that is enough to make the decision themselves.

Scams: the one rule

People over 50 are targeted because they have the pensions. The FCA (the UK’s financial regulator) puts it plainly: “If you get a call out of the blue (a cold call) about your pension, the safest thing to do is hang up. It’s illegal and probably a scam.” Its ‘Protect yourself from scams’ pages list the signs — unexpected contact, pressure to act quickly, promises of high returns, claims that you have been specially selected — and its first recommended step is to check the firm with the FCA’s own Firm Checker or register and make sure the contact details match the ones you were given.

The US equivalent is to check any investment professional on the SEC’s IAPD or FINRA’s BrokerCheck, which are free. Investor.gov notes that much investment fraud is committed by unlicensed, unregistered people.

The rule that stops most of it: hang up, check the register yourself, and call back on a number you found independently. We go through the specific scams in the scams aimed at people over 50.

The big decisions, as questions

Nobody can answer these for you. But they are better asked now, calmly, than in a hurry later.

Should we downsize? Moving costs money on both sides (stamp duty or its equivalent in the UK, closing costs in the US, plus fees, removals and the things you buy for a new place). It can free up capital and cut running costs, but it can also cut you off from neighbours, a garden and a spare room for the grandchildren. Our downsizing guide sets out the pros, cons and alternatives — including staying put with a lodger, or equity release and reverse mortgages, which are neither miracle nor trap but need to be understood.

Should I work longer — and how? Not necessarily full-time and not necessarily the same job. Every extra year of earning is a year you are not drawing down, and for some people it is also the year they start something they actually enjoy. Our Earn section is full of people who did.

How much should we help the children? House deposits, weddings, grandchildren’s fees. Generosity is wonderful; generosity that quietly empties your own later years is not. The honest question is: what can we give that we will not need back?

When do we stop working out for ourselves and pay someone? See below.

When to pay for regulated advice

MoneyHelper suggests trying “free financial guidance first”, and lists the situations where paying an adviser may be worth it: when your finances are complex (“Inheritance Tax planning or looking after someone who depends on you financially”), when you have received a lump sum “such as an inheritance or redundancy payment”, when you want someone to manage things on an ongoing basis, or when you simply do not have the time.

A regulated adviser — FCA-authorised in the UK, licensed and checkable on IAPD or BrokerCheck in the US — is paid to look at your actual situation and be accountable for what they recommend. For a one-off decision with a lot of money attached, that accountability is often what you are buying.

This week

You do not need to solve retirement this week. You need to see it.

1. Make the one page: own, owe, in, out.
2. Check your State Pension forecast or Social Security Statement and write the number on that page.
3. List every pension or retirement account you think exists, with a provider and a rough value.
4. Book a free Pension Wise appointment if you are over 50 in the UK, or read the CFPB’s “Before you claim” section if you are in the US.
5. Decide which of the big questions is actually yours right now — and give it a month, not an afternoon.

The rest of the Money section takes each of these further. Start with whichever one is keeping you up at night.

Corrected 7 October 2026: the FCA retired the ScamSmart name in January 2026; its pages are now ‘Protect yourself from scams’ and its checking tool is the FCA Firm Checker.