This week marks Financial Planning Week, a nationwide initiative aiming to help consumers build financial confidence, and help combat anxiety and stress about money and deal.

There is no shortage of industry research showing the level of uncertainty and anxiety that surrounds pension planning.

Indeed, research from BlackRock last year found that nearly three quarters (74 per cent) of UK defined contribution (DC) pension savers feel like they are not on track to achieve a reasonable standard of living in retirement, with retirement confidence falling to the lowest point since BlackRock began surveying UK DC savers in 2017.

Given this, it is no surprise that the pensions industry is often looking for ways to better engage with savers earlier, to help build up their confidence and improve not only their financial wellbeing, but their broader happiness too.

Now Pensions CCO, Eleanor Levy, said: "They say the best time to start saving is yesterday, but the second-best time is today. This is especially true when it comes to saving for retirement.

"Planning for the future can seem daunting but starting early can help you feel more confident and secure by the time you come to retire. Particularly for women, who, on average, retire with pension savings of £69,000 compared to £205,000 for men.

“Use this week to review your financial plan, set achievable goals, and consider the role your pension plays in your future. Small steps today can make a big difference tomorrow.”

Inspired by this, I myself took this week as an opportunity to make sure that my pensions are up to date, taking my own small steps to put myself in the best position possible.

Having recently moved, updating my address was top of my list - as I am ashamed to admit I only updated my current pension during the move itself.

But on my attempt to update an older pension I realised that whilst I know the password - I don't have the username associated with the account, and I have to go through the process of resetting my details.

With no email in my inbox yet, I decide to move on to my next pension (knowing likely, there is a good chance I won't return to reset those details - or update my address as I had originally intended - for some time).

I'm keeping my financial planning energy up as I move onto the next one though - as I definitely know the details and am keen to quickly get my address updated.

The website wants second factor authentication - it's a great security check to see in action, but the process takes longer than I expected, and my enthusiasm wanes further.

Onto my latest pension, my current pension. I know the address is up to date for this one, but it would be a good chance to check my investments, reconsider my risk profile - and most importantly, correct an error with my personal details that I've been warned by many industry experts could prevent me matching with this pension on dashboards.

Thwarted again, as this is a personal detail that can only be changed by my employer. I know the team will work on getting this sorted as soon as I raise it - but I'm doing this out of hours.

So instead, I start thinking about more immediate financial planning concerns. After all, as I mentioned I've just moved into a house, and I'm in the midst of renovating that new house too - which sounds much more interesting and exciting to think about than my retirement 50 years away.

This isn't an unusual attitude, as research from Aegon recently found that whilst pension saving remained a top three financial priority for 11 per cent of savers heading into 2025, ‘enjoying life’ (34 per cent) was the most common response for UK adults going into 2025.

It's hardly unsurprising either, given that other aspects of financial planning are made much more accessible thanks to advances such as open banking.

And whilst the barriers in my pension journey were very necessary safeguards, protecting my money from would-be fraudsters, they are still a potential barrier to engagement - so it is crucial that the industry makes sure that there are efficient and easy to use systems in place.

I know I'm not alone, having had many pension professionals (even administrators) confess that their details aren't correct either, but they 'haven't gotten around to it', or were put off by forgotten details and the general 'faff'.

But these issues are exactly why I get so excited by conversations around pensions dashboards - which will enable savers to access information about all their pensions in one place.

And using the Gov.UK One Login means that savers should have just one set of login details to remember, helping to cut down barriers to engagement even further.

In addition to this, users who have already registered to use government services through Gov.UK One Login will not have to prove their identity again when registering to use the dashboards service.

The long-term plan for dashboards presents an even more exciting opportunity, and whilst many organisations are excited about the innovations that could be seen once post-view capabilities are added, I am just looking forward to being able to change my address across all my pensions in one go.

Although of course, I'll need to make sure my personal information is correct for my pensions to show up on dashboards in the first place...

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