Retirement Planning in County Durham

Start with the County Durham retirement number

In the North and Midlands, around County Durham, day-to-day costs sit 1% below the UK average, the same as in the South East, so the £493,175 target is close to the UK figure. Many people here have a defined benefit pension from public sector work that dominates the answer. A defined benefit pension of £15,000 a year from age 67 is equivalent to about £375,000 in defined contribution terms, and that affects whether your other pensions need to do the same work. A 45-year-old teacher in County Durham with a defined benefit paying £18,000 a year plus a £60,000 SIPP is in a much stronger position than the £493,175 figure suggests.

Find every pension you have

For readers in the North and Midlands, finding them means finding the defined benefit statement, which sets the floor under the retirement income. Any defined contribution pension then has to close the gap between the defined benefit and the £493,175 target. Most people here can answer the question with their defined benefit already in hand, which makes the work more about contribution level (often salary sacrifice for higher earners) and less about finding old workplace pensions. The mistake to avoid this month: undervaluing the defined benefit and treating it as if it were a defined contribution pot.

Measure the gap, then decide what to change

Once you have the £493,175 target and your Northern and Midlands pension picture (including the defined benefit in today's money), the lever is usually contribution level on the defined contribution side. A move from 8% combined to 15% combined on a £45,000 salary with employer matching adds £3,150 a year to the pension, which grows to around £94,000 over 20 years at 4% a year. The defined benefit does the rest. The cheaper mistake to avoid: leaving an old workplace defined contribution pension with a 1% annual charge when a SIPP at 0.3% would do the same job.

How Delphina fits in

Delphina helps you work out your £493,175 number step by step. Self-service with the calculator on this page, or 1-1 financial coaching over video from £99 a session with a free 15 minute call to start. Your real numbers stay on screen in front of both of you, and the action you agree at the end of each session is specific to your Northern and Midlands situation this month. The most common first action for a Northern and Midlands reader is converting the defined benefit into today's money and seeing what the SIPP actually has to do. When a decision crosses into regulated territory, we will tell you.

Delphina provides guidance, not regulated financial advice. If you are considering a regulated recommendation, speak to an FCA-authorised adviser.