Fidelity is helping every workplace member build a great retirement plan with Plan for Life, a transformative new technology built within PlanViewer.
For many people, life after work presents a fantastic opportunity. For others, the prospect of retirement brings with it uncertainty about finances which often causes people to put off making decisions.
According to the Office for National Statistics, we in the UK are living longer, and this is great news. In 1980, average life expectancy for males and females combined was just under 74. In 2024, that figure had risen to just under 81. That increase in life expectancy brings with it a fresh set of concerns for many. For example, do people have enough in their pension to enjoy those extra years, not simply survive them? How do they find a path through volatile markets? Will inflation end up eating away at hard-earned pots? Is there enough to pay for the good things in life?
We believe that one thing is universal, the need to help everyone feel secure and to build confidence in the future. And much of that has to do with financial security. But where can employees turn to for guidance on finding this security? The Fidelity Global Sentiment Survey 2025, showed that more than 60% of employees use AI-supported tools to help them achieve their saving goals. So, we’ve sought to address this adaptation of AI by offering a whole new digital experience for our workplace investing members.
Caption: Marianna Hunt and Eoin McCann talk about Plan for Life and financial coaching
Retirement is a lifetime of smart choices
Retirement planning doesn’t mean making a few big decisions and sitting back for a few decades.
Our aim is to help members make a lifetime of smart choices. This means partnering with them to help plan a way through the haze of competing short-term priorities that can blow people off course from their long-term goals. When circumstances change, we can help members plan to adapt to those changes.
Further research - the Fidelity Global Employer Survey 2025 - has shown undoubtedly that offering financial clarity to employees and broadening their understanding of their own finances is considered a huge benefit. This creates a virtuous circle - employees feel valued and want to stay with their employer, and in return the employer retains skills and loyalty from the employee. Any employer will recognise the benefits of retaining and promoting internally over the cost and complexity of recruiting externally.
So, no wonder it makes sense for employers to offer tangible benefits to their employees that can help bring about real results. That was the thinking behind Plan for Life, giving members of workplace pension schemes easy-to-use digital tools to empower them to make the right decisions about their future income plans.
A free, personalised Plan for Life
Plan for Life is our new retirement planning experience that helps members understand their projected income and whether they’re on track for the lifestyle they want in retirement. We’re making this available to all Fidelity members free of charge, so every member can get a personalised plan based on their individual calculations. We use real-time data from member accounts, as well as data from other investments, to produce retirement plans that can be put into action.
You’ll be familiar with the saying when it comes to interpreting data - ‘Rubbish in, rubbish out’. Well, the inverse is also true, which is why we start the plan based on what we already know about members, such as Fidelity investments, ongoing contributions and retirement age. This can be personalised by adding in other savings, windfalls and inheritances, and expected income needs in retirement.
Getting employees into the habit of engaging with their workplace pension is one thing. But giving them the confidence to make changes themselves based on their own research is another.
Not only does Plan for Life create bespoke plans for members, but it then follows up with suggested actions to help employees stay on track. It creates plans which evolve over time and adapt to the shifting financial landscape. So, members can tweak their plans as and when their own personal goals and circumstances change. They can model different behaviours to see how increasing contributions by £100 a month will impact estimated income. Or see if changing the retirement age from 65 to 63 will afford them the lifestyle they want while keeping on track.
Retirement decisions are personal and emotional, but digital tools can help you make informed choices with greater confidence.
All great retirements start with a plan
The win for employers is tangible. And the results are measurable in terms of increased member engagement, enhanced support available to all at no additional cost, an app-first experience that works the way people do, and data insights that lead to better employee understanding and outcomes.
We believe that Plan for Life will transform the retirement planning experience for our members. And we’re just getting started. In the development pipeline, we have plans to add greater visualisation for people to see their income over years of retirement coming in from their DC pensions, factor in other savings and add their State Pension. This will make cash-flow modelling easier and help members understand the glidepath of their pension savings. As more members build their Plan for Life we’ll use insights from how they engage with the experience to help shape future enhancements and adapt the service to members’ evolving needs. You can also see how we’ve integrated a
new financial coaching service to turn insights into action.
All great retirements start with a plan, and it just got easier for Fidelity members with Plan for Life.