Just because your money is in the bank does not necessarily mean that it is safe. Several unfortunate occurrences could subject your hard-earned money to risks. Many people opt for final salary pension schemes as a solution instead of saving money for the future with the bank. However, this too might have to be followed up on with final salary transfer pension claims, especially if your scheme did not offer the services you signed up for. Worried about the safety of your money? Here are three ways that will help you make sure it is safe.

Is your bank or final salary pension scheme regulated by the FCA?

Before you trust any institute with your money, you need to make sure that their operations are regulated by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority). When a financial institute is under the FCA, it may be a beneficiary of the FSCS. This is money that has been set apart by the FCA and the UK government to protect deposits in financial institutions against the institution’s failures or in case it collapses. In the event of an untimely collapse of the institution, every person who deposits their funds with the institution has the right for compensation of up to 85,000 pounds.

Note that this is the amount per name and not per account. If you had two accounts, the total compensation would still sum up to 85,000 pounds. Also, note that a joint account can be compensated with an amount up to 170,000 pounds since two different names own the account. 

Who owns your bank or final salary pension scheme?

A financial institute might be regulated by the FCA, but not necessarily be UK protected. Most of these banks are owned by countries that are members of the European Union. You need to go through your bank’s regulation policies to see which type of regulations they operate on. Financial institutions that are within the Europe economic area might use the passport scheme to secure their clients. Otherwise, in case of a crisis, you might need to seek compensation in line with the regulations of a different country. Consequently, you might not be able to file final salary pension claims if a foreign pension scheme was managing your retirement funds. You, therefore, need to know who owns which bank before you decide to open any form of account with it.

Spread out your investments

With an economy that sometimes could be unpredictable, why should you risk putting all your eggs in one basket? A wise person needs to have a fall back plan at all times. For example, you could use final salary pension schemes and still invest some of your savings with other profitable business ventures. Also, you could spread out your savings in different financial institutions such that you do not go beyond your compensation limit in any of your accounts. This way, during a crisis, you get all your money back.

Conclusion

Final salary pension schemes are not as popular today, but there are still a number of people who opt for their services when deciding between them and the bank. If you are not sure about your scheme, you could find ways to do a pension transfer from one institution to another. Otherwise, you owe it to yourself to secure the fruits of your labour not only for yourself but also for the next generation.