How I built my own DIY pensions dashboard

2. Dig out your latest pension statements. You should receive an annual statement automatically from each of your pension providers – if you don't, ask it to send you one. You may also have online access for your pension plans, or be able to sign up for it. And if you've lost track of a pension, the Government's online pension tracing service may be able to help with contact details. See our MSE News story on how to track down lost pensions.

4. List your pensions and what they're worth in your spreadsheet. List your DC pension providers and their current pound values in your spreadsheet, as in the graphic below. It may also make sense to add contact details, so you don't have to rummage through paperwork if you want to phone the provider.

This list could also help your family or loved ones in sorting out your finances should you die. However, beware of storing account numbers (let alone passwords or similar) in your DIY dashboard, in case the wrong person gains access.

Here's how your DIY dashboard should look after steps 4 and 5:

6. How much pension could my fund buy? Forecasting the future pension your DC funds might produce when you retire is like gazing into a crystal ball. While annual statements will include projections of your retirement income, these are often based on complex assumptions that may not prove realistic.

A simple alternative calculation is to divide the current value of your funds by 25. This'll give you a rough idea of the annual pension income your DC plans might provide if you were due to retire today. Treat it as an indication of the pension saving progress you're making. So, in our example, if your funds amount to £100,000, this could equate to an annual pension of £4,000.

This calculation is based on a so-called 'safe withdrawal rate' – a rule of thumb for the income a typical pension plan-holder should be able to take without running out of money before they die. Academic research has put this safe withdrawal rate at 4% a year, hence the divide-the-total-by-25 calculation, though some experts now think 3.5% or less is safer. In that case, you would divide the total by about 30.

8. Add the state pension. The full basic state pension is £168.60 a week in 2019/20 – £8,767.20 for the year – although there's a number of reasons why you might not qualify for the full amount. You can check how much state pension you've built up based on your national insurance record via the Government's Check Your State Pension service. Add this annual amount to your spreadsheet, beneath the income figures from points 6 and 7. Then create a total of the figures from points 6, 7 and 8 to give a rough estimate of how much you might receive from all your pension sources if you were due to retire today.

Et voila! Here's what your DIY pensions dashboard could look like if you add the optional extras of step 10: