Paying high pension fees could deplete your retirement fund by £70,000 It's time to review your current payments

Eight out of ten savers are unaware of the fees they pay their pension provider to manage their retirement account, and these fees can vary greatly

According to a new analysis exclusively for BFIA, high fees could deplete your pot by up to 70,000. Most savers are unaware of how much they are paying for their pension.

Eighty-three percent of UK pension savers are completely ignorant of their pension fees; they do not know how much money leaves their pot each year and goes into the provider's pocket in either pounds or percentage terms.

According to a survey conducted by wealth platform Interactive Investor, which asked 5,000 adults in the UK if they were aware of the charges they were receiving, that is the case.

Millions of savers may be unintentionally paying more than they should for their defined contribution pensions rather than switching pension funds, which could negatively impact their financial situation in later life.

"Every pound you pay in fees that doesn't result in a better outcome is a pound less for you to enjoy in your golden years," stated Craig Rickman, interactive investor's pensions expert.

While pension portability allows you to move to a different provider that offers better value, many savers are unaware of the costs associated with their current providers. This presents a challenge. They don't know if their current pensions are worth what they're getting.

Fees associated with your pension fund.

Interactive Investor calculated the real cost of excessive fees to your pension fund for the BFIA.

Assuming a 5% annual investment growth rate and no fees, the future baseline value of a £100,000 pension fund, for instance, is as follows.

A saver could anticipate losing 57,662 from their pension over the course of 30 years with low fees of 0.5 percent. After 10 years: 162,889 After 20 years: 265,330 After 30 years: 432,194.

Over the same time period, the impact is 78,049 to 97,192 with moderate fees, ranging from 0 to 75 percent to 1 percent.

However, a saver's pension could lose up to 131,807 overallmore than 70,000 more than with low feesif high fees of 1 percent are applied for 30 years.

The default fund charges for modern defined contribution workplace pensions are limited to 075%. However, the fees for many older programs and some private pensions, such as Sipps, are significantly higher.

One way to immediately increase your pension is to switch to one with reduced fees. However, not everyone should switch pension plans, especially if their previous plan offered significant benefits or guarantees.

"You can control how much you pay to invest, even though we can't control the market," stated Camilla Esmund, senior manager at Interactive Investor.

Developing positive habits, sticking to your long-term investing plan, and watching the benefits of compounding grow over time can be discouraging, but these needless fees can quickly eat away at your growing pot.

Now is a good time to check because these might be fees you were unaware you were paying until it was too late.

How to verify the pension fees you are paying.

The amount you will have in retirement if you have a defined contribution pension is significantly influenced by investment growth. Your pension provider charges you to cover the costs of paying fund managers to invest and manage your money.

The cost of pension plans varies greatly depending on how they are implemented as well as their size. It can be hard for customers to comprehend the entire cost, from trading and exit fees to account and fund fees.

According to Rickman: "Account fees are usually assessed as a percentage, frequently tiering according to the size of your savings, with lower rates applied to larger savings.

"This might be alluring if you're just starting out and have a small amount saved, but as your fund increases over time, your fees will also increase, depleting your eventual retirement fund.

You can review your annual pension statement to see what fees and charges you are paying. This should provide you with a detailed breakdown of all the fees and charges you are paying.

Go to your pension portal if you manage your pension online. They should be there, but you may need to look for information about what you're paying.

As an alternative, you can contact your provider via phone or email. They can provide you with information about all the fees and charges you are paying.

To pay for the expenses of investing and managing your pension, the majority of plans impose an annual management charge (AMC).

The costs of your provider managing an investment fund and platform, policy, service, or administration charges to cover the administrative expenses of managing your scheme, such as an app that allows you to select your own investments, may also be covered by an ongoing charge amount.

You can more easily compare your costs to those of other providers once you know how much each pension costs. This will help you decide if switching or consolidating your packages would be wise.