DelianLeague wrote:1, Book a Pension-wise appointment.
2, Tax questions. See if an accountant will spend an hour with me to discuss any tax issues.
3, Check N.I. record.
4, Check value of all my pensions and Investments.
5, Write a bucket list.
Well, I'd put at 0, 0a, 0b, 0c, and 0d, "
Do your own research", including both formal sources, e.g.
https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk and others, and informal ones, like asking questions on The Lemon Fool.
You should definitely be prepared and as clued-up as you can be before booking a Pension Wise appointment or seeing a tax accountant, to make sure you get the most out of them. Esp. so as the free Pension Wise appointment is a once-only and any tax accountant is going to charge you an arm and a leg!
Note, just for a simple example, that
Pension Wise says, "
To make the most of a Pension Wise appointment, it’s best to first check with your provider: if you have a defined contribution pension; the value of your pension pot(s); whether your pot contains any guarantees or special features.", so you will want to move 4 to before 1.
Note also that many/most DB pension schemes (and maybe others) will only provide you with a transfer value once a year for free, and charge you for any subsequent ones. £200-300 is typical, so find out before you ask for one.
Re
3, Check N.I. record and 4 for state pension, if you haven't already done so sign up here:
https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension. That will give you access to your NI record, along with information about the cost of filling any gaps, and will give you a state pension forecast. Don't procrastinate too long as 2022/23 is the last tax year you'll be able to fill gaps back to 2006 (if you have any). After that you'll only be able to fill the last 6 years.
If the state pension forecast, and if/how to improve it, confuses you -- don't worry, it does many and it isn't as simple as DWP/HMRC would like you to believe -- then post the figures noted at
viewtopic.php?p=429935#p429935 and we'll help you figure it all out.