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Martin Lewis has given an alert to anyone who has moved house or job - and said the average missing is £10,000. Speaking on the Martin Lewis Money Show Live this week, the personal finance guru said people frequently don't realise they have a 'missing' pension pot with lots of money in it.

He explained that one viewer who followed his advice to check found £45,000 'sitting there' and overall £30 billion worth of pensions are sitting undiscovered in the UK. He said: "There's over 30 billion pounds. 30,000 million pounds of pensions are thought to be lost. An average of just under£10,000 each."

Explaining how this happens, Mr Lewis said: "The reason people lose track, you didn't update your contact details. You might have changed house. You might have changed name if you got married, for example. You also might have changed jobs and forgotten it. It's so common or your pension provider might have merged or been renamed."

A key thing is people can make checks for a lost pension without spending any money. He said: "So, how do you find your lost pension for free? Well, if you get it, if you got your paperwork, dig out your old paperwork and try contacting your old employers first. If you don't have any luck, go on to the pension tracing service on gov.uk.

"It contains 200,000 pension schemes. Really good, especially if you look at your old pension scheme. It doesn't exist anymore. Who's taken on its assets? Where's it gone? They'll be able to find that for you. You get the details. You contact the pension firm to get reconnected. You will of course need ID.

"If you still don't have any luck or you can't remember your details, then there isgretle.co.uk. It will go onto your credit files, do a soft search, so that means it doesn't affect your credit score in common parliament. And will match your old address to any lost assets like bank account, shares, and pensions. It's free to use. It's funded by financial firms. Basically, most big financial firms are given a duty to try and reconnect people with their lost assets.

"So, instead of doing it themselves, they subcontract a Gretle to do it for them, which is why it's free. Once you're signed up, it will recheck every 14 days. So, especially those of you in your 40s, 50s, 60s who've worked at lots of different firms, this is massively worth doing. You might have a £45,000 pension out there. In fact, had one guy's had over £100,000 of pension he found. It is worth a check."

To use the government's pension checking serviceclick here. To visit Gretle click here.

Martin Lewis also revealed a 'rule of thumb' he claims should help people secure a 'better retirement'. The MoneySavingExpert founder outlined it in the latest instalment of ITV's The Martin Lewis Money Show, which was broadcast this week.

The finance expert presented a 'Pensions Special' episode, which he branded his "most important show" of the year. Throughout the programme, he discussed private and workplace pensions, pension 'super powers', inheritance tax and how to track down lost pensions.

He also tackled questions submitted by viewers. Martin Lewis' co-host, Jeanette Kwakye MBE, read out a question from a viewer named Daryl, who enquired about how much he should be paying into his pension, reports the Express.

She said: "Daryl's asking, is there a good rule of thumb to pay into pensions, whilst I want to put more into my pension, I don't want it to impact my quality of life in the here and now. Is doing 15% contributions to someone in my mid-thirties enough?"

Martin Lewis replied: "Wow, I think you're doing really well. I mean, way more than most people. Let me give you the rule of thumb that scares the pants off everybody."

He proceeded to share the 'rule of thumb' for a 'better retirement'. It requires taking your age when you start your pension and halving it. That figure is the percentage of your salary you should aim to put away for the remainder of your working life (for instance, if you begin at 20, save 10%; if you begin at 40, save 20%).

He explained: "Take the age when you start putting into your pension. So in your case, we'll say 30. Half it, that's 15. That's how much of your income you want going in the rest of your life for a decent retirement".

Martin Lewis acknowledged that few people actually achieve this target in reality, but emphasised that beginning earlier leads to improved retirement outcomes. "Very few people ever get there," he said.