To talk about pensions? No, don't scroll down!!

On the pensions ‘obsession’ : of course people should make the choice to take a period out as a SAHM, but people need to think about and make provision for the future. Pensions is an area of huge discrepancy between men and women’s financial health.

Taking time out isn’t just a matter of the cash. I would say, especially if you are not married, if one partner takes time out to raise kids, then pensions contributions should continue to be made from the total family income into the SAHP’s pension.

ex Public sector here. I went part time due to the diminishing returns as pension was based on whole time salary. Although I think this was changed, but I just couldn’t stomach the role full time

Agree with a lot of the points made so far.

I would also add that if you are claiming universal credit, any money you put into your pension isn't counted as income. So you may as well put as much as possible in. It's one thing you can do while on a low wage to help yourself in the future.

Thanks, much appreciated. Long term health issues mean it's unlikely I will be out working in the career I studied for years ago. I am just enjoying my children as they grow up and supporting them with exam revision and so on. It's a shame people are so fixated on money. Unfortunately some of us can't have a tidy pension pot.

A decent income for a single person on a pension is 20k.

The state pension is about 10k. Get a personal pension otherwise you may be struggling in retirement

Bingo! Glad to see someone on the thread is paying attention.

DC are all spaced out though. I couldn't have mine in quick succession. Eldest is 16, youngest 6. That's a lot of time spent as a SAHM. No regrets though as I have long term health issues so it brings me joy seeing them grow up.

You don't actually have to be receiving child benefit to get NI contributions whilst being a SAHP. We are not eligible for child benefit ( husband earns over the threshold) but I get NI contributions. You just have to register with the child benefits people to activate this. Unfortunately I didn't realise this for several years

I thought they were referring to the fact that they received it as income and we're saving it. I'm very sleep deprived though so misunderstood

@Willyoujustbequiet ignore me, just seen she didn’t mean that at all 🤣

@Willyoujustbequiet i think the poster meant the amount will be small because 18 years (and you don’t actually get 18, just until youngest is 12) is no where near a full NI contribution and the state pension you receive would be very small

Oh that makes more sense!! That's surely time limited though. It's definitely something women should think about sadly I've seen several female relatives screwed over and it made me adamant I was going back to work after Mat leave

I think she may be referring to the fact that her state pension contributions are paid whilst claiming child benefit.

I actually agree with you - but when you see advice on here with people pointing out the pension implications it's usually because folk are asking advice about leaving jobs or going part-time and GOOD advice on thinking about the pension implications, quite rightly should be included for people to think about, surely?

How the advice is worded is surely still just advice. And for some people leaving the Public Sector or going part time and depending on many things, including their age , may be strongly contra-indicated. People provide advice based on what they know of the person's circumstances

The Most important thing is, as you have said and with which I totally agree, is that any decision must be well-informed and people need to understand the impacts of different courses of action. Trouble is Pension rules are very complicated and many people have real difficulty getting their heads around them

Beneficiaries of a private plan that is, not your state pension.

Your children can be beneficiaries of your pension, think of it as helping them out. Sorry to hear your life expectancy is reduced [bouquet]

Surely that only helps till they're 18?! What possible use is that small bit of money when you retire

I think that’s subjective 🤷‍♀️

It’s ok to weigh up the options and decide to deprioritise your pension for a few years. Obviously it’s important that this is a well-informed decision and that people actually do the calculations and make sure they understand the actual impact of their choices.

According to some of the advice I see on here, because of the pension women should NEVER leave the public sector or go part-time (both things I’ve done and which I feel were the right decision for me).

"I've noticed recently though that women are more inclined to stay at home for a few years longer than they used to. I think it's possibly due to having to work till 67 so 5 years out of a 45 to 50 year worklife isn't really that much of a disaster - plus you get to raise your own kids and not have the stress of working as well."

Working women raise their own kids as well

Also worth noting in the UK, a great many low-income people could manage a stakeholder pension, with contributions from as little as £20 a month, which you can stop and start at will. They are low-risk, affordable schemes aimed at exactly this population, yet it's the higher earners who mostly take advantage of them. Presumably they are raised in or inhabit environments where wealth planning is the norm, investing rather than savings accounts.

You don't have to be a taxpayer to receive generous tax relief on your pension, which for many people means every £80 you contribute is boosted to £100, for free, by the UK government, and the investment growth is free of capital gains tax. There is a lower annual limit if you are not working, under £4k I think, but you'll be so glad you did.

The UK state pension might not be around forever so it is wise to make whatever additional plans for your future you can. Don't assume it's too late.

Even though there are some inaccurate statements I think everyone should be a lot more financially literate. The number of people who don’t understand savings, asset ownership, the impact of being a SAHM or going part-time on long term financial security is very poor. MN is has so many threads wrt people who have, through their own ignorance , find themselves in a precarious position.

Probably best to have this thread removed and post it with the correct info, great post but needs the errors fixing

As pp have pointed out, you do not need to have worked to be eligible for the UK state pension in contrast with the US where you can only qualify for social security in retirement through work.

Applauding this thread. It's worrying how ignorant we are (as a general population, not MNers or women particularly, although women are particularly vulnerable to poverty) about retirement plans and the sheer volume of FREE MONEY many miss out on. Not to mention the compounding value of starting young.

The thing is that once you need it (or need it to be more) it's too late to do anything about it. People file it away as an annoying extra expense when it actually is pretty essential for any quality of life once you are too old to work. So yes, it's pretty important.