To think I am fucked for retirement?

Kind of. It’s 1/54th in each year. if you earned £30000 in 2023 you’d get 1/54th of that (adjustednfor inflation going forwards). If you earned £32000 in 2024 you’d earn 1/54th of that. Add together these amounts since you have worked for the NHS to get your total. You should be able to access your total rewards statement through ESR to get a current estimate.

Sort of. It’s the salary for the year and it then gets updated for inflation.

So if you earn £27k per year, you get a £500 pension for that year (adjusted for inflation) when you retire. All the “years” get added together.

Does this mean that your annual pension is:
Annual salary/54 x number of years worked for NHS?

Sorry if someone has said this but your NHS pension is 1/54th of your annual salary you’ve earned each year for life. The money you pay in is largely irrelevant as you’re paying for a membership.

You are reading it wrong. The pot is more than £2400. But the returns if will give you per year is £2400. I am in a very similar position to you, and the pension letters are very confusing but essentially it says that the pension pot would buy you a yearly income of £2400. It’s not much for sure but it will continue to grow until you actually retire.

The tax advantages of pension contributions make paying into a pension rather than overpaying on a mortgage much more financially beneficial at almost any level of interest rates, but depending on what rate someone has on their mortgage, if they fixed 2 years ago, they could have really low interest rates on their mortgage and be better off putting money in a 5% savings account than paying off a mortgage where interest rates are less than 2%, even if they have to pay tax on the interest earned. But paying £800 as a lower rate tax payer or £600 as a higher rate tax payer into a pension is automatically £1k and interest on mortgages is not going to compete with that

https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details

all you need is the nsame of your previous employer to find your pensions

Get a review on your pension- depending on the type you can either move it to a better performing pension or a different fund within the same pension.

My DP paid a load of money into a virgin money pension for years and it was worthless, he finally got it reviewed and moved it to a much better one. I changed the fund my best pension was invested in to a better performing one.

some pension funds take high charges as well which come out of the money you have invested.

If you look over the long range of investment growth, the value of getting money into the market now may outweigh the mortgage interest rate.

That's the sort of thing a professional advisor can evaluate and calculate.

Who does the payroll at your workplace? Is there no one there or HR who could set your mind at rest. You should be getting a yearly forecast.

I’m confused by the advice to put more in pension and less in overpayments. Crazy interest rates (thanks Liz Truss!) are costing £000s more than people were budgeting for before that massive shit show.
surely getting your mortgage debt down asap is safer?

www.sofi.com/learn/content/can-investors-receive-compounding-returns/

Above is a primer on compounding stock market returns.

Op get some financial advice about combining the three pensions. Also don't forget you'll also get state pension too.

Patronising.

Gains in investments do not compound. That's a fact.

The current projection is based on the contributions you've paid to date, I assume only for a few years. You still have 25 years left to pay in, so your projected pension will increase every year with contributions and growth.

It definitely won’t be £2,400 monthly. Pot would need to be nearly £600k for that.

You're 25+ years off retirement, so you've got time. And your biggest current asset, your home will be worth a lot more than it is today.

I'd consider starting a stocks and shares ISA buy stocks that perform no matter what's happening to the economy, it's not a tip but National Grid have been a solid bet. Do your research. Put all dividends into your ISA. In 25 years you'll have a significant pot of money to use tax free because it is not income - OK they're the current rules, we all know pensions are taxable, so start thinking about reducing your future tax burden. If you can put away £50-£100 pcm until you have more disposable income that will snowball nicely.

Ref your pension (existing) ask someone at work to explain it to you. Do this via HR then you will know how much it is. If it's £2,400 per annum now, they can provide a trajectory to confirm how much it could be when you retire. You can also check this out using a tool - eg moneysavingexpert has a pension tool.

You are not in a dire position, but it might be a good time to engage a financial adviser. For £600 or so, thry could save you a pretty penny and set you on the right course ref your pension.

1. Get a financial advisor. Someone has put up a link already, or get a personal recommendation. When you find 2 or 3 possibles, explain you are financially inexperienced and what exactly you are looking for from them. decide on whether they seem to understand your requirements and their price.
2. I personally don't think 2400 is a skimpy monthly pension, if that's what it is. You'd have the state pension on top and be mortgage free by then. As other pp have said, you may be better putting some of the overpayment into your pension but be guided by your financial advisor.

Sounds like you should make an appointment with a budget advisor. They can work through the statements with you to ensure your contributions are in your current account/s and also look to see if the funds are invested appropriately for your age and future needs.

having said that, we are in the late 50’s mid 60’s age bracket and concerned about affordability when DH retires. We have already put his retirement age back twice.

In touch, obviously !

This is a free service

@Realstudd get in rich with Pension Wise

Pension Wise is a government service set up to help people understand the pension options available to them. It offers guidance to help empower people to make informed decisions about their pension which are best for their individual circumstances.

Recently retired here. We were in a similar position at your age. All our earnings went on living, paid a nominal amounting pension, some years nothing. Keep at paying your pension and your mortgage. It us surprising how the pension pot builds up over the years, and as the children get older, you can start to put more into your pension. If you get to retirement age with your mortgage paid off it makes a big difference. You can downsize if you want, but if you have a private pension and no mortgage you will be ok.

It is probably worth booking an appointment with the Pension Advisory Service when you have traced your old pensions.

This x100!!

Please please go and see an IFA!!

They can work out- what the £2400 figure actually is, trace any other pension pots, advise about consolidating the separate pots into 1 or moving to a better fund, and also look at whether you are better overpaying/ paying off the mortgage early, increasing your pension contributions or saving into eg an ISA- there will be tax considerations etc etc to take into account so it's not easy to work out which option provides the most benefit without much more info and more knowledge too.

If you’re only 42 you have years left to contribute towards a pension. Please don’t worry too much x