To think I am fucked for retirement?

It is what it is. Asking what is the point is a bit silly really.

That's ONE of your pension pots (as far as we can tell). If you have three the same, that's going to be c£3k a year isn't it. If the state pension is just under £12k (which it is) then your £3k increases your income in retirement by a third. I mean, it's better than not having it, and I think that's the point.

And when you look at figures always look at all figures as at today's value, there's no point at all worrying about what it will look like in future.

But, you've got many years still to save, and you'll have investment returns. You would probably find it easier to track if they were all together, so start looking into that. And look to see if you've got any other old ones.

As others have said - panicking doesn't get you anywhere. There are loads of links on this thread to help you sort it out.

Pensions don't earn interest.

I keep reading how we need to contribute half our age as a percentage of salary ideally

That's when you start. If you're age twenty and just starting out 10%, if you're age 50 and just starting out 25%. But if you're age 50 and have thirty years in already you don't need to do 25% really.

But it's only a rule of thumb . It's far better to work out what you'll need and work backwards from there, based on your current earnings, to where you are today and work on filling the gap.

Doesn’t sound right that.

@trussedchicken really supportive and helpful post 👍

As a previous poster has already said, if you are bright enough to have earned a decent salary like yours, I promise you are bright enough to learn about your pensions.

You need to stop panicking and put some effort into educating yourself about how they work, there are lots of resources online. Do some reading, you will thank yourself later.

From what you have said, I would guess you have more than one pension pot as you have had a few different jobs. You get a pension with each job, often they will be with different providers. I suggest you trace them all and go from there.

Aviva have recently launched a free service called Find and Combine. They will not only trace your old pensions, they will also gather relevant info on your behalf from all of the providers and then present you with their findings, in order to help you decide if you want to combine them together or leave some where they are. Combining all of your pensions isn't always the right thing to do, as some pensions have features and benefits worth keeping. https://www.aviva.co.uk/retirement/pensions/pension-consolidation/

Once you know how much you have and where, you can educate yourself as much as possible before deciding if you need to do anything. Financial advice is a very good idea, but not necessarily essential.

It sounds like you have done all the right things - you have earned a decent salary and always contributed to a pension and you will be mortgage free a lot sooner than most people. You also have 20 years or more of further pension contributions ahead of you. You will find you are in a much better position than you think.

Just stop wasting unnecessary energy on panicking and take some time to arm yourself with as much information as possible. You'll be fine.

Perhaps email the HR department from each company and ask who the accounts were with. You can consolidate them into one account. I moved a tiny amount into my current pension just by filling out an online form. Don't know why I didn't do it earlier, was so easy to do.

I think the £2400 is what OP would get each year if she stopped paying pension now, so based on what she's paid on up until this point. It was 8 percent of £35k for many of those years so not paying a lot in. Then there are pension costs.

Aaaaaah sorry I made a mistake. I meant when you were younger maybe you shouldve been putting it into a higher risk more equities fund with less bonds!!! Sorry. Basically I'm over simplifying but by being in a fund with lots of safer type investments eg bonds and cash, it probably wont grow as much as with one with mainly equities. Over the long term I would personally do more equities and then try to make things less risky when approaching retirement.

Is it in the employers default fund? Usually you can choose which fund or style of pension you pay into. Depending on ur circumstances and risk appetite maybe you should go for one with more equities in it? Sometimes the default funds are more risk averse with more bonds but that can mean less growth. So maybe when you were younger it would be been better in one of those? Maybe ur employers pension scheme people can give you some guidance and you may then choose to put it in a higher equity slightly riskier fund???? And then move to a less risky more bonds one later? Or there may be a fund that does that 'lifestyling' for you. Sorry if this has already been mentioned.

Pension companies generally send a wodge of paperwork each year or maybe an email, though Scottish widows have always sent me paperwork so you probably have that somewhere. Your other pension companies probably also send it unless they haven't got your current address

One other thought, and this is just a thought, is could your pension be investing in high risk investments and losing?

I know my pension puts my money into low to high risk investments, and we choose what we want based on the risk we want to take.

I don't know enough to say that could be a possibility, but it might be worth checking with your provider.

Haven't read all the comments but this can't be your entire pot if you've been paying 8% a month, on 35k+, over 9 years. Plus your employers would be contributing.

As said in the early comments, it could be your projected annual payment on retirement. That would obviously grow the more you put in.

It could be that this is the entire sum but with just the pension company that you're currently with in your employment now. You need to find the other 2 companies you had pensions with in your previous employment. You can combine pots, but you'd probably be best speaking to someone with expertise about that.

There is no way you only have 2.4k with your contributions.

I’m terrible at this but have you actually phoned them to check. Is this the amount per year you would get if you stopped paying into it today? So if you continued for another 25 years it would be worth significantly more with the early year being worth the most.

do you get an annual statement?

sadly 8 years isn’t an awfully long time to pay into a pension. Would you get a lump sum on retirement?

gove them a call and ask

Don't panic! There are thousands - if not millions - of people in the same boat as you, dare I say mostly women. I'm one of them (except I'm older and my employer pension contributions are much lower!), and I'm trying to get to grips with sorting it out. Better to do it now than in another 10 years.

I've found two old pension pots and am now researching consolidating them and choosing what sort of risk I'm ok with to decide where to move them to. It's taking me ages because it's very far out of my comfort zone but I know it's important.

I keep reading how we need to contribute half our age as a percentage of salary ideally, so I'm going to start putting in about 10-15% more each month into my current pension pot too, and possibly move it to a different risk type to hopefully increase returns. I can't afford more than that really as need my salary elsewhere.

I'm also thinking that we may be able to downsize at some point and release some house equity if we need to. We aren't overpaying our mortgage at the moment as our rate isn't too high.

I was in a similar position to you re not understanding my private pension. I put off seeing a financial advisor as I thought it would cost a fortune. It was the best thing I have done in years. I was paying too much in fees (admin etc) and he discussed my overall financial situation regarding my family (parents, likely inheritance etc), and what may or may not be feasible to think about. My family are very open about inheritance and I know where I stand apart from the obvious unknowns such as parent needing care, etc... I have a low requirement of lifestyle for retirement. I not bothered about holidays, travelling etc. For me, I decided to take 25% of my pot now, to top up my (very part time income), as I have lost a couple of close friends to cancer way too young (50's). I am asset rich and cash poor and therefore I would like to dip onto my pot early, and to work part time, so I can see and treat my kids (now young adults) and their partners to meals out etc.. I decided if I wait until I'm 67, my health may be compromised and that's a risk I'm not willing to take. I'm not bothered if I have to sit and watch TV in my 80's and live very modestly. I'm not wasting my healthy years which are hopefully the next 10 - 15.

I don’t want to sound horrible … but you really need to do some reading to understand the basics of this. You should know the difference between DC and DB for example. You should be able to understand the info in your pension accounts.

Strongly suggest you do some reading on say the Which website and listen to both the excellent Meaningful Money podcast and also the Which podcast to learn the basics.

it’s not hard. Put in a bit of effort and come up to speed. This is really important and actually enpowering. You’ll be glad you did.

This is your hypothetical annuity, not your total pension pot. If you log on to ESR and go to your pension statement, it will show you your total pot at the bottom of the graph that tells you annuity, dependent pension, sum on death etc.
Mine is about 52k after 4 years. 18 months band 5, 6 months band 6 and two years band 7. Annuity is about 2,4k

if you put in 8% of 35k that is 2800 a year in 20 years with 5% Compound interest that will be £7,595, because each year you are reinvesting the interest and earning interest on interest
then next year you will have another 2800
( maybe 2900 as you have a payrise and 8% is now 2900 ) for 19 years =7255
if you continue to put in 233 a month which is 8% of 35k this is ignoring any promotions or even inflation rises in wages which there will be; at all at the end of 20 years you will have around 58K (2800 x 20) of contributions but because of compound interest your pot will be £103k almost double what you put in
it will be more because you won't still be earning 35k in 20 years time

compound interest calculator link https://www.thecalculatorsite.com/finance/calculators/compoundinterestcalculator.php

103k will give you approx an extra 5000 on top of state pension
this is 50% more than standard, well worth having

Mine says similar - nhs worker. I have only been paying in to this pension for 5 years but pay approx £370 a month into it.
so I’m assuming it is wrong to be honest! I’ve paid far more in to it then what’s on the quota plus what the nhs pay in to it doesn’t match up.

Is it £2400 per year? Or £2400 in total? (It can’t be in total, because 8% of £35k is £2800)

And is that for all of your pensions combined, or just your current company?

You’ve got another 25 years to contribute, it will go up.

Your pension pot should be invested in the stock market. The pot should grow as the value of your investments grows.

Once you have located your different pension pots, you should check which investment funds your pension is invested in. A fund means a group investment in lots of different things. A fund for a pension is typically invested in shares in thousands of companies. It may also include other investments.

Spend some of the savings on a session with a financial advisor. Take all the paperwork and login details etc for the pension thing and discuss it with them. Could save you tens of thousands over a lifetime. If you're bright enough to earn £50k you're bright enough to understand pensions. Rein yourself in and get to grips with this now. And google "financial phobia" (it's a thing) and how others got over it.

You really need to do some research. Personal financial literacy is a life skill every adult needs.

That 890 is a snapshot today. Ignore it; it's not relevant to your future circumstances.

You have 25 years for your investments to grow.

They will grow two ways:

1. because you will continue to contribute
2. investment returns as the stock and bond markets produce profits

You need to get a one-off appointment with a reputable fiduciary financial advisor AND you need to do appropriate self-education.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/financial-advice/getting-financial-advice/#:~:text=All%20financial%20advisers%20should%20be,not%20happy%20with%20the%20service.

Which one is your current one (the one you said you had been paying into for over 9 years?). You should be able to check the contribution history on each of them to work out which one is which.