To think I am fucked for retirement?

Op, have you got a pc. Create a spreadsheet with the three pension companies you have been enrolled with, and add the account number to each line.

Then, once a year, you should receive a letter or email from each of them, telling you what each 'pot' of money is worth. The two older ones will grow slowly, the current one will grow faster because you and your employer are making monthly payments. Record the values in the spreadsheet. It takes 5 mins a year.

You have another 25 years of contributions and compound interest, so don't worry too much yet.

Just focus on getting your spreadsheet set up, and finding out the value of each. Details in a previous post show you how to track down old pensions.

My pension that showed on my online banking didn't show much detail, just the amount saved, though yours may be different OP. Do you get a letter each year from the pension company as that will have much more details in it, or log into your actual pension website.

@Realstudd you need some independent financial advice to help you. An advisor can help you work out where you are now and what you need to to do to plan for the future.

As others have already said, you probably have several pensions from different employers. An advisor can help you to pull all these together.

Don't despair, you have 25 years left to work and you are in a good place with regards to your mortgage.

I think you need to find that out for sure one way or the other - DB schemes are great and if it is one that will be fab but they are very rare outside the public sector so it would be worth checking any paperwork you have as it is likely to say what sort it is - or ask HR at work.

On that basis, pursuer's total pension pot might be approx £50K and she's projected to receive £2,400 per year? Sounds feasible, after paying in for a number of years

Hi Op,

You will have had a pension pot opened by each employer - the pot doesn't move with you when you move jobs.

Do you have any pension related paperwork or emails from your previous employers?

If not, I would contact HR/manager etc at your previous employers and ask for the details of the pension provider during your period of employment. Once you know who the pension was with, the provider should be able to trace this for you.

I would then look at combining all pensions into one pot.

I wonder what people with no private pension and renting do. Those who don’t own their home.

since they have full state pension and are not entitled to pension credit….like how do they afford these crazy rents on 800 something state pension

Is this a defined benefit pension? Sounds like it. That’s worth £2400 a year for life on top of (assuming it still exists) state pension.

you’ve got more than 20 years to increase that and you can always make voluntary additional contributions. Speak to a financial advisor. It’s never to early.

Is it possible that you have misread the pension statement and that the £2400 is the amount of annual pension you have accrued rather than the amount invested.

@Realstudd lots can happen between now and retirement.
If you pay your mortgage off in 6 yrs (which is brilliant) you will have years to save more as you'll have no mortgage payments!
Also, you could, in the future, sell and buy somewhere or something cheaper and use the profit to spend as you like.
Edit to add... keep overpaying the mortgage. The fewer yrs the less interest you'll pay. Don't pay less on the mortgage and pay more into savings, it's counterintuitive.

What is your pension invested in? Last year bonds went down in value so it could be that the value of your pension has reduced. It doesn't sound like much, given the amount of time you've been contributing so I would look into this. I think you should possibly start a new private pension and try to contribute more to your retirement. Don't panic - there is still time to do this.

I had several jobs whilst younger, all worth paltry pension amounts. I used pension bee to consolidate them all in one place. I am lucky that I will retire in my current role (am 39 so 25+ years left to work) which has a final salary pension, so I'm not overly concerned that my private one is so low. I think it has around £20k in it.

I found pension bee really easy to use and would recommend.

If you can overpay a bit more on your mortgage I’d do that.
Once youre mortgage free that frees up a lot of money. Then in retirement you make your asset work for you. Rent a room out, do Airbnb, buy a terraced house and divide into two flats ( I almost did this when I returned to UK)
Due to retiring early and DH dying young I don’t have a big pension by any means , my income is minute by today’s standards, but my outgoings are low, I can afford a long weekend away every other month easily.
Really it’s not the disaster you imagine.

I don't think you will need to sell a house that you own to pay the bills. You will get a state pension too remember. It isn’t a lot but combined with your workplace pension (which you still have a long time to pay into) you will most likely make ends meet. The 2k you are putting towards your mortgage every month now will be going into savings 6 years from now when the mortgage is paid off! That’s £24k of savings every year!
If there is a problem for any reason, you will need to keep working a few hours a week. There are quite a lot of elderly people on the checkouts at my local Morrisons, I assume they are there to supplement their income.
Much better than selling the house!

It's only people that were contracted out that need more than 35 years, I was and I had over 40 years and am about £50 a year short of a full pension, it wasn't worth me making top up contribution though for that amount

This. Get proper real life, qualified, information and advice.

And when I plug my NI number into the gov.uk site to give my pension forecast, it says that I'm already entitled to £221.20 per week, even though I started contributing in the 1980s

Regarding your old age and living arrangements - given that you'll have paid off your mortgage by the time you retire, and your son will hopefully be living independently, most people sell the family home, downsize, and live on the extra cash (as well as their private and state pensions). There's no need for you to rent.

Hence me saying that OP likely still increases her annuity pot by £500 a year, given that I pay nearly 10% into my own pension and my total contributions are in the range of £4800 before my employer tops it up. So not at all irrelevant.
Not sure whom your last sentence was about. I very much value my pension. I am also that very same public who finances it since I also pay taxes. Expensive, sure. But it would cost you more if you had to access my services via a private provider. In fact, my employer contributes an equivalent of £3 an hour towards my pension which brings my total hourly rate to £26,52. An equivalent private appointment would cost the public anywhere between £90 and £350. So I am happy to finance my own pension if you are happy for the NHS to be fully privatised. Sounds like we are both going to be better off financially if this is the case.

That doesn't say what you said... it refers to contracting out

I am with you pensions are rubbish we will never see the same levels they use to be. Mines predicted to be around 10-12k a year if I retire mid 60s even lower if I go earlier.

I imagine the 2.4K is a year amount with your current pot, do they provide a predicted amount?

It winds me up no end my parents have no idea how good they have it.

Not all defined benefit pensions are final salary. The majority are career average now.

Don’t panic OP.

You could try contacting your previous employers for details of the pension schemes you were in.

It is worth speaking to a pensions advisor about any options you may have for combining any pensions you have accrued in to a new pot that you can now try and maximise.

Hopefully you will also have a state pension and if you manage to pay your mortgage off that will put you in a good position to downsize and hopefully invest some equity for your future.

https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/what-youll-get