Pension - I have none and I’m a little unsettled by DHs response!

If house is joint owned put anything not needed for the new property into pension or investment for you solely so you have something for retirement

@Rolo87southbut OP might not be on PIP

When you made the decision to give up employment and become a full time “artist” you really should have done the maths to see if it was a financially viable decision without just expecting everyone else to pay into a state pension for you while you opt out of the system.

To receive any UK State Pension, you need at least 10 qualifying years of National Insurance (NI) contributions. These don’t have to be consecutive, and they can include years when you received NI credits—for example, if you were a carer, unemployed, or claiming certain benefits.
The full new State Pension is currently £230.25 per week (2024/25 rate), but to get that full amount, you’d need 35 qualifying years. If you’ve paid in for fewer than 35 years but more than 10, you’ll receive a proportion of the full amount. For example, 15 qualifying years would give you roughly 15/35ths of the full pension—about £98.68 per week.

How old are you? I see you have young nephews so I'm assuming your could be in your late 30s or early 40s.

Loads of time to sort this out.

I'd focus on getting more work as you are very reliant on your H for everything.
if you want to sell your art, focus on that- exhibit it at craft fairs, sell it online etc- or get a more reliable source of income so you aren't dependent on him.

If he was made redundant for example, he might lose his earning power and his pension would stall.

You need to take control- autism isn't a reason to opt out of earning or sorting out finances.

How old are you, OP? There may still be time to start saving. Get yourself the Bee pension app and start putting cash into it. As others have said, a work-from-home admin job will pay you some money that you can start saving. It does sound like a bad idea to be reliant on your husband, from what you've said. The advice about not paying into the NHS pension was awful and it's worrying that the beneficiary of his pension might not be you. Does he have children from a previous marriage that it might be going to?

I think some people are being a bit harsh on you though tbh. I know quite a few low-paid self-employed people who have no private pensions and probably haven't paid enough in NI contributions either. It's not just a 'you' thing. That doesn't make it less of a worry though!

Get a Government gateway account, you can check how many years NI contributions you have.

As an aside you are only credited with NI contributions when children are under 12. I think that max years you can have credited is 12.

Divorcing is may not be in op interests. Unless they have a substantial property and she could buy outright then due to her anxiety plus no idea of her age she may have no chance of making enough by herself to fund a retirement. As much as this is anti feminist she has not given enough information. Advice will change depending if she is 40 or 60.

To make a pot with anything worth having in it takes years. For a drawdown of 20k PA you need a pot of approx 500k.

People also need to stop making assumptions about welfare benefits, though there has been a U turn of WFA they took it away just like child benefit once universal now isn’t. Some people have zero choice but to rely on the welfare state but it’s best to have the mindset that they are not going to look after you.

The most generous benefits are for people with children, I’m sure some may say it’s not enough but this is not the debate for this poster, for single unemployed people they are the worst.

OP, where has the £60 per week come from? State pension is based on NI contributions. How have you “ suddenly” realised you don’t have a pension? How old are you? You need to be making some contributions pronto. Book an appointment with CAB or an IFA. Do you receive PIP for your anxiety/autism?

Just keep nagging DH to make sure you are the named beneficiary. I was a bit dilatory at ensuring my DH was named, even though I was great at actually doing the pension thing and had no intention of leaving it to anyone else. I suspect it would have gone to him automatically and will come to you automatically if he dies first, but it's still worth doing the paperwork!

Oh OP. You won't be entitled to a full State Pension unless you've paid the full quota of NI contributions.
Who is the named beneficiary if not you?

Most Pension providers don’t just let people put anyone as named beneficiaries and don’t always stick to it if the named beneficiary isn’t wife or child or not named in the will. You still need a will.

Yes, in my opinion, and the law's, a marriage is a joint financial venture. That is the entire legal point of a marriage.

There is nothing here that indicates that OP has been having children so that she can get a HA property. She was working and contributing, but her autism has made it difficult for her to continue doing that. That shouldn't mean that she should now live on the streets. The wellfare system is in place for people like her. People who are struggling.

I do think she has been too trusting and naive when it comes to her H, but I also think he has knowingly made her as vulnerable as possible.

You should never rely on anyone else financially.

100% agree with this. OP, you don't have to go back to office work if you don't have to, but you should pay your NI contributions. Just start freelancing, there are many opportunieties out there - anything digital, or just start baking cakes out of home, or sell stuff online, do some online teaching, just whatever you can think of to pay your NI contributions. It's actually quite unfortunate that you are downsizing right now, cause I fear your DH will grab the money and you will never see them.

Never rely on anyone else financially. Is there some kind of work you can do, perhaps on a self-employed basis which may reduce your anxieties? Then you can pay into a SIPP.

If you’re deeply unhappy in your marriage then bin him off and go after half of his pension in the divorce settlement
negotiations.

Given the age gap of 10 years and the different life expectancy of women, it's vital that HE appreciates your situation. His approach is very cavalier.

You could live another 15 or 20+ years after he dies and you don't want to do that in poverty.

As I said earlier, you can put money into a private pension as of now, but if you are not working, there is an annual limit of under £3k. If you do work, you can invest a proportion of your income so you can in theory exceed the £3K.

Whatever capital is left after you downsize, you need to plan what to do with it- ISAs, Premium Bonds, stocks and shares investments, etc.

Inflation will eat away at it every year so if you're 60 ish now it will be worth nothing in 25 years unless you're at least matching inflation - get professional advice.

Thank you for the reminder to check my state pension. It’s very easy to do. I’ve been working full time since I was 22 and part time since I was 16 so have full contributions as well as occupational pensions

like other posters my mum was never employed but she received child benefit (vast amounts for to many children) and my dad, who was a high earner and very frugal, paid for an annuity, and a private pension, and she got 50% of his pension when he died

due to the cost of living and the need to have higher income now lots of people are opting out of occupational pensions and putting their heads in the sand

please see a good IFA/IPA and get plans in place

If you are not paying voluntary NI you might not get state pension. And god forbid your dh dies young, you would get a pension payout but not as much and you might need that to live off.

I work part time and was paying about £20 per month for my pension. I saw Dh wage slip and realised he was paying in £350 per month roughly my earnings!! I increased my payments immediately and now pay £200 per month.

You need to sort this you are currently very vulnerable, if your dh is happy for you to be at home supporting his career he needs to support your future. You need a pension and to pay your stamp. Your dh is securing his future you need to protect yours. If you split you have no retirement plan

I Don't Think It's £60.my widowed mum never worked and she gets about£265 a week

Why are you letting this idiot selfish man take charge of your finances ?

Either get equal control and make sure there is enough money for all eventualities or get a job, or both

and consider LTB if he doesn’t shape up - you’ll probably be entitled to a chunk of his pension that way

You need to get some financial advice asap:

Check here to see how much state pension you will get personally: https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

You have worked in the past, so will have some national insurance contributions - you can top these up to get your pension, or at least increase the amount. You can also defer your state pension to give you more time to top it up.

You may be entitled to some of your husbands state pension if he dies before you, but it is very complex and depends on a number of different factors like when you both reach(ed) retirement age.

Double check how your husbands private pension works as well - there may be a lump sum that goes to a named beneficiary, but it is possible you will still be entitled to a portion of the monthly pension payments.

Have you been claiming any benefits while not working - some benefits entitle you to claim national insurance credits.

When you have all of that information speak to an independent financial advisor who specialises in pensions to see what you can do in the time you have before retirement to maximise pension or income e.g:

Can you start paying into a private pension now - either through working, or just through household income?

Is it worth putting a lump sum from your downsizing into a pension or savings account?

Does your husband have adequate life insurance?

Are you transferring your personal tax allowance to your husband if you are earning below the threshold? Can you use whatever that is saving him in tax to put into a pension?

There is still time to sort things out (depending on how o

You've been very shortsighted. If you've not been paying your contributions you won't get a full pension. Take responsibility for yourself.

OP I echo the other posters - you can’t leave this to him to sort. I think you might want to think about getting a job just so you are paying NI and can start saving for a pension.

You can look up your state pension entitlement on the gov.uk websites (not having worked since I was 36 I was surprised to discover I am entitled to full amount, so you may be too); make sure DH has you named as the beneficiary. He can sort that with an email today; and, assuming you both own your home and that it’s jointly owned in a ‘joint tenancy’ (ie you BOTH own 100% of the property, as opposed to a tenancy in common where you each own 50%), then when he dies you will own the entire property without inheritance tax obligations, can downsize, and release funds that way too.

So, I’d try not to panic - but you need to check the pension and title deeds to see how you stand.

Pre the introduction of defined contribution schemes in the 80s ( sold as freedom and flexibility for the employees but actually moving the increasingly large forward liability off the balance sheets of the employer ) virtually all standard employer based pension schemes were defined benefit in the private sector. There were insurance based schemes available to smaller private employers.

There was usually a ‘vesting’ period of between 2 and 5 years after joining the scheme ( and often a waiting period before joining) - if you left before the vesting period, you could receive a return of your contributions and the employer contributions were used to buy you back into the State Additional Pension scheme.

The Pensions Acts of 1993 and 2008 changed the pensions landscape entirely. I think a lot of people now would be surprised by how relatively rare pensions were outside of the public or large employer sector and how little attention people ( especially women) paid to the pension as part of an employment offer.

I love my partner and we are very happy but i’d never rely on him or his word to pay for my retirement.I have my own NHS pension ( 20 years service so far) and once the mortgage is done i intend to save save save.