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

Honestly-there has been so much more important news over the past week. This feels like another click bait - ‘it isn’t my fault ‘ I haven’t sorted my life out thread because of xyz diagnosis which then gets picked up by lazy journalists. Hopefully @EllyRoff will be back to reassure us they have thoroughly read the advice provided and all will be well.

You need to find work, pay NI and build up some pension. Many of us live alone and if we don’t work we’re screwed!

From what she said, it seems she carried on working without making contributions. So it wasn't just two years of pension she's lost out on. It the years she got refunded plus the years she worked without contributing.

Honestly - call me cynical. Daily Mail/whatever intern being told to find a scaremongering thread to detract from the past week of grooming gang Baroness Casey report for the weekend Mail/other dreadful news outlets. They ‘had to run’.

Loads of great advice.

Well I doubt it was much money from the NHS pension. Exactly how many contributions do you think she made in less than 2 years?

Who else would he put as the named beneficiary other than you? I really don’t understand why he wouldn’t try to help you maximise your pension as it would boost the overall household income in retirement unless he wants you to be dependent on him.

I'd start by checking on the gov pension what you're entitled to.
You'd be surprised at how you could qualify for a full state pension based on hours you worked years ago.
If you don't qualify for the full amount, you can choose to pay a certain figure and then you will qualify.
I'm assuming the named beneficiary is for private pensions as pretty sure his state would go to you as his spouse but having said that, it's not the full pension and is only for a limited time.
I'd be upset with my DH if we'd had conversations around all of this, as I would expect them to intend to leave it to me

Leaving the NHS pension is tantamount to financial abuse.

I did this as my (D)H now exH said we needed the money to spend on the property we'd bought. So I drew out the contributions.
Then I got a promotion and was fortunate to be able to join the scheme again. I still lost 5 years contributions although I was able to "buy added years".

Later he wanted to swap our Repayment Mortgage for an Endowment one. I took advice. was advised not to and refused. 2 years later we got divorced and he set up home with OW.. They bought a house with an Endowment Mortgage.

20 years later I heard through the "grapevine" that this "all singing all dancing" mortgage hadn't reached the potential it should have done and they were up Sh!£ Creek financially.

Take care OP, better still get financial advice.

I would start paying into my own pension asap. Sounds like your husband deals with all that so I'd ask him to pay an agreed sum each month and if he didn't then I would get any job I could and pay it myself.

I would never rely on someone else to fund my retirement.

😳 you don’t say what age you are but let’s hope you’re still young. I get so frustrated by women that don’t think of their financial security and rely on men telling them what to do. You shouldn’t have come out of the NHS pension.

A NHS pension would have been very nice if you had continued working. But if you only did a few years, it's not that much.

Any alternative use of the contributions you withdrew is extremely unlikely to match the value of leaving them in the NHS scheme. Also, whenever NHS scheme changes are introduced, I believe your prior contributions continue to attract the original level of benefit they were accrued under. That money would have been infinitely better left in the NHS scheme. Withdrawing it was unwise.

Ignore the people who say it is worrying that you rely on your husband, some marriages work that way. Would it be better if you had a huge final income salary like some of the pensioners of today, of course. But ultimately it is up to you how you blend your finances and everything is yours if he dies (disclaimer: that is assuming he hasn’t done something stupid like taken out an annuity for a sole person with no beneficiary, or suddenly plays games with his will - though that would be contestable)

you get asked multiple times to review your pension and ensure it is fit for purpose. If your husband has managed to keep a job all this time I would hope he would have been checking to make sure it was. But even if he hasn’t, there is time now. Get some advice on how to protect you both in the future :) it will be fine

I completely agree with this. The NHS pension is one of the best. I'd look into financial planning by myself if I were you. Start an ISA when you downsize. Keep some savings. Have your own money.

Absolutely.

Disabled children or indeed dependant disabled adult eg sibling may be able to benefit.

A really practical and useful response. 👍

Not if the children are adults.

Many moons ago you could withdraw much more than that. Many women withdrew 10 years plus. ' I need the money now' or 'no one in my family lives long' etc.

Fortunately you could also repay it either as a lump sum or as enhanced monthly payments as long as you were again working in the DHSS and paying into the scheme.

Other schemes eg Teachers', Civil Service, Local Government ditto.

I haven’t read every reply so sorry if this has been raised. Why would you leave the NHS pension scheme, I am pretty sure it’s one of the best ones you can get. I earn less than half DH but the combined contributions every month in mine is 3x what he gets.

Beneficiary it’s usually spouse unless otherwise stated by the person whose pension it is. As others have said check your NI contributions or you might not get full state pension.

I sense your frustration here but OP is already upset and doesn’t need sanctimonious responses which quite frankly state the obvious in an aggressive way. There may be other factors here that we are not party to and which OP is not comfortable divulging at the moment.

You don't say what sort of pension your husband has.
He may have an occupational pension eg Teachers' or other scheme organised by his employer which is based on his earnings and years of service and which includes a pension typically of 50% of his, for his surviving spouse/ 25% for minor or disabled children/dependent.

However it is possible, likely even, that he has a money purchase scheme where he and his employer ( hopefully ) pay into a scheme each month and when he retires he can opt to take out a lump sump ( usually upto 25% of the fund value) and then buy an annuity ( regular income) with the remainder for the rest of his life. He can choose an annuity which never increases or one which has , say a 3% increase each year. Obviously without an increase the annuity will be bigger at first but risks being derisory if he lives a long time.

The risk as far as you are concerned is what would happen if he died first. With Occupational schemes there is usually an automatic pension ( 50% of his) for the surviving spouse or other adult nominee. You would need to check as a matter of urgency. Do not rely on your husband's say so.

The most risky scenario for you, is that he has a money purchase scheme and the option to choose upto 25% of the fund value plus either an annuity ( income) for himself initially and/or then after his death an annuity at 100% of his, 50% of his etc. for you. Many men at this stage (most in my experience) opt for the highest annuity they can get. ie one just for themselves. A surviving spouse, ie you, receives nothing.

Not necessarily. It depends if he has a Db pension or DC pension. He may also have children from previous marriages who are beneficiaries given the age difference, but we don't know anything about that.

What are your joint plans for these funds? Your DH is either as financially clueless or is subjecting you to financial abuse. What happened to the money you withdrew from your NHS pension? My worry is that the equity from the house move will disappear and you won't get your share properly protected.

You should try to get a job or make your art work for you as a career.
It seems almost 50% of the population now say they are ND yet we can' t have 50% of people not working and the rest supporting them. It's not sustainable.

Whatever role you had in the NHS, either medical or admin was not right for your personality but that doesn't mean there are no jobs out there.

As PPs have said, autism is a massive spectrum ranging from mild and what was called Asperger's, to much more serious issues.

The fact is you can write a coherent posts from your home on your computer, so it's likely you can work from home (mostly) in a role that suits your personality and stress level.

Maybe start moving forwards on that and the pension, savings etc will start to fall into place?

And also keep up to speed with the state pension (check your own) - it's nowhere near £60 a week so not sure where you got that from? Recent figures have been in the media - it's pretty easy to find them.