Is anyone going to be living just on state pension when they retire?

[Shinyseas]

It looks like I will be. Never really earned enough to put money aside for a pension, married someone who was terrible with money and at the age of 51, have youngish DC so even though I’m earning better money now, I’ve got to get them through teenage years, then off to Uni. All feels too late to save anything decent. I’ll be early 60s before my youngest leaves home.

When I checked this week, my private pension is set to give me 1.5k a year 🙁

People do survive on the state pension I know - but it must be very very tight.

I worked full time until I had babies. I worked part time after that and now at pension age I find myself on a reduced amount not having made all the contributions. I have a small private pension which is so small it does not even cover the cost of my community charge. Both pensions together are around £800 per month
I always thought we would be OK because my husband is five years older and we would be more or less retiring together.
He gets full state pension and a really good private pension.
He left me when our children were teenagers and went to live abroad. He never paid another penny towards their care and now I find that despite owning my own home I can no longer afford to keep it. If I downsize I will not be able to get any form of help with the pension as I will have savings in excess of the limit.
When the savings run out I will then be able to apply for some form of help. This is not the future I had planned.
I wish I had been better informed about pensions when I was younger but then I was busy with family and thought my husband was a decent man.

You do understand that most people simply cannot afford to do that?

Yep me. My private pension is pretty dismal. I expect we’ll just about survive but with no luxuries at all.

Probably 70s for me as I'm 31. To be honest if I'm going to be skint in my 70s I'd rather enjoy life while I'm younger and then take an overdose in old age. I'm not scared of death, I'm scared of a miserable existence.

I thought it was 39 years of NI contributions to get full state pension?

You do understand that most people simply cannot afford to do that?

Most? I know there are definitely people for who £20 a month is unaffordable. But most? And it's priorities, isn't it. £20 wouldn't even cover a takeaway, or 2 cinema tickets.

I don’t know how much difference teaching kids about pensions will make. They feel invincible at that age like old age will never come and just assume something will work out.

My Dad frittered his £50k savings away on a Russian girlfriend in his 60s........

So now at 82, he lives in a poky flat, has only his state pension and pension credit to live on and it's just nowhere near enough. I'm the mug that supports him to the tune of several hundred £s per month.

Millions already are. But hey, they are evil boomers, right,so who cares? 🙄

My mum did and my mother in law does. You get top up with pension credits.

I don’t think that’s fair. Boomer age people had the chance to make hay when the sun shone, for us the sun isn’t even remotely out

The government will not help you pay off your mortgage. You will need to sort that out yourself.

Given we have no clue what will happen with benefits it makes sense to assume the basic state pension will be it.

Most companies will offer incentives to pay into the pension, matching your payments etc so it make sense to make sure that you are in effect claiming that extra money.

Yes the UK has low state pensions but for a long time the government have been encouraging people to buy their own pension, giving tax breaks etc to do so.

Op I'd put in what you can your 51 so have at least 15 years before retirement, which is assuming retirement at 66.

I think it depends on your out goings, DF doesn't have a private pension, he gets just over £1000 a month contributions based state pension, he does have other savings having cashed in and invested a not great private pension so has a cushion should he need it. Month to month he doesn't spend all of his state pension, but house is owned outright, and so is his car. He lives simply but not especially frugally. He has nice clothes, cycles (not the Lycra kind), walks, goes fishing and watches his local football team (season ticket £65), spends time with family. I think he's pretty happy, treated us to lunch on Easter Monday.
If he was trying to pay rent on top he'd be screwed

Oh he doesn't get pension credit because of his savings and low outgoings

UC for a single adult, no dependants, is around £320 p/m and people are expected to live on that! Pension is over double that. I managed for a few years as a single mum on benefits and got less than pensioners get, for myself and two DC. So state pension doesn’t look that bad to me. No it isn’t a life of luxury with multiple holidays or anything but it’s enough for day to day.

I’m in my 50’s and I’d rather use the spare cash I have now to do things now. Not skint myself and hope I live until 70+ and am in good health if I do. I’m prepared mentally that post 70 I will be availing myself of all the free and subsidised activities for oldies (I live in London so plenty here). I have lots of low cost hobbies. Which I don’t have much time for now. So quite looking forward to it!

In my job we have a few retirees working a couple of days a week and that’s unlikely to change, so I have that option. I also have a spare room so could get a lodger if need be. I’m not really worried. I’d feel differently if I was in my 20’s now. But I only have 14 years to go so I don’t think things will change hugely in that time.

I'm thirty two and a single mum and so far I'll be on a state pension. I didn't really think about them until I had a child and realised my working life is limited. As soon as she is in school I plan to be back working and paying in as much as possible to make sure I will be okay. I've no idea how it all works, I'm thinking to even start paying £20 a month from my benefits now but not sure if it's worth it or how to set one up safely, without an employer. I've lived and done all the exciting things in my twenties. I would rather be frugal now when I have the energy to cope with it than when I'm older and more vulnerable.

£100 per month for the next 16 years is absolutely worth it plus you will get Govt tax relief so in effect it's £120 a month. Start now, i.e this month, every penny counts. DC may need to take gap year/work the summer/have p/t job for Uni. I did all three of those and still had a great time.

@Shinyseas do make sure that you check to see that you have all credit years that are due to you.

@Organictangerine

Sorry to ask (not being goady) but how does this happen? How can a person with 20+ years or working life not accrue a pension? Doesn’t the employer have to pay into a fund?

I worked in childcare for 22 year in Not for profit childcare. No pension from Club as self funding. My choice I suppose. Always seen as a 'little job for pin money' by the big wigs who ran it voluntarily, safe with their big pensions from their 'professional' full time jobs. When pensions became statutory I had one.

You should absolutely keep putting money into your pension - you have 16 years of contributions ahead of you, assuming you work till state pension age, which is loads of time. Don't forget that pension contributions are tax- and NI-free! It definitely makes the most financial sense.

You don't have to purchase an annuity and more, you can draw down on your pension pot as needed, so you can make it as tax efficient as possible. You could draw down more in the first few years after retirement to enable you to do some travelling whilst you can. Do you own your own home? You can downsize and release equity that way, or if you rent you will likely be entitled to housing benefit.

Don't despair, 51 isn't too old to sort it out!

No, but I won't be on much more. I plan to keep working past retirement age. I know I'm very lucky that this is an option, especially as my mental health means I only work part-time in my 50s.