61 years old. £70,000 in my pension pot.

[KeyInALock]

I'm screwed aren't I?

Still working, trying to save £500 a month now, but feeling pretty down.

DH is older than me and needing more and more care, so I will have to give up work soon to care for him. He already qualifies for his state pension, but doesn't have any sort of private provision.

We had a small inheritance that will be used to pay off our mortgage once it comes through.

On the plus idea I will qualify for the full state pension.

Any suggestions welcome 🙏

Have a look at www.entitledto.co.uk OP, will help you identify any benefits you will be eligible to claim.

I don't think you're screwed. If you manage your expectations, it's 10 grand a year until you can claim your state pension.

Alternatively, can you finish work and you claim UC and your husband claim Attendance Allowance?

Can you work in the public sector for a bit? You could work accrue a fair bit of extra pension that way?

What's this £70K, a lump sum? I don't understand what a pot is.

It all depends on your outgoings and how much you need to live on each year.

Say you and your husband had yearly outgoings of £35k and 2 full SPs, once you are 67 you will be about £11k pa short.

So you really need to work out:
Annual outgoings.
Any other savings/ investments?

Then you can start to work on a year by year plan.

Thank you for your replies and suggestions.
Lots to think about.
To answer questions; I haven't posted about this before. DH has only recently retired due to ill health.
By my 'pension pot' I mean a SIPPS pension.

What pension does your husband have?
What is your house worth? Is it owned outright?

Have you rent / mortgage?

DH could claim AA, as mentioned, you could claim carers and possibly UC.

Sorry, see your mortgage will be paid off.

My parents manage pretty well on a small state pension, pension credit including carer premium, council tax benefit, PIP, and a fully paid house. They eat well, mostly enjoy free/cheap activities like walks and gardening, can travel anywhere locally for free on their bus pass. They've always been low paid so have never had an extravagant lifestyle and their income overall isn't that different from when DM was working.

What's your house like? Could you downsize or move to a cheaper area?

Hey. You're not screwed.

If you are using inheritance to pay off your mortgage, that is a major plus you'll have going into retirement.

You will just need to be able to pay for bills/food, have you thought about how you would manage on this with just the state pension?

I would make a full budget - income,outgoings. See how this would stand up against one/two, full state pensions.

Make a forecast you expect to have in your SIPP (based on the £500/month + the avg returns), and see what this would leave you with as extra each month too.

I'm sorry to hear about your DH, and this might be an impossible task, but could you downsize your house at all?

As someone else said, definitely check www.entitledto.co.uk to see about any benefits you could get once you become a carer to DH. Your DH should be entitled to PIP if he retired due to ill health?

I think £70k would get you about £3k a year for life if OP bought an annuity because annuity rates are quite good right now.

Do you get pip after state pension age?

Most of the older generation don't have a private pension pot and just state pension so no, I'd not say screwed if you're sitting with 70 grand on top of your state pension and no mortgage.

You won’t be screwed but you won’t be well off. You can always work part time if you wish whilst claiming your pension.

How much are you currently paying for your mortgage, once that’s paid off what are your general outgoings, and what will your pension & state pension payments be?

You might not be too bad if you’ve no mortgage to pay, or is downsizing to release some equity and then investing the equity an option? A smaller property would be less outgoings too?

You need to look into any support you can get between you. For example, does your husband qualify for attendance allowance?

Make sure you are claiming any benefits he's entitled to eg attendance allowance, and ensure you get assessed for needs so that if he deteriorates you are in the system. If you give up work prior to state pension age, check you're entitled to benefits. Paying off your mortgage is a huge help as it means your outgoings can be managed better

If you have to give up work can you claim some sort of carers allowance?

You can only claim Carers Allowance for someone who claims PIP. You can be receiving PIP after state pension age but you cannot start a new PIP claim after you have reached state pension age.

My mum has been getting it since her 50s, so she could continue getting it once she reached state pension age. If OP's DH is over state pension age and claims now, he'd apply for Attendance Allowance instead (which doesn't have a mobility component so it would be less money if he'd have qualified for it).

£70k in a pension pot equals about £3k a year, it’s not a lot.

I had my pension statement through today. I have £7,521 in mine. I'm 52.