Pensions or live life (when you can’t save much anyway)

[Heyhowhatsup]

This is a combination of two threads I’ve read tonight which coincidentally have captured the predicament I feel in. The threads are the one about heading for a pensions disaster and the other is about why do I never use my best stuff or treat myself and posters saying life is too short to not live and enjoy and value yourself.

I completely agree. I’m a low earner, very successful job but doesn’t pay well. I don’t have a pension or much of one. Have started saving but I’ll never be able to save a huge figure let alone one that will even make much of a difference. I come from
a very poor background so there’s no help or inheritance I can rely on. Also from a small family so worried I won’t even have anyone physically to help when I’m old.

I guess the quandary I find myself in now which the two threads have brought to a head is i could keep saving for a pension. It won’t end up being a lot but perhaps I should. However it would mean my quality of life which is already very low would become even lower. As it is, I barely treat myself or enjoy life.

how do you square the two things? Maybe you can’t.

OP I wouldn’t think everyone earning well is unhappy in their job , it’s not true and may hinder your progress and you do need to earn more money . You cannot live off fresh air .

£100 a month into a Sipp ( gross, so £80 for you) for 28 years, increasing payments at 3% a year and an average 7% annual growth gives you £135k in a pension.

For employed people earning £25k with auto enrolment , £1500 a year goes in, at a cost to the employee of £62.50 a month ( £750).
You are throwing away a minimum £750 of employer’s cash and tax relief every year.
£30k salary means even more wasted etc. etc.

Obviously not. That isn’t what I said. Just that I’ve not found a high paying job I would be happy in and I genuinely do love my job and am very proud of what I was achieved. I was told I’d never make it.

It’s fair enough that you are happy in your job. But your original query was about whether it’s possible to save for a pension and have a reasonable financial quality of life. If you want to continue working in a job that brings in less than minimum wage then the answer is probably no. To be honest, neither a pension nor a reasonable financial quality of life will be available to you. That is the financial consequence of your choice. More financial security is available for you, and greater choice about whether to live more now or save, but you would have to change jobs.

There is talk of the Government cutting that benefit though. So not wise to presume you’d have the same standard of living as a pensioner today. Today, pensioners have the lowest rate of poverty ever in the history of the country. That can change for the worse.

Yes that’s exactly it. I wasn’t asking about changing jobs and becoming a higher earner. I definitely could do that - but it just isn’t what I want. I was just making the point in reference to posters saying to get a better paid job that many people do and are unhappy in them. It’s great if you love your job and earn well too.

I made the decision right at the start not to go into a lucrative career even though I would have been more than able to because I didn’t want to sacrifice what I wanted to do for better financial outcomes. That is on me and I don’t regret that.

I love my job and am proud of what I’ve achieved. I was asking about whether it was worth saving into a pension which might not end up being all that much and cutting back further in the here and now or not. But I like I said it might not be possible to square the two. And I just live with it.

I was asking about whether it was worth saving into a pension which might not end up being all that much and cutting back further in the here and now or not.

It's better to poor when young than poor when old.

Young people don't feel the cold as much. Young people can walk everywhere. Young people tend not to have as many health needs. Young people can change jobs and careers. Young people have more options.

You need a few more comforts when you're old and you will appreciate them more.

My mum owns her ex council house but is on a basic state pension with minimal widows’s pension and is financially the best she’s ever been.

Going up to 230 a week? How much is the other ?

I know it can change, I was making the point that pensioners don’t have to pay for prescriptions at the moment

Where do you save for your pension?

I admire you for following your dreams, OP, and I hope you flourish! One thing I realised this week, when trying to trace lost pensions, was how many times i reclaimed my pension contributions after leaving jobs: to get by, because I had no family to help.I don't regret those choices, I don't see what else i could have done at the time.
However, realising that (so far) that's around 7 years+, only now do I see what a difference that could have made for me in retirement, especially as a passive income in retirement if I want to take out a small mortgage in my 60s.
So no advice whatsoever, if you love what you do and are in control of your work/life balance, then you are rich already! 🙃