To ask what pension plans you have in place

[Toystory4]

I have around £40k in a pension pot and save around £100 per month and the company pays similar I am 48.

I went to see the company's pension adviser and he said I really need to be paying a lot more if I want a decent income in retirement. He worked out the figures and said somewhere in the region of £600 extra a month would get me back on track and help me have the pension I want in retirement. I was shocked that it would take this much and that my own savings were on track to give me as little as £80-100 a week in retirement.

Anyone else in the same boat and worried about it? I am single so have to look after myself.

[redhat]

I have been told that in order to have a pension income of £30k you need a pension pot of £500k.

To give a further idea my pension pot is currently £190k. It is projecting a pension of £9872 if I didn't pay anything else in (I'm 42 and it assumes retirement at 67).

If I pay in 500 a month for the next 25 years it will give me a pension of £16,200

Those with public sector final salary/career average pensions are incredibly lucky. The employer contribution alone is over 20 percent which is phenomenal (I am an employment lawyer).

[Babycham1979]

Agreed, Redhat. I work in the NHS and I know that the defined benefit scheme won't last for much longer. As soon as it shuts, I'm out of there. I could earn more in consulting; it's only the benefit in-kind that the pension offers that currently keeps me there. I'm only 36!

[Toystory4]

Seems like a few in the same boat as me!

I checked mine online today and the £40k I had before Xmas is now £950 lighter. That's the bit I don't like!

[OublietteBravo]

My career average plan is what keeps me working FT. The moment it changes to defined contribution I'll be dropping to PT (bound to happen one day).

[Poshsausage]

Oh lord I hate this subject why do I come on mn
Absolutely nothing
I own nothing but debts after years of being a single mum just out of cre with a poorly child then married a man who had debts too and we rent privately and have had two more kids one of whom has some difficulties so i can't work . Husband has never had a pension either . We have no parents so won't inherit
All I can hope is to pass on a work ethic to my children ? I don't know

[AnneElliott]

I'm in the civil service pension scheme. Should get £25k per annum in today's prices plus a lump sum.

I've also got a private pension but that's not got much in it. DS has a pension though and has had since he was 4!

[slightlyglitterbrained]

I didn't even know you could set pensions up for children.

[specialsubject]

one or two thoughts;

as noted, interest rates on cash are negligible. Inflation is NOT - many things most of us pay are rising fast but are not included in the calculation. (insurance premium tax, council tax, train fares, broadband and calls..) So cash is REDUCING in value.

stock market not performing well, static over the last few years unless you timed it right. You need to think VERY long term. And hope.

you can do phased drawdown and you no longer have to buy an annuity the day you retire.

[Havingafieldday]

Not a clue. I have one from years ago worth circa £2500 a year and DH has a few company pensions. We have about £600k equity in our house which is worth about £850k and can easily downsize to free up capital. We will also inherit significantly from my parents and possibly from DH's parents although they are less financially savvy to mine. Neither of us plan on retiring, health permitting until about 70 anyway so should be ok

[Poshsausage]

Even more depressed than I was before now !

[OublietteBravo]

Anyone else suddenly feel they need to start looking into pensions for their DC?

[decisionsdecisions123]

Most people cannot pay £950 a month into a pension Babycham as that is pretty much all of their take home pay for a whole month!

I pay something like £100 a month and my employer pays £350, cant remember exactly. Ive only been paying in for about 4 years. If I were to keep paying in the same till I'm 68 (highly unlikely) then I think I would have a pension of £12000 a year. At the moment my pension is worth around £950 a year! I don't seem to be entitled to any type of lump sum.

I have no idea if I would also be entitled to a state pension but I hope so! I have no other savings/properties lying around.

[Babycham1979]

I realise how lucky I am, decisionsdecisions123; I didn't mean that to sound otherwise.

I grew up with very little money and saw all my elderly relatives living in poverty. Doing the same terrifies me. I've always thought that being poor but fit would be fine; I can do something about it, but that being poor and frail/vulnerable is my worst nightmare and something I'll work very hard to avoid.

Ironically, pensioners are relatively well-off at the moment, due to changes to benefits, pensions, house-prices and CPI vs RPI inflation. My 1980s childhood memories of older people are defined by a fear of turning up the gas fire and scrabbling around for 50p coins for the meter. Heartbreaking.

[futureme]

Wow 25000 a year sounds amazing as a pensioner with a house paid off.

What will happen to us (40) with no pension then? Will there be anything state wise? Will we be able to eat and heat our home? We should just about have a mortgage paid off (small ex council terrace) but no significant savings.

[VioletEffingham]

At risk of sounding like Xenia: I will have £42/£43k per annum at age 60 from 17 years in a fantastic City bank final salary scheme - it's why I stuck the corrosive environment for so long. As I am now self-employed and pay NI (together with 5/6 years home responsibilities protection via Child Benefit) I will also have the full state pension (adjusted for contracting out) at age 66. Husband will have about £50k at age 60 from his Civil Service scheme, plus full state pension at age 66.

[redhat]

future state pension is currently about £6k. That's what you would have (if it stays at this level which most think won't be the case).

[redhat]

It always amazes me how some public sector workers don't appreciate their pensions. I think they just perhaps (wrongly) assume it's the norm. I'm not for one moment slagging off public sector workers, just pointing out what a massive benefit it is

We actually have the worst of both worlds since being partners in businesses there is no employer contribution. We are both mid forties and our focus at the moment is trying to get more money into our pensions. DH has been paying into his for 20 years and it is projected to give him the grand sum of £4,000 a year.

[Anotherusername1]

most people are assume to go into a care home. I'm my life, none of my grandparents or step grandparents ever did this.

My aunt and father are both in care homes. My grandmothers were in care homes for the end of their lives (a few months only) because one was fit and lived in sheltered accommodation with my aunt visiting every day as she lived locally and the other one lived in a granny annex to my aunt (there was no inheritance in either case - with one because she had no money and had always rented, and with the other because she sold her house and gave the money to my aunt to build the granny annex).

So I am not assuming anything. My mother may be luckier and be able to stay in her own home with some help, or maybe we'll go down the granny annexe route with her. My MIL might also be ok as my SIL lives around the corner from her. But I won't assume anything, if I do inherit anything beyond the £23K you are allowed to keep it will be a bonus, but I will aim to stand on my own two feet.

[AmyGDalae]

Quite glad I stumbled on this thread. So I have been paying into my pension for a couple of years (since late 20s). Just used an online calculator and with my 7.5% and employer's 16% it came up with a pretty decent sounding 25000 a year with a retirement age of 68. Now that was based on my current salary that I put in. So with career progression and pay increases etc, would that not mean pension also increases significantly? (Am in fairly junior decent, but not outrageously well paid graduate role and would expect to earn quite a bit more. But complicated as studying again as well).

Tbh find pensions pretty confusing.

[AmyGDalae]

I used this calculator, which I found on mse.
www.standardlife.co.uk/c1/guides-and-calculators/pension-calculator.page

[PigletJohn]

Amy

If you are in a Final Salary scheme (rare these days) it is very good for people who reach a high salary shortly before they retire.

Very likely it will be (or has been) closed to new entrants and/or changed to an Average Earnings or a Money Purchase scheme, as the cost and risk of a Final Salary scheme is very frightening to employers.

You do need to see what the accrual rate is. I used to be in a 1/60th scheme (work for 60 years and retire on 100% earnings, or for 30 years and retire on 50% earnings) but public sector schemes may be 1/80th.

[PigletJohn]

correction

I think you mean you are in a money purchase scheme. In which case the years when you are in low earnings won't buy you as good a pension as the years when you are on high earnings. The early years are the ones which have the longest time to grow. So you'd better get started on those pay rises!

See if your scheme allows you to contribute from base pay only, or also from bonuses and overtime.

[DyslexicScientist]

I don't believe many people are still on final sallery, most moved to c average .