To ask you how much you save every month for your pension

[yousignup]

48, not in the UK but similar pension rules. Work part time so will qualify for percentage of state pension. Many years paid in, but no private pension. Mortgage almost paid off, hope to buy another place in a year or two with another mortgage, so basically my paid for house will be my pension pot. It's not worth a lot, but it's something.
Looking at UK articles about pensions, absolutely horrified to realise that for a modest payout at retirement time I need to be paying in approximately 900 GBS equivalent a month until I'm 65. No chance of employer matching any payment, would have to be private scheme.
AIBU to ask you how much you put away each month for your pension, and how old you are? Just thinking about my old age with a sick feeling in my stomach. Why didn't I start 30 years ago?

Also amazed by these employer pension contributions! Mine pays in 5% and it's taken me several years to get there, they started paying in 5% and it increased by 1% for every year of service, but only up to a maximum of 5. I used to pay in 5% too but put it down to 2% while I was on mat leave this last year. I've just gone back so need to put it back up. Despite having paid in for 5 years now (I'm nearly 30 and have paid in since I started full time work 5 years ago) there's hardly anything in there, I guess it's a long term game ...

My employer (private sector) will match up to 8 % and I put in 17 % to make a round 25 %. I put in the standard 8 % for quite a while but after a recent promotion decided to effectively sacrifice the pay rise into my pension instead. I'm a higher rate tax payer so it is quite efficient in that sense. I'm fortunate that I can afford to put away that much - most people can't. I would expect up to 10 % employer contribution is fairly typical for the private sector. Public sector is higher I guess, perhaps because of lower base pay? Always look at the total package! If you can earn 20 % more in the private sector then you would be nominally better off.

I think I pay 10% (£170 as part time at the mo) & company matches it. DH has a couple of different ones but nothing of great value. He's just started a new job & once he's passes his probation I'll give him the guidance on here of half your age (never heard that before).
Recently saw a financial advisor about other stuff & we might start saving in a stocks & shares ISA & use the money to buy an investment property in a few years.
It terrifies me when I think about pensions but at least we have 30+ years to sort it out I suppose!!

I'm private sector too btw

I'm NHS and fairly sure I now pay 10%. Think employer matches it or maybe a bit more.

I'm hoping after 20 years to have a pension of 7k a year. It's a career average scheme where you get 1/60th of your average salary for each year worked.

We're screwed. Taught for a few years but not enough to amass very much.

Husband is self employed with no pension.

At 40 we worry about this but the amounts we'd need to set aside, and with no guarantee of keeping it, it seems completely our of reach.

It scares me.

Yousignup it seems you're spot on with your calculations. I'm not in the UK either but when doing some light math I have come up with similar numbers. I'm four years ahead of you... The reason why we did not start 30 years ago is, primarily, that the times were different and what has now emerged as a problem was only a light distant cloud barely to be seen at the horizon - at least I didn't see it when I was in my twenties. I my case, we also had a different pension system, so thirty years ago I didn't think I had anything to worry about, the system at the time was a defined benefit system, unfunded unfortunately, but I didn't know that. I feel slightly beguiled, fooled, like being offered a piece of candy but realising it is gone, has melted away. The problem with some pension schemes is that they're sometimes underfunded, there's not enough money in them, as of now, so as to cover for everybody who is on them. That's one reason why low interest rates aren't all that great, at least not for pension schemes whose managers find it increasingly hard to earn enough to recoup, I believe I've read this somewhere (probably in the IPE magazine). How much all the other people are saving, now, is not so interesting because you might be comparing yourself with people who don't set aside "enough" to be honest. On January 2 this year, according to Google, the Financial Times ran an article betitled "UK pensions two decades behind on liabilities, growth of liabilities continues to outstrip the growth in assets". That FT article ends with the phrase "...about 1,000 private-sector pension schemes are 'highly unlikely' to pay their members’ pensions in full ...".
And another article on 22 Nov 2016 in the IPE magazine proudly proclaimed "UK pension funding position 'weakest in Europe', study shows", and that article mentions that "UK pension deficits have spiralled following the country’s vote in June to exit the European Union." I haven't checked up on the source, but IPE magazine seems to me to usually be a reliable source. In any case, yousignup, you're better off doing something now, at age 48, than at age 58 or 68. The best you can do is to think it over yourself, the options, and then decide on what to do. One source to start, I find, could be by watching Robert Kiyosaki on YouTube, explaining what is a balance sheet, it has some grains of truth. You could also for example check out the IPE magazine online, it's aimed for the professionals in the industry, covering entire Europe.

By "no guarantee of keeping it" what do you mean? Worried about the general investment choice of a pension pot, or that the government will just somehow raid it?
I think the "modern" defined contribution pension is pretty safe - charges are pretty low (mine is about 0.3 %) and you can usually choose the investment fund etc. and follow what are effectively tracker funds - so no real fund manager type charges.
It's a ring fenced pot of money, with tax advantages. Even if you die it should become part of your estate so it's not likely it will just evaporate.
I don't work in the pension industry but if your employer makes a reasonable contribution, plus the tax advantages - a defined contribution pension seems a decent way to save for retirement.

Bung... We honestly don't know enough, but as he is self employed there is no workplace pension. So we'd be looking at some random pension scheme with no idea what to invest in. And have heard of people's pensions being worthless by the time they retire so it would be scary saving money in the unknown.

If either of us had a public sector job or company pension we would definitely be saving as much as we could in a pension

Not in UK. i am 37

I have a parttime secretary job so don't earn a lot of money. Employer contribution is eur 80 a month or something. Nothing private. I bought a house and want to pay that off before 61 (am at a third). No mortgage and state pension would leave me roughly in the same financial position as now. With my employers pension it will be a little bit better.

I have to add that I will inherit 2-3 times my houses worth and that DP has a good income and squirreling away loads. I just figure that I should have enough to live on if something happens and I end up alone and I don't get any if it.

Currently pay 9%, employer pays more but can't remember how much! Have been paying in since 18 and I'm now 45 and just paid mortgage off. Intend paying AVC's now too as I can take half my pension at 55 and intend to.

Not in uk (technically) and I pay 10% or thereabouts into my pension. I may look to increase this.

I pay 3% and my employer pays 14%. Plus I put £100pcm into an investment ISA. I've been paying in since I graduated, not always as much as that but at least 10%.

DP has nothing (and is a low earner atm) so we're getting him a Lifetime ISA when they start.

Thank you all. I feel much worse now, but you know what I mean! As a LP to 2 early teen DC in a country without student grants (I know they don't exist in the UK either), I'm very worried about paying for their university education. That's where my money's going at the moment. I'm 48 and could afford about to put away 100 per month in a pension fund. Is it worth it now? I'm looking at my bank's financial products but to tell the truth I live in a country submerged in banking scandals and illegal scams from the most respectable institutions.

13%, employer pays in 10% on top of that, I'm 29.

10% total (around £500 a month) and DH is around 8% total. Both 38. I also have a small pension from 12 years working in a company where I had a defined benefit scheme and pay in £50 a month to a private pension.

DH and I are focusing more on repaying our mortgage than putting additional money into pension schemes which are dependent on the performance of shares. Your retirement money is about incomings and outgoings so we're focusing on the controllable part of that which is the outgoings. If we can repay the mortgage by the time DS is at uni age (he's 2) we'll be happy.

I save just over £100/mth into a career average local government pension. The terms of the pension are great and I'm amazed at the amount of colleagues who don't save into it.

Dh pays the minimum amount (started 2 years ago aged 33....couldn't afford it before) and I have zero (self employed, dont earn enough)

I'm planning on getting a job in a few years once the dc are older. Dh will be earning more by then and we'll be able to save everything I earn. I'm very worried about getting a job though...I haven't been employed for 9 years now.

0 at the moment. From April, my employer will pay 2% (not even full 2% but 2% of earnings over £500ish) if I pay in 1%. I'm 40. It seems pitiful - like it might get me another £20 a month. Money is tight still paying childcare, mortgage, want to start overpaying that & saving for children university. And have the occasional holiday. I know it might mean poverty down the line, but I almost think I'm headed that way anyway so might as well enjoy the odd takeaway, bottle of wine, meal out now!

Company pays £200 PM. I pay £250. I also have a frozen defined benefit scheme that will give me about £1400 a month in retirement so should be ok.

I'm very fortunate and my employer pays 28% and I pay 3% or something. I'm a research scientist, the company I work for pay lower salaries (£2-3k p.a at my grade) than many other research institutes so the pension makes up that!

Bungaloid: I think the "modern" defined contribution pension is pretty safe - charges are pretty low (mine is about 0.3 %) and you can usually choose the investment fund etc. and follow what are effectively tracker funds - so no real fund manager type charges. It's a ring fenced pot of money, with tax advantages. Even if you die it should become part of your estate so it's not likely it will just evaporate.

I agree with this. Don't want all people to be put off saving for a pension because they think it will vanish when it comes to retirement time. It depends on the type of pension scheme.

The horror stories about pension deficits a la BHS relate to defined benefit schemes in the private sector rather than the more recent private sector defined contribution schemes. The latter pays less and is dependent on the vagaries of the stock market. However, whilst the investment risk of a defined contribution scheme as to how well the pension portfolio performs sits with you, you also own the entire investment and the company cannot dip into it. Defined benefit schemes in the govt/public sector should also be fine to the extent the UK govt is not likely to go bankrupt, Brexit notwithstanding.

My employer pays 6% and I pay another 15%. I'm 53. My entire contribution would be taxed at 40% so I hope it is a good way to save.

Wow, knew public sector pensions were good but never realised there was such a massive difference between public and (most) private sector companies.

OP, you mentioned you are not sure whether to contribute to a pension or save for your teen DC's uni education. You should try to get advice from a financial adviser in your country. No Shit Sherlock

Your immediate financial needs will usually take precedence over your long term savings. 100 a month into a pension at age 48 is not likely to amount to much when you retire 20 years later. In the meantime, your money is locked up and you are unable to access it for your DC's tertiary education.

In the UK, a pension makes more sense (as compared to other long term savings/investments) if you are a higher rate tax payer because pension contributions are not taxable. In other words, the tax saving on a pension contribution is worth more to a 40/45% tax payer than a 20% tax payer. You mentioned you are not in the UK, I don't know the pension tax savings or tax rate works, but it is worth investigating.

If you decide to go down the pension route, seriously consider a low cost tracker that does not incur high management charges. See John Oliver's message about the effective of management charges over the lifetime of a long term pension:

You need financial planning advice that is specific to your tax and investment environment. They should hopefully also advise on the security of financial institutions in your country and any deposit or other retail guarantees from the govt.