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?

I am so thrilled looking back that I was a boring fart in my 20s. Have always paid into a pension - now transferred into the LGPS. Estimate is £21500 at 60. Rising I work longer. Phew!

Bet there are loads of us who wish being boring farts in our 20s could get us into that kind of position instead of having to deal with student loan repayments and the need to save up colossal deposits first...

Self employed currently- paying about 10% p.m. Previously I did 7% & employer did 7%. Am late 20's

There is still tax efficiency in pension contributions when you are self employed, of course there is. But you don't get a "free" employer contribution. So if you are self employed and paying in 10% then that is only like a role where you are paying 5% as an employee and your employer is also paying 5%. As such it takes much longer to build a pot or you have to pay much larger contributions to get the same benefit.

I'm 30, a SAHM & currently have no pension. DH has a reasonable pension though.

I've been thinking about pensions quite a bit recently & I'm considering my options. Is there really much advantage to having a private pension rather than keeping all the money in a savings account? I keep getting scared by the warnings about potentially not getting out what you put in & figure it'd be safer to just keep the money myself. Not sure I entirely understand these things tbh!

Currently I pay 3% and employer matches, it rises with length of service though and I haven't been here that long, so it will look far more healthy this year when it rises to 5% matched. I have two other pension pots from previous employers too, which were paid at much better rates (8% matched etc) but I am on a much higher salary now so it's swings and roundabouts.

I plan on increasing my contributions substantially once the burden of paid for childcare is done in about 10 years time.

DH is older than me and we will retire on about £47 k a year in the next few years, we have state pensions, (well mine is not full, but I still have time to fix that if I wish) we have always run our projections on one salary, so from his final salary I still get a survivors pension of £22 k indexed linked.

Then there is the defined contributions pot which should be worth about £200 k.

We have been lucky that we have been in a position to be sensible and service pensions, we had bugger all apart from that for years.

One year left on the mortgage and things are finally feeling looser. Thank God.

Wow. We done even earn what some people are retiring on.

I think I might need to hide this thread and ask for advice another time as I just feel like ive failed at life!

Eurus exactly. I did everything "right" in that I was never extravagant, didn't "waste" years travelling, saved. Etc. Despite being a boring fact in my 20s life isn't wonderful now. It's amazing how people see their success/ attribute failure of others.

I have increased mine to £200 PCM after reading this thread ......

and their are very smug people on this thread.

I spent my 20s and most of my 30s in low-paying work and being a mature student and SP, so I wasn't in a position to save or get a mortgage until I was in my early 40s. I'm now mid-50s and very nearly paid off my mortgage due to making capital repayments whenever I can - but I'm not in an expensive part of the country and I haven't got much scope for downsizing so I'm not expecting any significant release of equity. At the moment I put 8% into my pension pot and my employer contributes 7%. Once I've finished paying off my mortgage I'll increase my contribution as much as I can, probably to 15% with additional lump sums every now and then.

My state pension age is currently 67, but quite honestly, I don't expect it to stay there, and I think the cash pension might disappear altogether and be replaced by very stingey means-tested benefits, so I'm not banking on that.

AGnu

the main reason people have them is their employers do a match, so I pay 150 and my employers pays 75 so I save extra if that makes sense?

but its a good question, as their growth is certainly not guaranteed

I am with you geraldthegiraffe. I was a boring fart in my late teens and 20's. I worked hard since leaving school at 16, saved hard and bought a house before I was 20. I had a work place pension between the ages of 18 and 23 when I had to give up work to be carer to our eldest child who has a multitude of severe disabilities. I can't save into a pension when my individual income has been carers allowance for the past 13 years (currently £63 per week).
I will be fucked in retirement.

Pensions are the thing that keep DH awake at night.

You do of course have to keep in mind that hopefully you will be mortgage free by the time you retire and will no longer have dependants. Even so, it is expensive to live and most savings won't be keeping up with inflation and so are effectively sitting there diminishing in value as each day goes by.

I know various people with no pension provision. As such they will be living off the state pension (whatever it happens to be in 25 years time when they need it). That's quite a scary thought really since nobody knows what the provision will be then.

Me and DH were really pretty skint until we were 40 though. He earned a half decent wage but was working stupid hours so decided to set up on his own. I was a SAHM to three little kids. We were all about the work/life balance. And we had very little in place for our old age. Then our business took off in a way we hadn't anticipated.

Same happened to one of his mates at nearer to 50.

So it's never too late; you don't know what's around the corner.

Newt. Yep terrifying thought. We're hoping we will have paid the mortgage off but it's tiny ex council so no downsizing possible there. We'd love to.live somewhere better in the future but it looks like this since our lot in life.

I fet v anxious when I think about our retirement.

I can't see me returning to work anytime soon tinkly. I do plan to pay into a pension in a year or do when some debts will be paid off but the sums I can pay in will be nowhere near the sums stated by many on here. DH does have over 25 years contributions and 15 of that is in a govt job pension. But I would like my own pension pot. I really worry about coping financially in old age and being able to provide for our disabled son (hopefully our other children will be self sufficient).

Spent most of our 20's traveling, partying and having fun. Got on the property ladder though. We didn't get sensible until about 30 when financial planning became a new topic of conversation.
First plan was overpay the mortgage as much as possible.

I put in £135 and employer puts in £302. I am paying 7ish % of salary. It is better to start paying something sooner rather than later. Didn't start my pension until 28 so won't be a huge pension. It won't kick in until 67 either, and doubt I will be able to work in teaching in my 60s.
There are people in private sector jobs putting in nothing and saying they can't afford it. I can't really either but as it comes out before I even get my hands on it, then that works best for me. Maybe start by putting something like £100-150 away and see how you get on. It would be better than nothing.

I don't put in a huge amount - it's always been around the 5% mark. However, the older I get, the more my employer will contribute and I won't need my full salary to live off in retirement because once the property is paid off, my cost of living drops. Hedging my bets with property, pensions and savings. I don't expect any family to leave me a chunk of cash and/or care for me, so I need some independent means of surviving in my old age!

A worrying amount of people don't think about the future. I expect the state pension and all other benefits to be killed off by the time I retire, hence making private provisions.

I have worked since I was 16, full time most of the time, and have paid into a pension since I was 22. I can claim without actuarial reduction at 65. But at the moment my pay is low and so for last 3 months have been paying nothing in. Sometimes I wonder why I bothered paying into my pension at all. I suspect I won't be much better off when I retire, than if I had just spent the money. If you are a high earner pay into your pension. Low earners are wasting their money.

If people aren't paying anything in, what are they planning to live off when they retire? It's not so bad if you have paid a house off but if you need to continue to pay rent that would be a huge chunk of the state pension.

pringlecat those younger than me actually get a better state pension when they retire. I was one of those contracted out by Government because I was paying into an occupational scheme. So I will get less state pension than those a bit younger, who will not be contracted out now if they pay into an occupational pension.

You can still claim housing benefit when you are retired.

holidaysaregreat, I don't think I'll be able to afford to retire. Simple as that. It's not a thought I'm exactly reveling in, but I think the state pension is unlikely to exist in a few years and I can't afford to pay the huge amounts I'd need to to make any difference into a private pension scheme. A one-way ticket to Switzerland and paying for the services of Dignitas when I'm too old and tired to work anymore looks like the reality of the situation.