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?

Lis - surely only the very wealthy will manage that?

Tiger, try to work out an escape plan to get out of that minimum wage paying job with no pension. What would you need to know, what do you need to do, who do you need to call?

There was a good article in the Guardian recently that goes through some of the average numbers in this country.

www.theguardian.com/membership/2017/jan/23/saving-retirement-pension-generation-old-age

Is there a good calculator online which gives a percentage of income you should be saving if you want a certain amount of income in retirement?

I highly expect I need to pay almost all my salary into a pension as although I started a pension when in my early 20's the value of the pot is low.

Don't forget investment growth, which should be significant over several decades.

To end up with a million pound pot at retirement age, the money put in by both the employer and employee will be well under half that.

8% +18% from employers (university worker). Sometimes hard when financial strain hits to keep going with pretty large deduction from pay, but hope it will be worth it in the end.

Stark contrast to 2nd NEST pension I took out on income from consultancy work I do, which is 1+1%!

TO all the non payers - you are not alone ! This thread has been a stark wake up for me . See you in the departure lounge for Zurich hey

This thread is quite depressing. There are so many people struggling to survive on a day to day basis that they literally cannot afford to save. There should be some recognition from govt that people earning minimum wage or like me, Earning carers allowance don't earn enough to save towards retirement. Not everyone has the option of upskilling and earning more money, And in any case, lots of the lowest paid jobs are absolutely vital to the country. Nobody who has worked hard all of their lives or saved the govt a fortune by caring for a disabled relative should have to retire in poverty.

All these 19% ??
My employer only matches my 2%.

@NotAMammy, there are a whole threads about this on Money-saving-expert forums. The upshot is invest in things like ISAs. Which means you have full control of your cash come retirement, rather than being tied to any paltry payment scheme. I'm not sure this came in -- no tax on first £1000 of interest, too?

So for lower band tax payers, what do we get from a pension scheme?
Also, don't retire until you're 75. This makes a huge difference, & most of us will live at least 10 more yrs after 75, anyway.

Useful advice thank you yeOldeTrout.

I have had no employee pension scheme for the company I have worked for for 15 years and when it starts soon (due to the pension legislation), our employer will be offering us the bare minimum.

When I read at how much I should be putting into a (private) pension, I am fearful as I am reluctant to put most of my monthly earnings after essential outgoings into something that has no guarantee of even paying out what I have put in. Yes, I know that shares have traditionally done well over the long term however we may well be facing non-traditional times ahead. I would give anything to have some sort of defined benefit pension plan to give me the confidence to invest. Any advice/suggestions are most welcome.

I am scared of being poor in my old age so make it a top priority. i pay into my ISA or SIPP about £1500 per month. I want to be able to choose my retirement home and not be a burden on anyone else.

As yeOldeTrout said, there's lots of excellent advice on MoneySavingExpert, particularly the Pensions, Annuities & Retirement Planning forum (sorry, can't link to it at the moment). Definitely, definitely worth investing time in reading the threads.

I'm NHS. They take out a certain percentage of my earnings but I can't remember what that percentage actually is.

Checked work pension and discovered it was 2% - have bumped to 8% with 3% employer contribution. Not enough, but didn't want to go straight up to more w/o seeing what we can save.

That still leaves close family who earn just a bit over minimum wage stuffed, and won't be able to look after them. I think my only option there is to continue voting for politicians who believe in some kind of welfare safety net.

25% from me & 19% from them from memory

TheNaze that's really good. How old are you?

This thread has inspired me to tighten our belts and increase pension payments. It's not loads but we were doing 4% for DH with work putting in 5%. I've increased that to 7%, with his work also putting in 7% - so definitely an improvement. I've increased mine to £160 from £100- I only earn £4K so...

I can't see how we can do a lot more until the mortgage is gone. We are in our late 40s and the mortgage should be gone in 8 years.

Despite the fact that this is going to hurt I know friends and family are on less money and no way of saving enough for retirement, and couldn't even contribute those sorts of percentages. Horrid situation.

User. That's great. Lot's of us don't want to be poor in old age but earn about what you put away so don't have that option.

28% no employer contribution. Aged 35. Been paying in since I was 23. I have no choice over how much I pension. I am in or I am out

Thought I'd add a link for some of the recs above:

MSE forum forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19

Pension need-to-knows
www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/discount-pensions

And a really useful pension calculator

www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/tools/pension-calculator

A few people have said that their old final salary pensions aren't going to be worth much - you do know it will be inflation proofed? It will go up with inflation so in the future should be worth the same in today's money.

Also, they are guaranteed to a certain extent. If the scheme is underfunded there is compensation which will be paid at 90% of the pension (although there are limits) so you won't totally lose it.

If you are paying into a defined contribution scheme they should be sending you a statement every year so you can see the fund value throughout the years. If it starts to fall then you can transfer it to another scheme.

TWENTY EIGHT PERCENT! holy hell. how do you survive without a 3rd of your salary? We spend 50% on childcare alone.

I contribute 9%. Can't remember employer contribution. Current forecasts if I can keep staggering round full time until 67 should = £13000 a year. DH paid a lot into his while he could work, which was lucky - should be about £6000 a year on current forecast.

50% on childcare sounds loads! :(

So difficult to save for pensions.