To be worried how I will manage to work until I am 67?

[brasty]

I am in my mid fifties. I already get more tired than I used to when younger. I wonder how I am going to manage to work full time until I am 67 years old. And continue to do my share of cooking, cleaning, family stuff and actually having some fun.

I have already posted that I am in the LGPS/LPFA.

LGPS is automatically contracted out.

Yes you were contracted out. You need to hope they don't realise they got your forecast wrong.

I was also in LGPS and did payroll. You are going to be a bit short of 35 qualifying years.

I'm about the same age as brasty. I didn't start earning a decent salary till my mid-30s, having worked in very low-paid jobs until doing extra qualifications in my early 30s. I'm now paying off the mortgage as fast as I can, plus putting extra into my pension pot. I was contracted out for several years between 2000-2016 because the advice from everywhere was that you were better to pay into a contracted-out employer scheme than stick with full NI. So when I reach SPA I'm assuming I'll get something in between full pension and full contracted-out rate.

Like brasty I can't imagine working until 67 and I'm slowing down already. My salary at the moment just about sneaks into the 40% tax band, so I'm well-paid but not exhorbitantly so, and I have the luxury of being able to put something by for the future. I'm very aware that this is impossible for people in low-paid jobs. My anxiety for myself is that further changes to SPA and benefits, not to mention the vagaries of the stock market, may mean that I can't necessarily count on my state pension being paid at 67, or even for the state pension to continue as a universal payment - I worry that it will become a means-tested set of benefits and I won't qualify because of having saved into my private pension as hard as I can. Plus I can't know what my occupational pension will actually pay out. So although I'm planning as best I can to retire at 62/63, I may find when I get to that age that the landscape around me has changed and I can't. It's not as simple as plan for the future and everything will be fine.

If I'm finding it as difficult as this, I don't understand how people who are in lower-paid jobs can possibly save the amount needed to plan for a secure, comfortable future.

Most people do not get near 40% tax paying. Yes most people will never save enough to finance old age. Which is why we used to have workhouses in Britain.

I'll raise it on Monday granny. I've print outs with that quote on though.

It is all a mess and I think it is because of how the govt "sold" it to people without explaining that some people won't gain, they won't lose even if you don't get the full new pension you will be in the same position as me with the full old pension, which is about £119 I think, plus SERPS/S2P for the years you weren't contracted out plus the years you were at home with the children. In my case it adds up to more than the new pension but for some people it will be less but will still be what they would have originally been entitled to.

From my point of view, and yours, the LGP will more than make up the difference so it isn't a disaster but it can be a shock to find you aren't getting what you thought you would. The unfortunate ones are people like brasty where the amount they get in the private pension might be less than they would have got if they hadn't paid into a private pension and got the full rate of the new pension.

I think people are harsh when the imply it was lack of forethought as some employers didn't offer good pension schemes and some people could only afford small contributions. Some people planned and were lucky, some people planned and lost out. Pity the people who have ended up with no private pension as the scheme failed and still have the deduction made from the SRP for the years they opted out.

There's a potential COPE figure in the small print of £52.00. Will get some advice but as you say not a disaster and if I work until 65 which I intend to that will add another 6.5 qualifying years I think.

So I Don't think I was contracted out from 1981 to 1988, may have been 88-94, children 95-2003, then LGPS to present. The gov website seems to indicate I've made full NI contributions or have had credits for this whole period though in the flag against each year.

That's why we should learn to save as much as possible. Hopefully, I don't see my self still working at such age. At 60 ideally, we should just enjoy life with grandchildren, that's what they always say.

I'd say do everything to avoid that. I'd save up big time so I know I'd retire early and be happy.

RaindropsAndSpaprkles I don't know if the govt changed this, I retired nearly 3 years ago so it is possible, but the plan was the opted out years got deducted from 35 years even if you had more than 35 years. I know that sounds confusing but think of it as you work and pay NI for 42 years but for 7 years you were opted out. 42 minus 7 still gives you 35 so all OK but no that isn't how they were planning on doing it, the were doing you work 42 years so you have your 35 then they take the 7 from the 35 so you only have 28 years.

There was some uproar about it, but quiet uproar as people didn't understand it, so they might have back tracked on it but I wouldn't bank on it.

The COPE amount is the amount your private pension would need to be to compensate for the amount you lose from the new pension because you were opted out. It does indicate you were opted out. The good news is I am sure you LGPS will be considerably more than the COPE amount. Not everyone is that lucky.

You can probably understand why people get confused about all this and why not everyone knows what they are going to get.

You might get a more detailed explanation if you ask for a written response rather than the online system, sometimes human beings are useful. I think initially they were concentrating on working out figures for people closer to retirement.

Haven't read the full thread so may be repeating.

The basic problem is that length of life has increased vastly in the past 50-100 years. But length of "fit and healthy" life has not increased, or at best has increased only a little or only for the well off. So we have an increasingly large section of the population who are alive, obviously need money to live on (and may well need a fair bit of costly medical help too) and yet are not physically well enough to earn that money.

I don't have a solution unfortunately.

That's why we should learn to save as much as possible.

Oh god, why do people keep coming out with this stuff? For so many people, it's not that they haven't learned to save, ffs, it's that there's never anything left over to save. So patronising.

At 60 ideally, we should just enjoy life with grandchildren, that's what they always say.

Do they? Who are these people? What a strangely rigid idea of how everyone's life trajectory should unfold.

I feel as though this thread has finally fallen into a parallel universe where everyone lives in a neat semi a short drive from their adult children and perfect grandchildren, and has a generous pension and healthy bank balance, and no one ever swears or farts or steals anything.

well lupo, for one i'm really grateful to have read some of the posts because I do live in a bubble.
the comments about savings etc. are hopefully helpful for anyone in their 20-30's who may have wandered onto the tread. indeed if there isn't anything left at least be fully aware of the current government schemes.

Lupo - yes - not everyone is able to save. (But people that can absolutely SHOULD). 20 years ago it was much easier to get on the property ladder which made pension savings appear more possible. It's much tougher these days. This government certainly aren't helping young people as much as they could or should. Apart from voting them out - what can we do about it? Genuine question- I don't know.

And everyone had children MrsLupo.

Some people simply don’t have a clue. It’s like on the thread at the moment where a women is living in a house with inadequate heating and can’t afford to buy an oil filled radiator- there are people suggesting she gets new double glazing fitted and asking why she moved there in the first place.

60 isnt the magical switch to everything being ok. I was teaching, travelling 400 miles round trip weekly to care for and visit elderly patents, coping with adult children living permanently abroad, adult son in min wage job lically and struggling with rent, grandchildren abroad so not seeing them much.
Sadly my financial pusition inly changed after my lovely parents died this year and for the first time ever in my adult life I can say I have some savings.

And by savings I dont mean loafs, just enough so if the washing machine breaks at same time as dishwasher I dont have to have one new one or the other. Makes such a difference

Wonders if some people on here changed to a basic no internet phone, and no internet at home whether they could save a bit to put towards their contributions. Or pay for missing years.

Is the internet a luxury or an essential? Perhaps that’s a whole new thread.

My phone / internet at home with landland bill come to around £56 a month - and that’s without TV.

In my opinion the Internet is a utility much like water or electricity
it's very difficult to participate in Modern Life without using modern communication methods

The Internet might seem like a luxury compared to the days before we had Internet
But you could also say that electricity is a luxury compared to the days before we had electricity

I agree Ohfortuna.
You could equally argue that you don’t need to run a washing machine as people used to manage perfectly well with a washing tub and mangle. What do you need electricity for? Fire for heat and light and if you shop everyday you won’t need a fridge or freezer.
I think this is where some people get cross with younger people saying they are skint but then have expensive phones etc.
Yes you could argue that internet at home is a luxury but I don’t think it is. There is a lot you need internet for, job applications for a start.
Also it can save you money. Buying stuff online is often cheaper than in high street shops and you don’t have to pay for the bus or parking for a start.