..to be slightly concerned at my pension pot age 30?!

[Zara87]

I have just checked and I have a grand total of £3790 in my pension.
I'm 30.
This is really bad isn't it
How does this compare to the rest of you?

With my childcare bills at £1600 a month for the next 18 months, and 2 very young dc, there is no way I can pay any more than I already am!

I'm 30 and my pension pot so far is around 16k. I've only been monitoring it recently, and worked part time before. I'm full time now but on a below average wage. I'm quite lucky that my employer pays in 16% and I pay in 7%

I’m early 30s and been paying in 3% + 3% from employer for last 2 years, so not a lot.

I do have savings in a pitiful ISA and wondering whether to pay some of this into the pension as a lump sum, I’d been a bit wary of locking them away for so long but I have enough for ‘emergency savings’ otherwise. Does anyone else pay in lump sums? If so is there any tax benefit in doing that over normal savings?

I’m mid-50s so it’s a bit more urgent for me.
Thankfully in my first job there was a pensions advisor that explained how it worked so I think I’ll be ok.

I started at 22 and paid in 5%, my employer paid in 5 and the gov add the tax back so in each year I put away 11% of salary. That’s been fairly standard all the way through except when I worked for big companies between 2010. & 2015, and they paid in 15%.
I’ve got about £210k but that has taken 33 years. I’ll work another 5 years if I can, which will mean £240kish.

My dm spent her retirement worrying about if she could turn the heating on, and I refuse to do that.

40 here and my pot is about 75k at the moment with a payment of 4% from and 4% from my employer each month. It’s been going for 17 years (scary!).
I’ve a 2nd property which has a mortgage currently but will provide an income too by the time I retire and mortgage on my house will be paid off by then too.
Pensions baffles me though and I’m sure I could do more with it than it am.

I'm 35 and have just had my pension statement through - worth £270k. I started paying in at 21 on 9% and now am at 15% with much higher earnings.

Discussing pensions with friends recently and I didn't dare mention how much mine was worth as it was clear that it was I'm in the minority. I earn close to £100k though (quite recent rise from ~£50k)

I'm 27 and mine is 12k. I've never contributed more on top of my employer 3%. I have 3 properties and growing so they will be my retirement pot

I don't have a pension and am self employed, but I am hoping to have paid off the mortgage on a buy to let that will give me an income of around £1000 a month when I retire. Am hoping that will get me through. Will it?

The problem with that is you have all your eggs in one basket which is never a good idea regardless of the basket in question. What are the chances of the property and rentals market staying consistently strong throughout your retirement? Brexit, interest rate rises, increased unemployment, government addressing the housing crisis.... There are various things that could see your income reduce significantly. Your capital (the value of the property) would also take a hit and could be inaccessible to boot if you can't sell.

I have 11 years of NHS pension contributions (me 7.6% and them about 14% I believe). I’m 35 and have got about £30-35k I think. Must check that. Love public sector pensions.

I have paid into a pension since I started work. Due to the joys of compound interest my pension should be around 30k per annum which is hugely reassuring to know. Even the odd £ or two adds up OP

Public sector here so I have to put in 9.3% in (well, I could opt out but that would be silly) this is then matched and more by my employer. I just wish I'd started with them earlier instead of messing around in the travel industry! I'm 30 and whilst I don't know what it currently stands at, it's grown a hell of a lot in the last 3 years and it's probably the main factor in my decision to return to work after maternity.

@MismatchedStripySocks it's 14.3% that the NHS pays in  that's what I have too, and I pay in 9.3% - it was awful at first because my salary was higher than my last job but my take home pay was less, but it will be worth it one day!

If you are on a Local Government Career Average scheme then am I right in thinking it doesn’t really matter what the size of the ‘pot’ is? Because every year you pay in, you will get a payout of 1/49th your salary for that year. So what is the relevance of the size of the ‘pot’?

Monte - yes you’re right. In public sector schemes the benefits you get are based on a proportion of your salary rather than being based on the contributions paid in, so those with a public sector scheme don’t have a pension pot as such, just a promise of receiving a certain pension in retirement based on salary and the number of years paid in. However, although there isn’t a pension pot as such there are ways of putting an overall value on the promised pension - for example to compare against the lifetime allowance the pension is multiplied by 20 to get the lifetime allowance value.

Does anyone know what the state pension will be like in 30-40 years? Any predictions?

I always been rubbish with money, didn't look into pension before giving up my career to be a sahm for 9 years so did not contribute, i am 43 and have around 65k pension pot. We get no inheritance so will have to work really hard to pay off mortgage and into our pension pots. My current employer only match up to 3% so it's rubbish as I am on much lower salary now than before.

It's a big worry for me, I know my age put off employers in my field, how am I going to work until at 67 if I am so unemployable at 43? Think I will be forced to take early retirement, this mean I have to rely my dh take care of me... (not ideal)

I mean work until at least 67. It will be an issue for some of us if they raise the age again because ageism in job market definitely exists.