Please tell me I am not the only oldish person without a pension plan

[QuentinLettsisAbitofAtool]

Not a TAAT well it is a bit but sod it

I'm having a bit of a panic attack brought on by the MN survey about pensions. I don't have one, have a big mortgage, not due any parental inheritances and am in my 50s.

Please tell me I'm not alone as that might make me feel less dumb!

Oh and I put "oldish" in the thread title because I mean old in terms of a pension. Twenty somethings who don't have a pension don't fit my criteria!

Yep. I'm hurtling towards 50 and don't have one. DH has hurtled past it a few years ago and had a crappy little one which will pay about 3p a month. Our house is our pension; realistically speaking we're stuffed if houses don't hold their value.

You are not alone..... I own my house outright though so there’s that I suppose.

You are not alone. I have nothing either.

I don't really. My plan is to keep working. I've got some tiny pension pots from jobs I've had but not a lot. Changed job too often to build up any kind of value.

Not smart, but I was a single parent for many years and just didn't have any extra money to put away (in addition to employers' plans). It's only in recent years that I have had the cash to save so thinking it might be better either investing in shares or property than putting it into a pension.

can you downsize come retirement to release money?

Nope - a little younger, but no pension .... the figures being bandied about about what % of salary should be put away to secure a comfortable lifestyle is scary ..

Bloody baby boomers ...

Why don't you have any pension?

DH and I are mid 50s, less than 2 years into a 15 yr mortgage, self employed. I have a pension pot worth around £100k today, which will deliver a little bit extra to the state pension when we retire. DH has nothing. I worry that we won't be getting work at the current level for the next 15 years, that our income will dwindle over time and then what? Too late to do anything about it, we'll have to accept an impoverished old age. I try not to think too much about it, because if I do I get very anxious.

I've never earned much or worked anywhere where there was a half decent pension scheme. And lots of people I know faithfully paid into schemes that are work very little. Not on MN though, they've all seemingly got huge pension pots or are in reliable screens. Except you lot - my new best friends

We do, but weren't in a position to do anything until in our 50s.

We took advice, they tracked down any pension pots we had built up over the years - small ones, we both changed jobs, went to Uni as adults etc. The advisor gave us some really easy to understand advice and we are now saving enough to make a difference when we retire.

So it can be done. Look for you nearest, fully registered independent financial advisor, they'll be free to you, they take their fees if/when they arrange a policy for you!

Why don't you have any pension?

I don’t have one - I’m self employed and just have never earned enough to put anything aside! I’m relying on my husband and the house price going up a bit more 😬

I know! Some people have no idea! Ignore... concentrate on the actual advice given

I had little ones in my 20 and 30s only worth a few thousand. From 40 to 50 my company would match what i put in so i have a bit more now. Anything you can put in helps especially with the government putting an extra 25-40% depending on your tax rate. I got worried when i turned 40 and I'm still quite worried but every little helps. It's never too late to start and don't beat yourself up cause u had other priorities!

My Dad spent all his life saving for his retirement. He died at 66 and didn't get to enjoy his money.

Millions of people do not have pension plans.

• self employed
• carers
• SAHM
• those who have only worked for small companies

Auto enrollment means that lots of employees are now in pension schemes
but frankly anything less than 25% of your salary a month going into it will not be enough to live on

"retirement" as an idea is just over a century old
and in another 20 years it will cease to exist

That's pretty much what I did Curious. Consolidated all the bits of this and that into one pot after taking out the house deposit and with a decent market we should get a few hundred pounds a month extra on top of the state pension. It is what it is.

I changed careers and am not entirely sure how that will affect my pension. I had 10 years civil service pension then changed to the NHS mid 30's so I am hoping both combined will be worth enough to keep me going. DH has a decent occupational pension too, has been paying in since he started there around 15 years ago (we are both late 30's now). I am sure you are not alone, I reckon it is easier now as it is talked about so much and obviously there are occupational pension schemes, you won't have had that benefit. I am not really clear though when people say their house is their pension, do they mean they can downsize to release equity? That is definitely something we will do if we have to though we would prefer not to. It was one of the reasons we decided to move to a bigger house even though we had a very small mortgage previously, we figured it meant we could easily downsize - we see the mortgage a bit like a savings plan.

And I was pretty shocked when the IFA told me that my pot is bigger than those of about half the population .

I've got cock all. I'm 48.

25%

The whole thing terrifies me.

I do have a pension, but it will be tiny. I have always worked in a low paid charity sector, never had a work pension until it was compulsory and then it was paid at a low %.

I am likely to be made redundant within a year or two....with 3 years to go before I can claim state pension.

Terrified / depressed by turn.

Those of you without your own pension, do any of you have DH's with adequate pensions?

If you set up an online tax account you can see how much your state pension will be, and you can top up any missing contributions going back 6 years.

I've got fuck all due to long term illness and unemployableability. Hopefully I won't live long....

I've got a pension but I don't think it's going to be great when the time comes. There's no way I can afford to pay in 25% of my salary! I pay in 7% and the company 9% but I can't afford to increase it without lowering my current standard of living and I'm not prepared to do that.

I'm another. I was a SAHM for 20 years. I did some work, but only got the pension contributions from child benefit. XH had a 'brilliant' pension in the 80s that turned out to be worth absolutely fuck all. I took the money from the house when we divorced. I have some money invested, but not very much. Most of what I inherited from DF went on home improvements. I have had 4 jobs in the last 9 years and the one I am in currently I am hoping will be my last, but it is retail and I have to be realistic. I don't earn that much, so adding more to my pension is difficult and I would like to have the odd holiday, for which I have to save. On the plus side, our mortgage is paid off. I just hope I am able to work until I am 67 or whatever it is now. There are some days that I doubt that I can.