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!

It really is so unfair that those working in the voluntary sector have missed out over the years compared to working in the public sector!

Green, so long as you are claiming benefits, you should still be entitled to the state pension?

43, self-employed, barely earn enough to pay tax most years, pension from former employment languishing in the Pension Protection Fund after the company went under and will give me about £300 a month. I'm hoping that the business I'm building will be able to support me when I'm older, as I don't want to rely on DH's pensions.

I wasn't trying to be goady i was just wondering. I don't know anyone in rl who doesn't have a pension. I've been paying into 1 since i got my 1st FT job after uni at 21.

I have one that I started when I was about 19 but it's not worth much. I simply cannot afford to put more into it... DH is the same. We are very average earners

Oh GreenDinosaur thats sad, but I get you. Same OP.....absolutely bugger all, and unless I get married again, no DH either

25% of salary - that is the TOTAL contribution - between employer and employee into a Defined contribution scheme.

Anybody in a Defined Benefit scheme - final salary / career average / call it what you will
is better off than most - because the scheme has to pay you an amount linked to your earnings

• Nurses
• Teachers
• Local Government
• Civil Service
• MOD
• Police
• a very few big old company schemes

if you are in any of those, sit tight and thank your luck stars.

If you are in a Defined Contribution scheme - like NEST or any auto enrollment
and have a Pension Pot
you have a problem and will probably not be able to fully retire

LittleCandle, I think lots of women end up in that position, not working for decades, divorce then left with nothing. It is one of the many reasons I advise against not working for an extended period. Unfortunately it is too late for you, but hopefully it will make others see how important it is to support yourself.

I've only just started paying into a pension plan at 40. It's a good employer contributory scheme and isn't costing me much so I thought I'd just get on with it finally. Though really I don't imagine myself ever being able to retire so I'm not really sure what the point is.

This is why I'm trying desperately to get a job in the police staff. Pensions are do much better in the police. Or at least I hope the staff get the same privilege as the officers.

Lazypuppy
I was never offered a pension scheme by any of my employers (accountancy firms) until I was in my 40s and the law changed.

Remember that 60%of the population has no savings either.

Nothing here either. An abusive husband and two disabled children meaning I can't work saw to that. Not sure what I will do, I don't even own a house. I try not to think about it too much.

I have an NHS final salary pension. At the moment it is a good scheme but a lot can change between now and when I can retire (2045..)

Does my post clarify things for you a bit @Lazypuppy? Quite a few in my position going by the support groups I belong to.

Nope. I'm 47 and I have fuck all. Can barely afford to feed my kids, never mind pay into a pension. I guess in my old age I'll be sitting in a tiny bedsit wrapped up in a blanket as I can't afford heating, and eating dogfood.

@itshouldbebetter It's never too late to start and don't beat yourself up cause u had other priorities! - thank you. Life just gets in the way sometimes, doesn't it?

I only have a small one although I have paid into it when I can, voluntary sector and self employed here too. There are online calculators you can use to model expected income against different monthly contributions or lump sums but whatever I put in the answer was naff all! I'm 49 and have lots of friends with large public sector pensions who are talking about or have retired in their 50s. I may get an inheritance, which I think I will put into property, but I might not get anything. I wish I'd taken it more seriously when I was younger, but then I'm a lone parent and there isn't lots of spare money around.

I’m nearly 50 and have no pension to speak of. I have seen too many seemingly healthy people die in their 60s to worry too much about it. My own mum manages just fine on a state pension. The unemployed are meant to manage on £65 a week and I think the state pension is about £150? So I never really understand why people say pensioners have to choose between heating and food etc. As I say, my mum manages just fine. Yes there isn’t much for luxuries but she’s always warm and fed and her bills are paid. I’ve been a single mum bringing up 2 kids on less that that.

I’m going to build up my savings so I do have extra cash for holidays or whatever. I also already work from home, which I’d be happy to do part time after 67. It’s a relatively easy job. And if I wasn’t well enough to do that, then I wouldn’t be well enough to jet off on holiday so it won’t matter! Pension funds collapse etc. I don’t really trust a lot of them anyway. I will be fine so I’m not worried.

I’m 25 and I have one. 🤷🏽‍♀️

But Stormyou assume that state pensions will still be around...

Lazypuppy - I don't think this is the thread for you ...

You have now recognised the issue so do something about it. If you are working for an employer they should be paying in 1% of your earnings into personal pension plan for you and soon it will be 3%. You should also be contributing into the same pot. It is not too late. Start now and for every £100 per month you put in the government put in a further £25. If you could pay in £400 the government would pay in £100 so a £500 investment each month. I do this. If you don't have work place pension then start a stakeholder one on internet as less charges. I have two, my teaching pension which is frozen as I recently stopped teaching and I can draw this when I am 60 and an additional stakeholder one which I have been paying for 13 years since my divorce as I had to have one to put some of my ex husbands pension settlement on me when we split up but I have continued to pay into it too. I can draw this now if I want to as I am 57 but will wait until I am 60. I shall also draw state pension when 67. I still work as a foster carer and will continue until child we foster is 21 as he has SN's and I get paid allowance for that but pay quite a bit of it into pension.

I don't have much as have been self-employed for 15 years or so. Three defined contribution pensions that I've never paid into with between £7,000 and £30,000 in (estimates of between £12 and £23 a month income) and a defined benefit pension that kicks in at 60 although I've no idea how much is in it and the pension company dealing with it have ignored my questions four times. I left that company in the early 1990s though and was there for six years.

I'm entitled to a full state pension. My view is I'll keep a house slightly larger than my needs for as long as possible. I'm still paying a mortgage and will be for another couple of years (I'm mid 50s). If the house is worth £400k for example in the future I can downsize to a flat for £200k when I really have to. I will work for as long as I can and save as much as possible.

I think I can live off the state pension once the mortgage is paid. I don't have, want or need a car. I do like to travel though but I think £5k a year for that will be fine so if I downsize the house and have £200k in cash, divide this by 20 years say (work as much as I can through to 67 with the expectation of living 20 years after this) then that gives me £10k extra a year to live off (roughly, of course I won't be using so much in later years after 80 in terms of travel). Of course things might go wrong - care needed, going into a care home at some stage etc. You can plan a bit for this but not completely.

I don't need or want a pension of £25k a year. Even an extra £5k would be fine. I'll do a mix of working as much as possible to cover the bills, perhaps taking in students, airBnB etc.

I started work in 1973.
48 years and I've paid NI for approx 27 of them ( all kinds of reasons why only 27)
My state pension, via the govt calculator, will be £135 weekly.
So far so good, as I may retire in 2021, I hope to be allowed pension credits.
Since 2015, one been paying into a workplace pension. I have an ethical employer, who match what I pay.
If I retire at 66, my eligible age for a state pension, I will have a small pot.
It will be my ' buffer' money.
That, and everything I can save.
Its never too late.
Some is better than none.

41 no pension and still about 200k left on my mortgage probably need to have a wee think about the future!