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!

Do you have a life insurance policy? Don't ask me how but my dm managed to convert her life insurance into a pension scheme once her mortgage was paid off.

I have one but I just assumed most people will never retire

My Mum worked for Natwest then RBS (after takeover) for years and years. Was a matter of weeks away from qualifying(?) for their Pension (I don't know the correct wording/details as she won't talk about it) then they made her 'redundant' or as she calls it "diddled" her out of it! Now she's living on £6k per year state pension..... It's heartbreaking

@Storm4star State Pension is £447 per month????

Forgive my naivety, but can you pay into a pension scheme without working?
I'm 34 but disabled with a degenerative disease so I'm never going to be able to work. I'm going to get absolutely nothing :( If I could pay into something then at least I'd live past retirement (if I'm not already dead)

Oh and about Equity Release....

In 2010, my parents decided to do this. Took £50k (only received £44k after 'fees')

My Dad died months later. Now, my Mum has discovered that she owes Aviva £99k! Every single month that amount is getting higher and higher by thousands.

At 74 she is having to sell her beautiful bungalow which she adores, and downsize.

They said she can live there until she dies and they would allow my brother & I a year to sell it. If my Mum miraculously lived until she was 90 there would be potentially be nothing left of her £335k bungalow - all for a £50k loan....
Not only that but if my Mum needed caring for in her old age and Aviva are owed most of the house then what? Hence why she's essentially lost the house. I am devastated for her. I wish I could help but I'm disabled on benefits!

She said to me just this morning, that as it turned out, most of the debts they were planning to payoff with the £50k loan, were wiped once my Dad passed away.

Regardless, what an absolute scandal. By the time her house sale is complete, Aviva will receive £101,500 - Profit of over £57k

powerless Yes you can pay into a pension scheme. Best vehicle is probably a ISA. You should speak to an independent financial advisor. They are well worth the fee and pay them a fixed fee. Don't buy products from them where the fee is included in the product.

Overall, financial education is absolutely awful. So many people don't have a pension because they have not learned how to properly budget. It drives me insane that so many women are absolutely clueless about money. How many people save first? I'm not talking about huge savings but putting away something every month is important even if it's as little as £2 a week. Working in financial services I've seen highly educated women in professional jobs with no savings and no pension. The insurance people buy is another bug bear. How many people are still buying whole life instead of buying term insurance? How many people don't think about disability insurance?

My ex has a fantastic pension. We would have had mortgage paid off and a great early retirement. He had other ideas and buggered off. So I offset my entitlement to a share of his pension and remortgaged to keep the family home (so that I could bring up our DD in it)
I think a lot of women do this. From the outside it looks like they've done well out of the divorce but I worry a lot about retirement.
I see a lot in the press about women making poor financial decisions but I think what's not taken into account is that these decisions are being taken in the best interests of their children rather than their own and these are decisions that the men are not making in the same circumstances.
I've always worked but feel that my health has deteriorated since becoming a lone parent and as PP have said that period between 60 and 67 looks bleak.

Public service pensions are paid for by the contributions of those who are working now. Pensioners paid in their working life to provide for older people then. This system will break down because of cuts, and because of employers not making the neccessary payments. These payments were part of the wage, the pension part of your conditions. Local council wages often low compared to other employment. The pension looks good but in many cases is just enough to keep you off means tested benefits, not to live in luxury. Pensions are like all insurance, a bit of a scam unless you are quite well off, but probably better to make some provision if you can. For many people their house is their wealth.

I don't have one. My plan is to marry a millionaire, or die young. Knowing my luck it will be the latter.

Worse luck would be to do both!!!

@Talkinpeece Defined Benefit schemes haved closed throughout the public sector. I have my old police one - the 1987 scheme - which will pay out when I'm 60 as i left before I retired, and I know what I'll get per annum, but the scheme closed some time ago for all members, and everyone is now on a career average scheme.

I'm now a civil servant, and also in a CARE scheme.

@Baking101 police staff are usually on the local government pension scheme if that helps you look it up in your area.

I don’t but DH has a very good one

Inspired by previous threads like this and others about financial protection, I saw an IFA two weeks ago to get some advice. Going back to see him on Friday to hear his recommendations and hopefully start a pension and an ISA. Just wish I'd done it 20 years ago. Better late than never, eh?

I am do have a pension so not going to comment on that as the thread isn't about that.

Those without a pension then the state one isn't actually that bad assuming you have a house that is paid for and cheap to run. I think the problem is that the age you can draw it keeps moving and having seen how people's health can change so much when older even if you wanted to work you might not be fit enough which can leave a gap between not working and being able to draw the pension.

Also I notice people mentioning that their pension projections will only give them a pittance per year so I am presuming they are still looking at annuities. I no longer think annuities will be worth it so for me I am thinking of drawdown when I retire.

As for using a house as a pension by moving to a smaller house then I have read that people don't do this early enough so by the time they really need the money they are much older and don't feel they can move anymore and remain stuck in a large house with no money.

powerless you can still pay in to a personal penison - up to £3600 per annum.

42 self employed ex bankrupt. No pension. Mortgage on a 4 bed house currently valued at 2k. No kids.

Husband has gold plated pension which will give us 16k a year plus 120k lump sum. After he dies (he’s older than me by some years) I will
Continue to get 10k a year.

I own my mums house with about 150k. So my mums house plus downsizing is my pension. Then lll get state pension plus husbands pensions. The equity in the house and my mums should provide for the extras.

So a combination of downsizing

Heading towards 50 and I don’t have one either, no idea where to start. I’ve been a carer for the last 10years ans before that I just couldn’t afford it. Does anyone know any good links of where to start?

I have one which with projections will be worth about £250 a month at retirement age, my wife has an average salary pension which should be worth around £600 a month. So we will have to keep working at least part time until our state pension kicks in as well.

I am planning on selling up and moving somewhere hot and buying as many small holiday apartments as I can to rent out and live off the proceeds.

I don’t think I will ever just retire

@NaiceShoes sadly they were plans started in the 1980s. Suspect huge unregulated % management fees gobbled up the majority of my contributions. Later plan is forecast better return. Unfortunately didn't contribute while SAHM for years.

My Mum worked for Natwest then RBS (after takeover) for years and years. Was a matter of weeks away from qualifying(?) for their Pension (I don't know the correct wording/details as she won't talk about it) then they made her 'redundant' or as she calls it "diddled" her out of it! Now she's living on £6k per year state pension..... It's heartbreaking

She won't talk about it because there's loads more to this story than she's letting on. You don't lose decades of contributions to a pension scheme because you get made redundant a few weeks before retirement. That's utter nonsense.

My guess is she never paid into it, and is too embarrassed to admit it.

State pension 160 quid a week?
I'll be minted😁
I own my own small property outright and I have some savings that I can invest so I won't be rolling in it but I'll be ok
I'm a pretty frugal person and I don't need a lot of money to be happy

State pension 160 quid a week? I'll be minted

This is what I mean. It really isn't that bad. I know plenty of working people that don't have £640 a month left after mortgage/rent, commuting costs etc. All you need to pay from that is food and utilities, as long as you don't have a big house or expensive car to run it's easily doable. As I said in a pp, my mum manages fine and she also has a pet she spends a lot on. £200 a month for food (if you're only feeding one that's plenty) maybe £100 a month for bills. You still have over £300 left.

But its not just "spending money" is it. You still need to be able to replace a boiler/change a car/ pay petrol to visit places and grandchildren/ keep house together/buy shoes and clothes...

re 60-67 period

My parents are currently in this situation. Dad made redundant at 60, eventually secured a part time job at 63. Hammered by bedroom tax. DM also made redundant. He can retire and claim state pension next year at 65 and will be significantly better off, they've really had to wade through the past 4 years.

He also didn't start a pension until his mid/late 40s but that little bit of extra money that he was able to claim when made redundant has been a life saver for my parents. He was on a low wage so it wouldn't have been a huge amount he was paying in.