To opt out of my teaching pension?

[Artfullydead]

Just that, really ... any thoughts?

We could really, really use the extra money tbh.

Im fucked :(

SwimmingJustKeepSwimming

Contracting out has ended now, so you have plenty of years to amass a fair state pension entitlement, I think.

I need to relook in the light of day too. But thanks for making me aware. I think I've gained NI contributions through child benefit too, and am actively looking to return to work in some eligible capacity (too p/t now) . So hopefully will have something. id like to retain at 40 but I'm aware above people are exhausted by mid 50s... I wish I'd retrained prekids but camt change that.

I opted out temporarily when saving for a deposit and then opted back in this year. Hopefully it won’t have don’t too much damage.

I opted out for 5 years and paid into a private pension (bad advice ) but I suppose at least during those years I paid full NI which will boost my state pension slightly.

Davecoaches- have you looked into getting compensation? Quite a lot of teachers opted out for a short period (due to advice which has since been judged bad advice.) teachers I know who did that have been compensated so they don’t lose out overall.

We were in the same position as a poster upthread- by the time we had more than one child, we were no better off in the short term with us both working, because the equivalent of my net income disappeared in childcare fees. The main reasons I continued to teach was to keep my foot on the career ladder, and the pension. It would have been the easier option by far to stop working for that period because it’s tough getting up, out of the house by 7.30 to do a hard day’s work when you don’t feel any immediate financial benefit.

But honest to god I’m so glad I did hang on in there. However tight the finances are OP, your pension is the last thing you should consider cutting back on. It’s about the best pension going. Yes you’ll get state pension later on but a) you don’t know what age you’ll have to be to claim it... 67 at the moment but that’s only going to rise, and I can see it easily becoming 70. Whereas you can claim your TP early if you need to. b) the state pension is seriously shit. You may be able to exist on it, but it’s not enough for any decent quality of life