To not have a good pension pot in my 30s?

[cheesenpickles]

I've always lived pretty close to the knife financially and the mandatory pension scheme only came in when I went on maternity leave then left my job to go freelance. I'm back in a traditional role now part-time but at almost 35 I think my current pension pot is about £300?

I just don't see where else I can save. My husband has an excellent, very well built up pension through his employer and we are almost mortgage free. I'm quite lucky in that my job can be done well into old age and some of the best people in my profession are well into their 70s.

How much would I need to, realistically, set-aside for retirement?

You need 35 years working to get the full state pension, which is about 8.5k a year.

There's no way I want to be living on that little money in my retirement, so I'm putting away what I can now into my work pension. If you don't save now, you will pay the price later on.

After graduating I spent a few years in entry level jobs that didn’t pay enough to afford pension contributions, and a few years out of work due to serious illness... then I had DC and got locked out of employment by the high cost of childcare.

I’m 40 and can’t afford to return to work until DC are at school. Even then I’ll mostly be restricted to work that fits around school hours. It’s pretty much impossible for me to build up a pension at this point so why bother.

The fact is, unless you have already bagged several years of pension contributions before having DC, and have a good enough job to be able to afford to return to work afterwards, then you’re going to be in a situation where you have no pension. If you’ve been ill or out of the workforce for a while then you’re up the swanee.

I don't see £8500 a year as that little, especially when your mortgage will be paid off or housing benefit will cover your rent.
I've been bringing up my teenager on about the same (just under £750 for everything, apart from rent, which housing benefit covers) for the past few years, when I don't get any work (supply teacher) and it's fine. Even last year, I had hardly any work and I still managed to save £500 to send him.on a school trip. Perhaps it depends on the area of the country one lives in?

@CremeEggThief You can open your own pension, it doesn't have to be opened for you by an employer.

And of course, as we get older, we usually have health/mobility problems etc that become more costly. Hopefully the NHS will be able to look after part of it but I still think one would struggle on £8500 a year.

Especially the younger generations who will have been renting for a larger proportion of their lives than older ones - and some of whom may still be doing so when they are retired - so the £8500 may have to cover housing costs too.

Agree with PP - it is becoming increasingly straightforward to set up your own pension, even if you are self-employed or out of work.

For those whose partners are the breadwinner etc. they may want to consider putting a bit of money each month into a pension in your name.

I’d love to know where all these amazing pensions people have are. I’ve been paying into schemes since I was 22, including decent final salary ones, now 45 and my pension projections are still shit.

I'm 40 this year and you do naturally think more about this as you age. I was crap with money for a long time. Much better now luckily.
We are both lucky we've got NHS and local government pensions between us. So that's a start.

Hopefully the mortgage will be paid by 55 at the very latest ( only got house 2 years ago) as we overpay. Once that's done I want to work part time or in a less physically demanding role so I can work longer as we are now expected to do!

We don't have kids so we will have a little more cash but that's currently going into the house decor and repairs. Once that's done I will start to put away a little more.

However you also have to live for now. I could squirrel all my money into retirement and not even reach it and I've seen that happen. So for me it's about balance. I live well and enjoy life now but have one eye on the future as I age. You can only do what you afford. With the state politics is god knows what will have happened in 25 years!

We calculated ( using online calcs) that we need a joint pension income of 39k a year We think we are on track for that and I have the bigger pension. It’s something we have always taken seriously. There is no way I’m slogging it at 70 or having to turn heating down in winter. If you have nearly paid off mortgage then start paying bigger sums into a pension pot!

I would not even be able to have a mortgage if the monthly payments had not been made affordable by extending its term until I am 67 with that I end up paying the same as a professional would pay for a room in a shared house and can afford for DS to have school dinners and a warm home.

I really don’t think it is bad planning on my part, I am just paying for the sin of becoming a SAHM for a few years and trusting my exH’s pension would be enough.

But look at it this way - if you don't pay enough into a pension, the government will top you up anyway, with pension credit. Hence a lot of people see no point in saving, when they can get the money from the government when they retire anyway!

Pension credit only tops up your income to £8500 a year though (for a single person).

If you can avoid relying on your spouse's pension to keep you both going (given level of marriage break-ups) then please, please do so.

If you are going through a divorce, don't forget to ask about how much of your STBXH/STBXW's pension you will be entitled to if they were the breadwinner and you were a SAHP etc.

If you are self-employed, please do consider a LISA or SIPP - so easy to set up and there is lots of information out there.