Women and pensions

[Gin96]

AIBU to think women are short changed when it comes to pensions? The amount of women I speak to who don’t have a private pension. A lady I work with is 67, she only has a state pension and can’t afford to retire. Ladies in there 40’s with no pension at all, they don’t think it’s a problem as the state will provide for them. Why are we not taught in school about finances and pensions? As I get nearer to retirement age I am suddenly taking an interest and it is a mind field trying to work it out.

@gth 1234 I think that is already happening

It was reasonable to transfer out of a final salary scheme in the past where your company was on their last legs, the pension was under funded and the pension wasn't protected.

I did that, and I am glad I did. It saved years of uncertainty.

I wasn't advised to do it though! 😂 My advisors said that they couldn't advise me to do it and I had to sign a disclaimer.

Littlehouse - yes I know a couple of teachers who’ve been compensated because opting out of the teacher pension was a very bad move

If I earn less than £6,365 and my NI contribution is zero - do I have to top up my NI contributions.

You have to earn over £162 a week to qualify for your NI payments, I would ask for advise and see if you can make separate top up payments

I'm in the LGPS, and a big issue in my workplace has been restructures - a lot of staff have left through VR, whether they wanted that or felt they had no choice but to take it. Have you seen the huge % reductions to the LGPS pension if you take it early? ie before 65 or 67, depending on whether the final salary part or the career average? LGPS say it's because you are getting your pension for longer, but USS (for academics) don't reduce their pension payments...

My employer has been trying to remove jobs from some in the 50-54 age group, because if the employer ends up in a bad financial position in a few years from now and has to get rid of more staff, they won't be able to afford to make the over 55s redundant, as they will have to hand over a lot of money to the pension scheme to pay their pensions unreduced. So far they have been trying to deny VR to the over 55s.

It stinks of age discrimination. As we get our pensions later and later in age,

You have to earn over £162 a week to qualify for your NI payments, I would ask for advise and see if you can make separate top up payments Don't you think this is a problem? They (Boris tonight) suggested that they will raise NI contribution levels to pull people out of poverty but they are not pulling people out of poverty, they are just delaying the pain of poverty to old age...how the hell does no one pull him up on this shit!

I think of women don't have pensions then they have stuck their heads on the sand. If they haven't worked as inconvenient them not sure what to say.

If they've been unable to, like some men also, due to incapacity or being a full time carer then totally understand.

Sorry, I meant to say, over the years as we get our pensions later and later the more severe are the effects of being chucked out of our jobs with a widening gap between redundancy and pension age. It wouldn't be so bad if employers were more willing to hire people in their 50s, and parents who have taken years out of work to look after children would get another go at saving for a pension.

Unfortunately taking years put of work isn't an option, or retiring early unless you have private funds or enough in your private pension, unless you find state pension sufficient, in which case all good.

The difficulty of trying to find a job in your 50s does sound like a nightmare, anyone else finding this?

The difficulty of trying to find a job in your 50s does sound like a nightmare, anyone else finding this?

This is one of the reasons I won't go part time even though we can easily afford it. You can't assume that you can continue working late in life either through illness or just the job market.

My plan is to continue to work full time for shorter rather than part time for longer. This allows me to save and put money into my pension just incase I 'have' to stop working before I want to.

I find lots of women quite short sighted when it comes to work especially those that say it's pointless working as I only have £20 left after childcare expenses. They don't factor in long term especially when they have a DH/DP to 'share' that financial hit. Yes I know everyone of them had a valid reason why it's best for their family but if shit hits the fan later in life then it's no point saying it's unfair.

Agree,

In fact my pension was one of the main factors in continuing to work even when we had our 3rd child and the childcare cost the same as my take home pay.

I did drop to 3 days a week when the children were babies (my choice, I didn’t want to be working 5 days a week when they were really tiny, but no judgement on those who do.) But I made sure to start full time work again when my youngest turned 4.

Of course people have to make their own decisions, and there will always be some who stop working for years and years, or who go part time after maternity leave and never go back up to full time. But of course this is going to affect their pension later on; it’s illogical to think it won’t.

I’ve always viewed the state pension as very basic... enough to live quite frugally but no more. So it stands to reason that if you want more than that, you’re going to have to pay into a private pension. I suspect because people live longer now, many of them will expect more. I know plenty of people in their late 60s/70s who are physically and mentally still in good health and still want to have holidays, meals out etc so it stands to reason they need to have been paying in a hell of a lot more than just NI contributions over their working life.

My dad may be a PITA sometimes but he told me to take out a pension as soon as I started full time work. Had a private stakeholder pension for 18 years now (started at age 20) and been in the very generous company pension for 11 years.

@NationalAnthem I agree I think it should be paid by the government if your a low earner, the government, your NI stamps are paid when you claim benefits so it should be paid if you work on a low income

Gin96 - ok re. Low earners, but what if we all go part time in the country (as best for our families) and make 50p a week, who then supports us all?

Yes you would have to work full time to qualify or earn over a certain amount

But @Gin96 that’s sort of how it already works. If you work full time on NMW, you earn enough to pay NI and accrue qualifying years towards a state pension. But as NI is a %, you pay less than someone earning more. So although low earners don’t get all their NI paid by the state, they are subsidised. If low earners don’t earn enough, the government can tackle that by increasing personal tax allowance, or increasing NMW. I don’t think they need to do it by complicating the NI system further.

I agree. My dad has been self employed his whole life- no pension. My mum had us young and though she’s worked consistently for the last 20 years, it has only ever been part time- no pension

I had my children young and have only just (now 30) in the last 2 months, started making pension contributions. I’m not going to save up near enough in the next 40 years to get me through retirement (still renting). It’s a real worry