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.

To be fair the issue of the state pension age being raised for women to bring it in line with men has been discussed and publicised for years. If people claim that it’s taken them completely by surprise then clearly they’ve ignored the messages

Most SAHP are women, I hope every SAHP knows you need to claim child benifit for your NI stamps to be paid, even if your partner earns more than £50k

Which messages, Gatoadigrado? The one that equalised the SPA to 63 - fair enough. Then raised to 65 quickly followed by 66/67 so that the same cohort of women (those born in the mid -late fifties) were disproportionately affected with little time to put alternatives in place. The speed of the change can mean that a 1 year difference in age can make a 3 year difference in pension age.

There are women facing real hardship because of this. But they're women,they're a finite group and they'll go away eventually.

Women have definitely had a raw deal with pensions, my mum was told not to worry about her pension as she will receive a married woman’s allowance, she receives £200 a month, luckily my mum is still with my dad and they are not rich but ok for money, she is 78

Who told your mum ‘not to worry about a pension’ ?

I agree with @BackforGood

Spot on. I’m nearly 60 and have a private pension. Had it drilled into us at school

If my Mum were still alive, she'd be 88, and she had a pension.
Because you Mum listened to one person giving her poor advice, that does not translate to
"Women have (ing) definitely had a raw deal with pensions".

that is one woman, making a poor choice.

It was for her state pension advised by Government

Reduced rate National Insurance for married women
Until April 1977, married women could choose to pay a reduced rate of National Insurance (sometimes called the ‘small stamp’).

The reduced rate is 5.85% of your weekly earnings between £166.01 and £962 (instead of the standard rate of 12%) if you’re employed.

Sometimes people have to engage with news stories and conversation with other people, and not blame others all the time for not prioritising something that chose not to engage with.

I would agree with this. You'd have to have had your head in the sand to not come across the word pension in all your adult life. I can understand some jobs and circumstances don't allow enough to save for a pension but to claim that 'no one taught me' is just bollocks.

So you don't have a pension - own it!

But surely common sense tells you that if you choose to pay in lower contributions, you’re going to get less out? Otherwise why on earth would anyone pay 12 % if they could pay less than half that and get the same payout?

That was the advise given at the time and it was sold as a good idea

Yanbu
Women are disproportionately affected. The Economist did a really good article on the gender pension gap last summer.
Women are paid less so if they pay 10% into their pension on a salary of £16k then that’s less than their brother paying 10% of £20k.
They are more likely to go part time / stop working when they have kids
For those saying this is a choice - sometimes going back to work is not an option: the cost of childcare is more than the income and not just by a little bit, or if the child has disabilities there is very little if any childcare available. At school age there are special schools but no holiday childcare or very limited. One of my dc has autism and the local charity run playscheme is 9.30-4, whereas the holiday club his older brother goes to is 8-6. Again in theory it could be the fathers career that suffers, but it’s generally the mother who reduces her hours / stops working altogether.
Carers allowance is £60, not really enough to have spare money to pay into a pension.
All the above is an issue for today’s 20-50 year olds.

Re the question on how working longer may affect life expectancy, maybe @Daddaddad can answer that?

Just to make posters aware if you were born after April 1970 your state pension age isn't 67 years it's higher.

Unfortunately the bloody government under Cameron didn't put the legislation through parliament so there are only drafts on how the pension age will increase. These drafts may be wrong.

I’m before April 1970 so hoping they don’t change it, I have another 2 years to contribute and then I am entitled to my full state pension if they don’t move the goal posts again. I have been lucky I have a decent private pension in my own name, more by luck than judgement though, so glad I kept working and have another 15 years to add to my pot, I hope i’m still fit and able to enjoy it.

I went in a pension when I was 17 and I am now nearly 40
I don’t understand what the question is here

You called, @Taswama?

I don't think there's a simple answer to that question. It probably depends on the nature of the work. We know that lifestyle can obviously affect life expectancy (likelihood of contracting cancer, heart disease etc) and there is a clear correlation to socio-economic status.

I imagine if you were forced to do poorly paid manual labour into your late sixties your body might be less able to cope with the effects of aging in retirement. On the other hand, if your job keeps you in a sociable office with stimulating tasks it might help to stave off mental and physical decline.

Remember that women live longer than men (poster girl: June Spencer, 100 today ). So, if they are trying to live off their savings they can have the tougher deal. On the other hand, buying an annuity (ie converting your pension pot into a guaranteed income for life) is better value for women - think of it as an insurance against living a long time.

I need to go to spec savers I thought this thread was about women and penises

well, an anagram of pension is no penis...

YANBU OP. All of the things that disadvantage women in the workplace and perpetuate the gender pay gap are compounded post retirement. And women don't have the same need for pensions as men - women live longer and spend a lot longer needing care in old age, so we actually need more in pensions.

I read this earlier in the year and found it very interesting. And extremely depressing.

Thanks DadDadDad and well done on getting an Archers reference in!

I think an issue is it's eastly for a pension to not grow much or lose money.

There is also the lifetime isa for certain ages but the cash version really doesnt perform well in the long term because of the low interest rates.
And that and any isa is treated as cash and reduces benefits.

I found i was nervous starting a sipp i couldnt choose a provider and feel the charges on that and the funds you buy can be high then add in the risk.
However with the 20% extra from the gov that makes it look better.

Is it better to convert savings into pension though?

redspider1 I think work keeps you feeling young but I wonder what the impact will be physically. For women, staying at work until their late 60s is very recent. That is another 7 years post menopause.

Many low pay jobs are active if not necessarily heavy. Thinking of care, shop, cleaning work. So often done by women more than men. I do wonder if we are going to end up with a lot of women paying for pensions they will never get to enjoy.

Also make sure you check your state pension online, you can see any missed years and you can make up the short fall back 6 years if needed, especially SAHP who have not claimed child allowance

Can I ask a question about qualifying years? Do you qualify for years claiming child benefit until your youngest reaches 18 or basically when the child benefit ends?