Not contributing towards a pension is at best foolish and at worst utter stupidity?

[BHouse19]

I was really surprised (and concerned) having met with a large group of friends last night that some of them aren't contributing towards a pension (two stay at home mums for two + years and one who has opted out of her work place pension).

So I'm just wondering, if you're not contributing, how are you planning to survive during your retirement? Projections tell us that the state pension (if it still exists as we now recognise it) is in no way going to keep up with inflation.

Your husband or wife may be contributing to one but if the marriage breaks down the value of this to you is going to dramatically reduce for you as a single person

AIBU in thinking that saving for a pension is one of our most important financial responsibilities?

I don’t get it either but we plan everything financially as I worry if we don’t. I’m hoping our DC are sensible and start one ASAP as it’s down to them and them alone to fund their lives not others.

I think some feel it’s down to the state to fund their retirement, others think a spouse will and some are hoping for an inheritance.

When you are young, pensions seem such a long way off - but the new auto-enrolment rules are a really good thing imho to ‘nudge’ people into saving.

As a pp says, you can pass on your DC pension pot if you die - because it’s your savings - a lot has changed in pensions in the last 8 years or so.

Unless you can punt tons in, the actual pension amount at the other end is tiny. I have a civil service pension, which builds up quite quickly, but if they raise the pension age to 75 I might hardly see it.

Would rather save for a deposit and buy an airbnb flat.

I think some feel it’s down to the state to fund their retirement, others think a spouse will and some are hoping for an inheritance. I don't but I moved abroad at 23 to a job with no pension and didn't earn enough to start one (or know if I'd stay there). Never been in a job with a pension and never earned enough to have a private one.

Now at nearly 45 (and still aborad and not earning enough for a private pension and freelance) it's highly unlikley to be worth starting one.

If you want to understand about pensions you can do worse than looking at the gov’s own resources eg the pensions advisory service and pension-wise.

Throughout my 30s and 40s, pensions were a dirty word - as one of the pps said - I lost a heartbreaking amount of money in a private pension in the early 90s. And even now, one of my smaller pensions, left over from a job in the 2000’s, is shrinking rather than growing.

But if you use someone like Aviva (others are probably the same), it’s amazing how you can stay on top of your pension pot now by using their online portal. It’s so easy - and way more motivating than getting a random and dreaded bundle of papers through the post each year.

Its always a balance of what you need now and whether you think you will live or your pension fund wont disappear in a scandal of some sort.
Im not a high earner. I pay 6% of my salary to a pension which is match funded. I'll be honest and say 12% of not a lot invested over the years isnt looking like a huge pension. It does make me wonder if there were better ways for the money to work.

Ive invested in property. Personally, I find that to be a much better investment. Where I live, house values go up by 100k+ every decade. You would never, ever find a pension that yields that much. The market has been like this even during the recession and austere times. Now, I'm not saying that method is "fool proof" - of course anything in life has an element of risk to it. But I would far rather invest in property that remains mine (that I can sell at any point if I need to dip into it) and I have control over it than invest in a private pension that could go under when someone else in control of my money.

Whilst I agree that we all need to plan for the future, I have to say I am rather baffled by some of the attitudes in this thread that appear to value scrimping now for some hypothetical point in 40 years time. My mother died before she had a chance to retire and my dad died very soon after retiring. They scrimped and saved their whole lives so they could be comfortable when they retired and neither of them had a chance to enjoy it. I wish very much that they had spent some of the savings they had on enjoying their life whilst they still could. Many times they told me they wanted to travel but didnt due to worry about retirement savings and now its too late.

I was married for 20 years to a man who insisted his local government pension was quite sufficient for us both in retirement
Although I also worked full time he said to opt out of company schemes so we would have more money to live on
Like a fool I listened to him and did just that
We divorced after 22 years when he took up with another woman and he kept the lot
I am now 66 and retired and have a very small income
He is 65 and gets £2000 a month before state pension
Please look out for yourself
I dearly wish I had

I have the money to buy a property but have a Husband who is so dead set against it that my money is just sitting there.

I think it's very important to plan for retirement. I started my first job at 18 and I was only.part time at first but my dad adviser me to join the pension fund anyway. I'm.so glad I did, I went full.time and now I'm 37 with nearly 19 years in a final salary scheme. A few years after i joined they changed it so that anyone who was employed after a certain date could only join the defined contribution scheme. Luckily i keep mine as final salary.

Happygirl79 Why was the pension not split when you divorced?

lynseylou final salary pensions in the private sector are very rare now. You are very lucky!

beautifulstranger I’m not sure people value scrimping now - that’s a bit harsh. It’s a question of balance but it is undoubtedly a real issue for women because we spend so many years not working or working part time. Have a look at what Fawcett say about the gender pension gap. It’s shocking.

Barely scrape by in life as it is. Cant afford a pension right now

@figmentofmyimagination yeah, possibly it is harsh (but no harsher than saying people who dont have pensions are "stupid"!).
I just think it really affected me that they sacrificed their quality of life at the time, for some mythical retirement that they never got to enjoy. I will never stop finding that sad and tragic. As I said, I'm not saying people shouldn't save for the future but as you say, it has to be a balance- if you have always dreamt of doing something, dont wait until retirement age because it might be too late then.
Agree about gender inequality- its disgusting.

in order for me to receive £30,000 a year I would need to have a pension pot of £750,000
So you’d have to live for 25 years after retirement just to get a payout of what was put in. That isn’t very likely. You’d be better off saving the cash then if you die you can pass it on.

What's the easiest simplest pension calculator I can use to calculate this? Ie. If I put xx amount in per month I will get xx amount at age 60 etc?

It's hard to find any information as all you get is canvass calls and harassment when you look online and try the calculators.

LynseyLou1982

Not many people will have had that opportunity. That is good.

Some advice from Martin Lewis:
www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/discount-pensions/

Life is very unpredictable. So balance is definitely needed. We are not all going to live till we are 80/90. If we do we might not be very healthy. I certainly won't be turning into Judith Chalmers when I retire as I hate flying now. I go once a year for my family.

Financial education in this country is woefully lacking but as this thread demonstrate there are people out there who know the value of pensions but simply cannot afford it

I'm 38 so expecting to work for at least another 30 years by then there may not be any state pension for me to benefit from I'm just about to put my pension contributions up at work know that my childcare costs have reduced but up until this point I simply could not have afforded to pay any more than I have been

I'm torn between sticking more in my pension, paying off my mortgage (lost a home before don't want that to ever happen again) and keeping my money in the bank where I can see it. I'm trying to split evenly between the 3 but pension is definitely neglected.

I rent privately. I work part time. I’ve no money for a pension.