To ask how much you have in your pension?

[lbyc]

I know its a really personal question but I'm just interested.

I've been banging onto my partner about how important it is to start putting into a pension but he doesn't seem to get it!

I'm early 20s and have near £4K in mine already. The thought of being older and having absolutely nothing or very little in my pension is terrifying.

I know it's going to be years and years before I retire but I still think it's so important.

What about you?

I’m 39.

Zero.

I’m disabled and a carer for disabled ds. Dh works full time in a low wage job and he has a pension. We own our home outright though, I expect we will downsize when we are older and live off that and dhs pension. I am very much of the mindset that with my health issues every day is a blessing as cliche as that sounds and live for the now.

We seem to be having a pension thread every few weeks!

I’m not complaining, I had no clue about pensions for a long time.

I'm 27, saved £300 but I own my house so would only need to save to maintain it all.

DP has invested in property and also has a small pension atm about £3,000k

ViaSacra - be careful when cashing in large sums as pensions are taxable, and added to other sources of income when determining tax levels. Anything totalling over £50,000 in one year will be taxed at 40%.

A couple of teachers mentioned uothread that they weren't sure what their pension was worth. If you go to teacher pension online and register you will then be able to log in at any point and see what your pension is worth. I think you just need your teacher number and your ni number from your pay slips.
And if it's not what you want it to be then you can take out an ACC with prudential for teachers. I was advised to do this as a newly qualified teacher and have paid 5% of my salary into that since the 90s and I'm glad I did. It's only worth £1000 a year at the moment but it makes up for all the years I was part time.

I’ve got a related question for those with 100s of thousands in their pension funds, how active are you with managing the investments or selecting the funds your pension is invested in?

39 and have 20k. I only started 5 years ago.

I now pay 18% incl employer contribution. Looking to increase to the max 23.5% next year. You can pay more I think but do not get tax relief.

Hoping to secure an income of 20k p/a incl. state pension. I could live on less but want to be able to travel.

My tips are increase it every year if you get cost of living increase, you will not notice the difference!

There is also an excellent Pension Planner tool on Aviva.

I have 8K in mine from my first 'proper life job (left in 2014 after first baby).

I don't have one at current workplace as I only work part time and always needed the extra cash. But I am 34 now so really do need to start paying in again.

32 and I think I have about £80k. Currently paying 15% of my salary and employer pays 7%. My mum doesn’t have a pension and the thought terrifies me. Reading some of these replies makes me think I should do more but I appreciate how lucky I am to have this.

I am 40 and have a career average defined benefit. I expect a pension of around £50k in today's money....Definitely the biggest perk of being a civil servant! If you're getting that much pension then you're on at least £100k (didn't want to add to the media hype about gold-plated pensions - it's by no means a typical civil service pension)

Most public sector pensions were contracted out when that was a thing. It was only a tiny portion of the state pension that you were contracted out of, and it wasn't compulsory, just beneficial as the civil service pension provision was better than the state one.

@MereDintofPandiculation I'm glad you pointed that out! I work in public sector, pay 13.5% of my wage into pension and will get nowhere near what some of these pensions that some of the public sector workers say they get on this thread! I'm intrigued what their jobs are! Like you say, can only assume senior management or already around retirement age middle managers on final salary schemes.

I cashed it all in when I turned 55 and gave HMRC 45% of 75% of it - lucky Government.... and the rest to the children for housing (and I bought myself a new lap top). There was quite a bit in it. However I will work until I die so not much point in keepig it going. I realise taht si not most people's decisions. My fatehr put all his money into pensions and then worked full time to 77 and died at 79 so that wasn't such a great investment really (and no one lives very long in our family - my mother died at 75 so very different from families where most live to over 80+).

I work in public sector, pay 13.5% of my wage into pension and will get nowhere near what some of these pensions that some of the public sector workers say they get on this thread! I'm intrigued what their jobs are! Like you say, can only assume senior management or already around retirement age middle managers on final salary schemes.

It'll be those retired or close to retirement who are enjoying the really good gold plated public sector pensions. The same benefits are no longer available for younger workers/new starters. Another case where the older generation have benefitted from over-generous economic conditions of the past, and pulled up the drawbridge behind them so future generations don't have the same opportunity.

I get my pension boast in.
About 350K at age 38.
It's easy to have a lot in your pension if you earn a lot. That's my analysis. Especially if you are a higher rate taxpayer.
I've always contributed the equivalent of 15-25% of my salary from my first proper job aged 21. This has usually been with about 7.5% employer contributions. So I've personally chucked in 7.5-17.5%.
For someone else who asked, I don't really switch in and out of funds regularly. I moved out of the default and did 70:30 split US:European equity type trackers about 10 years ago.
I want to retire ASAP, mid to late fifties I guess.

However I will work until I die so not much point in keepig it going

What happens if ill health prevents you from doing that?

@TheGoldenChild don't worry- pensions aren't lost- you just need to find the paperwork for each one and/or contact the old employer to ask who your provider was. Make sure each time you move house you tell the pension provider you've moved.

If they're defined contribution pots you should be able to merge them in to one big pot, which is then easier to track. It's a bit of paperwork and they may charge you, but it's usually a good idea. Check which of your pots has the lowest annual management charge.

If, however, you're a public sector worker you (probably) have defined benefit schemes- in which case you don't need to do anything except ensure they have the right address for you.

Both systems usually give you 25% tax free lump sum on retirement. You can then buy an annuity with the rest if you've got a defined contribution scheme, or keep the money invested and just draw down a small amount to live on, or get the cash - but I think you'll pay tax again on it. If it's a defined benefit scheme though you'll just get paid a monthly amount.

Please don't just leave it! You need to keep track of these and ensure you don't lose where you've got investments.

DH’s company has a financial advisor on retainer, they pay for a meeting with her every 6 months for a review. The company the FA is attached to offers a reduced rate if employees want to use her for private investment as well, so we met with her once a year or when there is a need to review something.

DH and I have £35k and £25k respectively (we are 28 and 29). We are contributing 4% (me) and 6% (him) pre-tax to get company match and then a further 10% post-tax into SIPPs, plus £650 a month into Vanguard S&S ISAs for pre-55 use should we be lucky enough to need it! Also overpaying the mortgage - once this is paid off we will funnel the extra into pensions.

My mum has always been really disciplined with her pension and watching her enjoy early retirement with a paid off house in the UK which generates handsome income, another home in Ireland and plenty of hobbies is really really motivating!

I have no actual clue exactly what I will get, despite being able to view my pension summaries.

I am a transition member of the teacher pension scheme.
So up to 2014 (16 years worth) I have accrued in the final salary scheme, with a lump sum of £20k ish.

Since then I'm on the average salary scheme, with an optional lump sum of £11k if I want my monthly rate to reduce by £1000.

On top of that, I've qualified for the lower rate of pension due to paying the opt out rate up to 2014. But now that's not allowed and I'm paying more to qualify for the full pension amount. I don't know whether I'll be paid somewhere in between, whether rules will change again or whether it will be allowable/worth it to pay to boost the not full amount up to the full amount.

Who knows!

It also doesn't tell you what amount is in the pension pot you've paid into. But I think it's about £120k based on my income over the years.

school - on my work until I die - I work at a pc so the only thing that would prevent my working would be dementia. If I lose both my arms so cannot type I could dictate. If dementia happened I have a pretty valuable unmortgaged house that could be dipped into or sold and/or state pension is there - I have a full NI record and am likely to save some more money before I am at the demented stage anyway.

Shit. Mid-50s, pension dates from when I was last able to work 17 years ago. 100K, maybe a bit more.

I have a Final Salary pension from banking which I will get at 60 (58 now) around £22,000 p.a. DH has something similar. No mortgage.

I also have a DC pension from 10 years at Lloyds with £60,000 that I've transferred to a SIPP and am drawing it down which has enabled me to semi-retire at 57.

Still working part time for the NHS.

Im not how much is in mine but I retired at 48 on a special pension for life. If I lived till 80, it would have paid out just over 4 million at £120,000 per year to include RPI increases
Im very very lucky as I am still able to work part time under a certain limit

Just over £600k and mid fifties but will taking a lump out to give to my daughter as a deposit for her first home, otherwise she will be living with me forever!