To ask if anyone else DOESN'T have a HUGE pension pot?

[PaprikaPringle]

I can't be the only one on MN who

doesn't already have 100s of 1000s in a pension pot
or a defined benefit pension awaiting me
or a stonking great property portfolio

Am I .....?

And if you have any of the above this isn't the thread for you

You're not alone. I started my pension at 21 when I began a fairly low paid office job. Stopped when I went on Maternity Leave at 28. Am now a SAHM and will probably only work very part time until both DDs are at Secondary so won't be eligible for anything for a while.

Nothing here, i'm 56 and have been self employed apart from when the boys were little. Have never earned enough to put anything by.

I think many women are in this position if they stop work when kids come along. I have several friends who i imagine are reliant on their husbands.

My husband is much more successful than me and earns a lot more and always has but until recently had no pension. He was 50. I found this staggering and have managed to help him get a bit of a pension but to be honest I think more pensions are a bit shit.

I paid into a defined benefit scheme for about ten years and amassed a reasonable pot but since then, despite upping contributions, my new pension is shit.

40 an no pension pot at all. Yes, I am worried.

Me! I've got cock all. I'm going to have to find a way to work til I die, but I won't be spending any old age I get in the UK. If I can I'm going to go with Dh to his cheaper and warmer country and live near the beach. In a shack haha.

Somewhere in the middle.

I’m self employed, 51, and have around £50k in a personal pension, plus a guaranteed £3k a year from earlier employment.

Better than nothing...

I started paying in at 24 or 25 but work part time as a single parent. 7% of not a lot is well not a lot! How does the state pension work? I have always paid ni during my working career so far. Still got another 35 years (at least) to go.

@Pheasantplucker2 I don't know about yours, but my pension provider makes ridiculously pessimistic assumptions in their calculator. I've put your details into a different calculator (www.hl.co.uk/pensions/pension-calculator), and it reckons you'll get £5,800 a year without putting anything more into the pot.

I have fuck all

No pension at all, seen too many people lose the lot.
One small house that will pay a small rent, until we decide to sell it.
We aren't huge consumerists and have lived life with little money the way we have wanted to.
Not for everyone but has suited us fine. We don't need anymore in later life than we did in earlier life.
Far less if you include no more family financial responsibilities.

You will only get full state pension, going to be £175 per week in April if you have 35 years NICs and were not contracted out into private pension scheme. If you have children under 12 or are a carer or on JSA you will get free stamp paid on your behalf. Whatever you do pay nic or you will end up on pension credit which is almost impossible to manage on.

My pension is okay ish but I am still renting and can’t see myself being able to get onto the property ladder so am supposing all my pension in later life will have to go on rent. Am 45. It is a worry, I wish so much I had a flat or house with a mortgage I was paying off as my rent is so expensive.

I don't think I will mind working in my 70s if I can as long as it's part time. 2 days a week in an office doing admin to top up my state pension, would probably keep me sane

Just turned 32 and a big fat nothing. SE so never set one up, need the money now and at this rate won’t even get to retire.

Me! I've got cock all. I'm going to have to find a way to work til I die, but I won't be spending any old age I get in the UK. If I can I'm going to go with Dh to his cheaper and warmer country and live near the beach. In a shack haha.

Can i come and join you? I could work for tips and beer in a nice laid back beach bar ad would be fine in a shack! I'm sure the punters will take pity on the 2 octogenarian waitresses and give us great tips and buy us beer :)

I believe I have £3k in my pension pot.... I’m 40! 😕 I didn’t get my life together until early-mid thirties unfortunately and it’s a struggle to catch up.

DH has been paying into a civil service pension his whole working life. While in real terms it is not great these days, he’s built up a decent amount.

Hopefully we’ll have paid off our mortgage by the time we retire. With no mortgage, 2 state pensions, his fairly decent pot and my pathetic one, we’ll get by.

And if it all goes tits up then I guess I’ll work until I drop and we’d have to sell our house....

The more the merrier findumdum! We can start a commune for disreputable old ladies.

My dad is 75 and works three days a week in a nice job. Tops up his pension.

But he is fit and well.

Presumably if you aren’t at pension age and unwell you get some kind of disability allowance?

Where are all the jobs going to be for the over 60s?

The jobs younger folk don’t want!

To be fair to my dad, he took a very low end job (after running his own business for years). They promoted him. He loves his job. I think it’s why is 75 going on 50

57 and bugger all in pension pot.

If you have over 15 years before retirement go high risk. Going for a low to medium fund for a long term investment is fine but if you want it to work hard, close your eyes, turn away and see what it's worth in a few decades.

55 and I think about 30K in pension pot. I am working now and paying into a work’s pension, plus £100 a month voluntary contribution. There were years when I was self-employed and when I worked for companies with no pensions, so I have big gaps. Our mortgage is small, relatively speaking, but it’s for an upstairs flat which we might not be able to manage as we get older. It won’t be paid off until I am 70 at the current rate as can never afford to save up lump sums to overpay and overpayments have to be at least £500.
DH will get state pension and I think a tiny bit of work pension but not much. Best scenario for one of us (financially) is if the other one dies - we have loads of life insurance.

£2556.39

Im 32 and started paying in about 18 months ago- after I went back to work after maternity.

Am a lone parent and long term plan is to find a rich husband!

I haven't got a bean in a pension pot, but I've got metastatic breast cancer aged 46, so I've had the last laugh .

Silver linings.