Pension, getting a mortgage and going back to work

[Mumspirations]

I cant sleep at night for worrying, it makes me feel ill that I have little to nothing of a pension at 32. I've been out of proper work for 3 years, but before that struggled to find work after my degree and I'll health. I've been mostly out of work while raising my daughter. Can I claim any national insurance payments? I work self employed part time but only make £400 a month. We cant get a mortgage on this even though my partner is a teacher and earns okish it's still not enough, we have a deposit too. I am 32 and un married, I feel like my life is wasting me by. I used to have a great career but not I am stuck and I worry about the future so much! Any advice or to know I'm not alone would be a great help!

If your profits are £400 per month then your annual profits are £4800 which is below the small earnings threshold (£6,365) so you are exempt from NI.
Claiming Child Benefit should result in you getting NI credit towards New State Pension. www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility

Have you been getting child benefit for your daughter? If so your NI contributions will have been covered. If you're in rented accommodation with no prospect of buying you need to be contributing to a private pension too as you may have rent to pay when you retire. Is there any reason you only work part time?

Firstly, get married. I presume your partner is paying into a teacher's pension but you'll have no call on that unless you're married.

At only 32, you have plenty of time to re-start a career too rather than earn only £400 a month self employed. How about talking to your local careers service?

Nothing stopping you starting private pension! I had to do this as reduced work to care for sen kids

Firstly, get married

Yes, it’s that simple

@JeffLinton
You're wrong about the Teachers Pension. When my dsis died, her partner got her pension. You just need to nominate them.
Op, if your dp is a teacher, of course you should be able to get a mortgage! My DD has just go at one, she earns £25k currently, more than a teacher earns.

@soontobe60 I was thinking more about if the OP splits up rather than if her partner dies. If they break up, she's going to be in an even more vulnerable situation, whereas if married, she would have a claim to part of the pension. Of course you'd hope they'd stay happily together into old age.

Marriage doesn't have to be complicated to arrange and it's so important for women in the OP's position. (I am assuming he's her daughter's dad).

Name change it is if you want it to be
Reg office then pub doesn’t need to be expensive

Getting married isn't right for everyone and can leave you very vulnerable. I think op would be better getting her own pension sorted than lining up someone else's (I know that's not what you said you intend to do OP). If, after financial advice, getting married seems right then maybe consider it?

As unhelpful as this sounds, you probably just need to find a way to earn more. This might not be doable until your DC is older, but you can plan for it to increase in the future, you have at least 30-35 years of work ahead of you at 32.

You’ll be considered for a mortgage with 2-3 years of filed accounts, but at less than £5k per year, you won’t add much to the borrowable amount at the moment.

As for pensions, look at NEST. Even for the smallest amount, you get additional tax relief so it’s always worth doing, even if you can spare £12/month (3%).

Also, I don’t know what you do, but something I found useful was to try and increase my work levels by 10%... so if you have profits of £400/now, how can you push that to £440/month next month? Can one of your existing clients refer you to a friend/can you put your rates up slightly/can you push to upscale one of your existing clients by 10%?

If that works, can you do the same the following month? Or try a new tactic? You can absolutely increase your profits by small amounts and then just try to keep it going - I found this more achievable than thinking “I need to double my workload” etc. Best of luck x

You can't sleep for worrying so time to make a plan. Put three things on that plan and then do something everyday to make it happen.

Search "stakeholder pensions" an ideal, easy and affordable way to start saving.

Check how many qualifying years of NI payments you have.

Get married. Doesn't have to be a big affair. A registry office or civil partnership will give you both all the legal protections you'll need

Find a way to earn more.

Agreed @Lardlizard but, where has OP stated he wants to get married?

Well, if he doesn't want to get married, the OP needs to ask herself what she's getting out of a relationship where he's happy to have the benefits of living with her and
potentially fathering her child (she doesn't say if he's her dd's dad but not committing.

Thank you for all commenting ive changed my login name, I've taken some good advice here. We would like to get married one day, we put a house first on our list. My partner hasnt saved much if at all for a ring of any type, he also doesnt have much of a penison he traveled alot and didnt opt in 🤦🏻‍♀️

Okay, so he needs to opt in asap, it's madness not to. His employer will match his contributions which means he makes 100 per cent straight away, although of course that's long-term.
You don't even need a ring to get married. Have the party/blessing or whatever in the future if you can't afford it now.

And, as others have said, try to increase your own earnings.

You're still young, it's all do-able. 🙂