To ask you what annual pension you've built up aged 43 ish?

[Boredbumhead]

Just that really. I chose my career in academia as a lecturer because if the final salary pension scheme, but in 2016 it changed. After 16 years in the profession my pension is so far only 9k per year and a small lump sum. AIBU to be disappointed by this? I feel like I chose the job based on the pension benefits, as well as other aspects about not wanting a corporate job, but now that has all changed. Academia is now like a (badly run) business and the pension scheme has been badly eroded.

How much do you have in your pension pot, aged 40ish?

I've massively failed so diversified. Went part time at DC1 (now 15). 3 rental properties and 5 mortgages later at 60 we should have enough to retire on approx 50k with no more mortgages. Hopefully that will be enough.

I’m 41, have been working in local government for three years and earn 49k. I have never had any other pension pot.

Every year 1/49th of my salary goes into my pension pot.

So say I remain on 49k and retire in 25 years, I understand my annual pension to be (1/49 49,000 28 years) = £28,000.

However reading the replies on this thread I’m now thinking that I have miscalculated or misunderstood this scheme??

@kitschplease is your understanding of the LGPS pension the same as mine, in my above post?

@PinkFondantFancy

I'd be thrilled! If you didn't work another day in your life, you'd get a lump sum plus £9k a year for the rest of your life, probably increasing with inflation and with an attaching spouse pension.

This can't be right. However it does raise a good point, when they send out the statements how do you know if the figure is "assuming you stop paying now" vs "assuming you continue to pay in at the same rate until you retire"?

I’m a lot older than 43 and will only have a state pension as I’ve never earned enough to put money aside for a private pension or worked somewhere with a pension scheme. There are many thousands of women just like me out there.

I’d be very happy with 9k a year!

I had no idea how good I had it, so thank you to those who've taken the time to explain. I thought we were in trouble as DH has the bare minimum. I still want him to get into a better position but I feel much more positive, especially as I've been unreasonably grumpy about the distinct lack of a silver spoon in my mouth today.

If you Google lgps modeller, you can work it out lg. That's the only way I can figure it out, but it sounds like we are in the same one.

@Wallywobbles “hopefully” £50K with no mortgages will be enough? Are you taking the piss?!

@StealthPolarBear doesn't it say on the statement? Mine says what it would be if I continued to pay in at the same rate for the next 20 odd years.

@StealthPolarBear why do you think it can’t be right? My annual illustration for my DB pension shows what I’d get if I contributed nothing further, and what I’d get if I worked to 65, made the same contribution level, on the same salary. My DC pension statement doesn’t give a now and future the same way - it gives the actual pot now, and then what that pot would be at 65 (again at same contribution level) and what annuity that’s projected to buy. Annuity projections are quite strictly controlled I believe and are quite pinch of salt even if the market didn’t change.

@LGemployee so you'd have a £28k pot plus whatever it gains when invested to last you through your retirement. Is that what you mean?

45 and about £6k

Also an academic but pot reduced substantially due to part time working when children were younger. If planned to buy extra years to get it back to where it should have been when I returned to full time but they stopped that

@kitschplease

If you Google lgps modeller, you can work it out lg. That's the only way I can figure it out, but it sounds like we are in the same one.

Thanks, I’d never seen that before! That is great thanks.

@laurenlodge yes it seems that’s right. The number seems a bit high compared to others on here so I wasn’t sure?

[quote iftherewereahorseyinthehouse]@StealthPolarBear doesn't it say on the statement? Mine says what it would be if I continued to pay in at the same rate for the next 20 odd years.[/quote]
I suspect it does but not in easy words :) I remember trying to interpret which it was and failing

@LGemployee you’re right about 1/49th accrual for LGPS so that meaning you’d get 28/49th of £49K.

However, I don’t think you’re right that you pay in 1/49th of your salary each year. LGPS contribution rate for your salary band is 8.5%.

Also, strictly speaking there is no individual “pot” - your 8.5% all saved together would never buy you £28K per year. Even your 8.5% plus LGPS contribution might not... they’ll rely on investment + additional propping up if needed + future employee’s contributions*
So it’s not your pot, but an entire pension fund that gives you a promise to pay out, rather than an indivisible pot.

*examples - I’m happy for a MN pensions expert to say, “actually it’s more...” 🙂

None. Life changing accident in early 20s decimating my ability to work, then self employment and not enough income to spare and it has been impossible to find out about and arrange a personal pension so far due to constant difficulties.

42 now and it terrifies me that I will have nothing but state pension when I'm old, and will very likely still be renting. Not sure what i can do now and obviously can't afford expensive advice.

The gov ought to help low income people and benefit claimants save for an extra pension if we want one but they do nothing (that i know of), and we can't even be auto-enrolled for our own good like at work now.

Not competing with you OP, I am genuinely really worried about the future without a pension. I can relate to to things not turning out the way you hoped. But maybe your pension seems a bit better than it did earlier this evening!?!

I'm assuming the forecast at the end of 2020/21 will be (more) dire but before all this I was looking at about £1200 a year. Hopefully the economy will manage to improve at some point but I'm feeling rather gloomy about it at the moment.

49

No pension

At all

Only paid in 5 yrs, then moved abroad, then was a sham, then worked self employed...

I’ll have to keep working and/or live on DH pension and/or sell the house and downsize and live on that

9k at 42 sounds amazing as you’re only halfway your working life!

@Pikachubaby what happened to your 5 years of contributions? 😳

44 with a mix of career average benefit and a personal pension. The CAB has built up £12k p/a so far (assuming retirement at 65) and the private pension has around £140k in it.

My pot is around £42k. I gather that would pay around £2.5k per year. DH doesn't have one. We will own our house with no mortgage very soon though so hopefully can start to save again (when I get a job as I've been made redundant). It does worry me, but we have 25 years or so to get on track.

47. 27 years of pension contributions and have put LOADS into it over the years - mainly as I have a chronic condition and expect to retire early through ill health.

Value is about £350k, so a pension of about £15 to 17k. Which is depressing when I think of how little disposable cash I've used for fun stuff, to put more into the pension.

I am 35 and have been seriously paying into a good pension for 2 years now. I just got my statement and if I was to continue at this rate I would have a pot of £155k and I worked it out around £320 a month.

I am a bit freaked out by how litte attention I have been paying towards my pension so I have just started the process of consolidating all my little pensions into one.

Clearly I hope to pay in more as I earn more and my outgoings reduce (I have small children, high mortgage etc). I am not convinced there will be a state pension when I retire, nor do I think it will be at the age of 68 as currently projected.

I am looking forward to paying in as much as possible and getting the pot bigger!

@SomeHalfHumanCreatureThing

Those of you with private pensions - interested to know what percentage you have to contribute.

The percentage doesn't really mean anything because the value of the pension is based entirely on how much actual money is in the fund.

These days, as a rule of thumb, you work on a 3% real return (i.e. after inflation, so 4.5% ish return). That means that for a £15k pa pension you need £500k.

That's to use the income from the capital as pension. Of course, you can also draw down and spend the £500k, you could have, say £25k pa for twenty years (plus state pension), then it would more or less be gone (not quite, as there would have been income increasing it) but you'll be 20 years older and maybe be then happy to live on the state pension.

So, you need to work out, based on what age you think you'll want to live on pension, how much you need to save. My aim is £400k in pension and £100k in other savings. By age 55. Which means setting aside £50k pa for the next three years, which (taking into account the tax treatment) would be more than 50% of my salary, when I have one which I currently don't!

@Ellisandra we have 4 kids between us - the Uni years will not be finished when we hit 60.