To ask if anyone else aged 45 and over hasn't got a gold plated pension and other funds

[ChristmasShearwater]

I know you're out there. Show yourselves
Its not a TAAT - it's a topic that comes up frequently on MN and every bugger other than me seems sorted!

Nearly 46...have never been able to afford a pension thanks to somewhat financially abusive marriage and now being a single parent.

Unless I inherit from my mum (which is looking increasingly unlikely) or marry someone rich and generous I will getting by rather than enjoying any future retirement.

That said I know ow plenty of people who haven't made it that far so I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I do own my own home with a relatively low mortgage so if all else fails I'll downsize to a one bed flat when the times comes.

Thank you for replies.

@Jizzle - read the room

Teacher’s pension (paid into for 21 years). Worth 7k a year. Gold plated - Woop
Woop! Not.

Me. I have absolutely sod all and no chance of getting any.

Me. 49 and my pension pot is about 14k so I'll probably get an annual payment of 50p or something ridiculous. I'm currently not able to work so it's not even as though I can boost it.

I’m 47 and a self-employed lone parent surviving on low income, child maintenance and tax credits. No spare money to put into a pension or to pay “voluntary NI contributions” so even my state pension will be minimal. I pay about £200 a year in NI so I expect I’ll be entitled to about 20p as a pension!

‘Lucky’ to have a bit of equity in my house as my parents both died many years ago so once the DCs are older I’ll have to sell up and move somewhere smaller with no mortgage and then work until I drop! Both parents died fairly young so part of me doesn’t really think I’ll make it to retirement age anyway.

Burying my head in the sand somewhat!

DP is a high earner and has good pension prospects but as we don’t live together and he doesn’t seem particularly interested in marrying me after 10 years together, I’m facing a future of either living on his charity and at the mercy of his whims if he decides to Chuck me out, or a fairly modest life of my own, working in some format forever. I’m actually ok with that, health allowing.

There aren't many gold-plated pensions any more

Oh, I know - i was just going for a zippy thread title @Chersfrozenface (fab name!)

I've got a couple of questions:

You don't have to buy an annuity now, do you?

And you can take 20% of your pension pot tax free?

What do you do with the remainder? Purchase an annuity? Other investments? Draw down cash each year?

I'm 50 and self employed

I have a £45 a month pension coming to me from 60

I am PROPER FUCKED

you would need £3,000 per year extra. To get this from an annuity, you would need a pot of about £90,000
I don’t understand this. You’d have to get £3k per year for 30 years in order to get back the £90k. So surely you’d just be better off with the £90k in the bank and spend £3k per year? Otherwise you’ve put in more than you’ve got out? Ditto the pp who said you’d have to save £1m to get £35k per year - surely you’re better off with the £1m in the bank?!

DH literally has the state pension and the workplace pension, I have the state pension.

I have about AU40k which will give me $100 a month. Grand. Unemployed and no prospects, I don’t think about it often as it’s upsetting and I’m in a far different situation that I was 8yrs ago.

Sorry, a what ?

I'll worry about that when I'm older :)

Tiny winy pension of £5k a year but I’ve been drawing it since I was 52. Currently 62 and we closed our business last year so living off DH’s reasonable pension of £16k plus his state pension.

I am fortunate in that I inherited from my parents so have investments that I use for treats.

Me - I've been paying in to my work one for dinkeys but stupidly never upped payments to get max employer input. Couldn't afford it when paying nursery fees then forgot.
Have recently increased it to 8% and company pay 10% so hopefully in a couple of years it will start to look a bit healthier. Will also relocate away from outer London once kids are independent which will free up cash.

I'm 47 a single parent and my pension pot will be very very small. Im a lone parent so I can't afford to pay into it. I don't own my own house, so no chance to release equity from that. I was looking at my car last night wondering if I could live in it to save money when the kids leave home 😂
I can't say I'm overly worried, I don't have many luxuries now so my lifestyle won't really change

48, small pension, only worked full time for the past 16 years but paying minimal pension contribution. Rent, so no house to fall back on.

Looking to massively increase pension contribution when i turn 50 but will probably be working till i am 70.

DP was self employed for years, only worked in an office for about 14 years so only paid minimal too.

We just simply couldnt afford to increase out contributions with small kids.

Me! I am relying on the sale of my mum's house when the time comes

@AbsolutelySure

Me! I am relying on the sale of my mum's house when the time comes

I'm presuming that your mum is still alive, what happens if she needs to go into a care home ?

Your post made me sign up to check: £9371 a year.

Memo to self: keep DH alive as long as possible!

You’d have to get £3k per year for 30 years in order to get back the £90k. So surely you’d just be better off with the £90k in the bank and spend £3k per year? Otherwise you’ve put in more than you’ve got out?

Not if the annuity you buy takes in to account inflation and increases every year.

jizzle that's not what OP was asking is it? Great for you.

I'll also get a small teacher pension - but we do get the state pension on top which is I think about £8k a year. Hopefully with the house being paid off we will find it's enough.

There are a lot of us in the same position, with very little in personal pensions.

Mumsnet always seems to have threads whereby people with £200k pots are worried it’s not enough so it’s reassuring there are others in the same position as me.

@coogee

You’d have to get £3k per year for 30 years in order to get back the £90k. So surely you’d just be better off with the £90k in the bank and spend £3k per year? Otherwise you’ve put in more than you’ve got out?

Not if the annuity you buy takes in to account inflation and increases every year.

Having started looking into this recently I think what the annuity gives you is certainty. You can choose to have it index linked or also pay out to a surviving spouse. So e.g you may get £3.8 for no spouse no index linking, £3.5 if you added in one and £3.2 if you added in both (made up numbers)

Where you win is if you live over the estimated retirement age they project / so I believe you could also get a higher annuity with a life limiting illness for example.

The issue with drawdown is you need to put them in low risk investments as you don't want a stock price crash when you are relying on your pot for income.

You may also run out if you spend too much or live longer than you expect!

Not if the annuity you buy takes in to account inflation and increases every year
How much would you have to put in though? Say to get £10k a year?