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!

Teacher pension here. Paying in for 24 years but 2 maternity leaves and part time for 18 years reduces that quite a bit.
I did take out a small avc when newly qualified which will make up for some of the reduction. I have never opted out and I know that the payments per month for my standard pension are eye wateringly high, higher than I would have chosen to pay out if doing it privately. Currently it shows I'll get 1k a month from my main pension and 100 quid from the avc. That's not a bad rate but I need to check whether I will get full state pension as at one point if you paid into the teacher pot you got a reduced state pension. That may have changed.

Dh on the other hand has only had a workplace pension for the last few years. And pays a pittance onto a private one so he will be working later than me and we will be funded by mine mostly.

Some of my teacher friends have plans to retire at 55! I wont be able to afford to do that due to being part time for so long.

@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!

So why are you just now posting about this, asking for personal information that you yourself don't divulge?

Me.

Stopped working 22 years ago, lived overseas but not on an expat contract, had DDs, returned here when they were 13.

I’m now 53 and checked my pension status last month. If I can’t catch up for the last 12 years then I’ll be entitled to £112 per week.

Luckily I’m still married and DH will get his full state pension next year.

If I had stayed in FT job in London I would be much better off in retirement, but life happens.

Me. Couldn’t afford to contribute in my teens and 20s. Then had DD early 30s, I took 3 years out of working. I then worked for 11 years and contributed to a work pension. However her SEN issues became too much and had to leave work. The work pensions are about £800 a year.

I’m now 49, have just started a SIPP, but it looks like I can only contribute a couple of grand a year under pension rules as I’m still caring for DD and not working (although hoping to soon). Not sure if that is right or not? And I have all my NI contributions paid up so I can get a full state pension.

Husband has a good pension thankfully, and we’re lobbing as much as we can at savings because I can’t contribute anymore annually to my SIPP.

We adopted out son as a baby. I gave up full time work as we found out he had SEN.
Basic state pension for me when I retire

I'm 46 and have been freelancing for 13 years. Before that was in, first of all, shit jobs with no pension; then a couple of jobs with a pension but tiny salary; then a part-time job (along with freelancing) therefore tiny part-time pension…
I have some 'life savings' but not much. Won't get any money from family. Interest-only mortgage, although it's a biggish flat in London so in theory could probably downsize.
It's a bit desolate really and I can never quite face sitting down and trying to think about it/sort things out.

Yes, I have perhaps £18,000 in pension. Nothing really. This won’t look after me in retirement. What to do?

Well I've got a decent enough pension, but I can't believe how little I am forecast to receive.

48 years old - pension pot of already around £120k currently paying in £1500 a month but only forecast to receive around 20k a year at age 67 which includes state pension.

How can I be paying in £18000 p.a. (excluding state pension) for the next 20 odd years (on top of £120k pension pot) and only receive £12000 p.a. on retirement? Sounds rubbish to me, although I realise I am more fortunate than many.

I'm 41 and worried about it I have a tiny pension as I opted out in my twenties and childcared away my thirties.Now working and paying a decent amount in but too late I think.

I do hope to pay off the mortgage over the next year or two. So will have equity in the house. Obvious answer will be downsize and invest wisely.

@aurea. This isn’t a criticism but….

That just shows how unobtainable a good pension is for many. - you pay in more than I earn before tax! And I really do like being able to eat today rather than save for a tomorrow I might not get. (Define won’t get if I don’t eat!)
So it’s easy to see why a) people don’t have a pension. B) don’t want to put such large sums away they may never see again or may need tomorrow.

Mine isn't great - mid-fifties. To avoid a cliff-edge drop in income when I retire (probably twelve years) I've started adjusting what I spend downwards already, to reduce my pre-retirement income and boost my post retirement.

Eg ignore housing - this works on the assumption that you will own an unmortgaged home by the time you retire. Let's say your current projected monthly retirement income is going to be £800 state pension plus £100 private pension - total £900. Let's imagine currently after you've paid your mortgage you have £1,500 to live on. Stop living on £1,500. Start cutting back more and more each year so that by the time you get to retirement you are living on £900 a month. Put the difference into the pension. This avoids the shock of the cliff edge, and means that actually your post retirement income will be more than £900 because you'll be saving more. In other words it just redistributes your money over the remainder of your life and smooths it out.

You might say: I can't cut back, I only just about manage of £1,500. But that cut is going to be forced on you when you retire, so I'd say better to take control of the situation now.

Anyway, that's how I'm dealing with the run up to a more frugal retirement!

Me, aged 56. Got a work pension I pay into, but I've had lots of years out for children or working p/t. I won't have many years in it. DH was self employed - is now 63 and hasn't worked for about 7 years (was in construction and he has ill health). He gets absolutely fuck all - because I am working and can keep him, apparently.

He never paid into a pension at all. Will have to wait another 3 years I presume to claim a basic state old age pension. We are looking at a poverty stricken old age, I guess.

Me. I worked for years in a crappy job for my final salary pension scheme only for the company to go bust. I have always paid into a pension since my twenties, but not enough. My house is my pension.

I’ve got friends my age (50s) went into the civil service Straight from Uni and have very good provision and considering retiring before 60. Got to admit I’m a little bit jealous.

Meh.
No family, no pension, no property.
State pension, I guess.
It is a guess, too, because I have no idea about it all.

I'm 52, have a civil service pension to come at 60, full state pension (according to my recent forecast) and a pension from my last job which kicks in at 55 (if I choose) plus I have shares and savings.

@OoglyMoogly

I'm 52, have a civil service pension to come at 60, full state pension (according to my recent forecast) and a pension from my last job which kicks in at 55 (if I choose) plus I have shares and savings.

I don't think this thread is the right place for you.

Me,no pension,no savings,no house,lone parent 45.

@Aurea

Well I've got a decent enough pension, but I can't believe how little I am forecast to receive.

48 years old - pension pot of already around £120k currently paying in £1500 a month but only forecast to receive around 20k a year at age 67 which includes state pension.

How can I be paying in £18000 p.a. (excluding state pension) for the next 20 odd years (on top of £120k pension pot) and only receive £12000 p.a. on retirement? Sounds rubbish to me, although I realise I am more fortunate than many.

Aurea, best not to look at the anuity options or the headline figures your pension provider suggests you could recieve, they are not a good way to withdraw from your pension.

If you continue as you are going, you could have about £850k by the time you are 67, if your pension earns around 5% a year, which is realistic, if not low. When you are close to retiring you could start to put this in to less risky investments (bonds etc) but still within your pension pot. Then just start slowly taking money out as you need it, but keeping the remainder invested.

If you take 3.5%, which is a well respected figure which should ensure you never run out of cash (indeed, it should allow almost all of it to be inherited upon your death, if it is still invested), you would get around £25k a year, for the rest of your life.

I'm 41. Have work place local authority pension worth approx £500 a year?! Also paying NI but part time payments so will reduce what I get on retirement.

My parents enjoy telling me that they currently cannot even spend their pensions (final salary, lucky bastards + state pension they ear mark for treats) so are buying and spending with gay abandon. I think their aim is to burn through their money so that there is nothing left when they inevitably end up needing care homes so will rely on the state. I mean, fair do to them for enjoying their retirement but they intentionally rub it in that they retired at 60 and have this money and freedom that they know I don't and won't have when I eventually retire at 67 or 69 or whenever the state pension age is in the future.

Anyway, my bitterness will keep me warm when I cannot afford to put the heating in when I am older.

I was going to say I don’t think any one really has a “gold plated” pension any more.

Civil service pensions certainly aren’t gold plated any more.

My circumstances are OK, just about on target to be mid range "comfortable" in retirement. this is partly because I was never contracted out of state pension and i seem to have amassed a fair bit of Serps and second state pension 2 which I was pleasantly surprised about when I got a pension forecast - it more or less doubles my state pension. If you are a bit worried about income I'd suggest you get a forecast, I am now in my 60's and will retire next year, I never had a very spectacular income as an employee.

Self employed, no pension, still to got to put DC through university (probably limited loan available to them due to stupid illogical means assessment that takes no account of outgoings).

Fingers crossed for the property market, though decades of mortgage left to go.

@Monoxide

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?

Currently you need £100k to purchase a £4k annuity, therefore you'd need £250k ish for a £10k one.

As pp have said, you could also use drawdown, but then it's a gamble between running out of funds (you'd have 25 years of your £10k, that gets you to 80, what happens after that?), the annuity will at least give you certainty on having that cash coming in for the rest of your life.

If of course you get to 65, you're in poor health etc etc and don't anticipate getting another 10 years in - that might be a different decision.

This is why the final salary / career average DB pensions are so good, your contribution to them is (relatively) small compared to the payout you get, when you compare what you would have to put in on a DC front to get an equivalent annuity.

Hmm... despite being a public servant tugs forelock almost since graduation, I will have around £12k per year if I work until 70, mainly because for quite a large chunk of that I was on temporary contracts (because funding would only be guaranteed for 12/24/36 months for projects) or employed as a consultant (i.e. we can't afford a salaried person so we'll call you a consultant and avoid paying holiday, sick pay, and pension for you).
DH only began a pension a couple of years ago, because until recently he'd been self-employed all his life and it seemed an unnecessary additional expense to him. He earns a good salary, and is attempting to make up for some lost time.

We're now late 40s. TBH, we always assumed we'd be unlikely to be able to afford to "retire" completely. We had children late too (due to his precarious employment) and they haven't finished school or been through university etc yet...

I'm a few years younger OP, but I don't have one, and am renting so don't have any equity either ( and no imminent chance of even getting on the property ladder).
I had a very small workplace pension years ago, but I stupidly cashed it in when I left that job to go travelling . Not that it would be worth too much anyway, but at least it would be something!
I spent too many years moving around jobs and countries, didn't stay anywhere long enough to have a shot at decent contributions so it didn't seem worth it.

I'm hoping to start a small one by the time I'm 40, but as I am retraining into a rewarding but low paid career I don't hold out much hope that it will amount to much.

Other that that I may eventually inherit something, although I know it's best not to bank on this.
My parents have a decent sized house that they want to stay in for the rest of their lives, and here in Ireland the government don't force you to sell the family home to pay for care home fees. So even if they both had to go into care, there is a limit to how much can be taken from the value of the home to pay for it.

Obviously not a great plan, but it's all I've got at the moment.