To ask how much your retirement pot will be

[Futurama1]

Off the back of some threads today, how much are you aiming to have in a retirement pot?

I’m going for 600k at today’s value which seems an insane amount but 20k per year for 30 years + state pension. What are you aiming for?

I put 2k per month in currently (inc employer contribution)

My lump sum was 15k and i had the choice to retire at 55 or 65. I took 55 with 430 pm pension and it wd have been a lot more at 65 but took it and now work part time in a less stressful job.to top itup.
Dh got lump.sum.4ok and has 1.5 k a month pension. We contributed to it for over 30 years.

Fuck all as it stands.

@ArabellaScott

Apologies if my post was in anyway inflammatory. That was not my intention.

I absolutely acknowledge not all graduates earn the big bucks, but in general the higher your qualifications the better the earning potential.

I think I failed to say that financial education is what our young are missing. They need to be taught about: rent, mortgages, gas/electric/phone/internet utilities, insurances, taxes, savings, national insurance, pensions, childcare costs, groceries, loans, leases, interest, compound interest, apr etc

If the young (of both sexes) have this knowledge then perhaps they will be able to make more informed decisions that will not impact adversely on them come retirement age.

Perhaps this is not in the remit of the National curriculum but maybe it should be in some format or other. It could be argued it is the parents' responsibility to educate the next generation but if the parents don't have the knowledge themselves or struggle to successfully impart info to their disinterested kids, some kids could at least gain some info in the more traditional school setting.

[quote flapjackfairy]@Cocomarine
Oh sorry as I said not an expert just grappling with the issue myself at present.
So you can take up to 4 grand a year tax free or a lump sum of 25 Percent of the total value but not do both ? Thanks for the correction .[/quote]
@flapjackfairy you can take a 25% lump sum tax free in one go - that’s known as crystallised. Thereafter, withdrawals are taxed at your appropriate rate - which depends on your total income.

Or you can choose to withdraw in smaller quantities over time - this is known as uncrystallised - and you get 25% of each withdrawal tax free. If you plan to leave your money invested to continue growing, this can be a good way of paying less tax overall.

I think you may have picked up £4K from the annual allowance? (MPAA) If you start to withdraw from your pension, you trigger the annual allowance which means that the most you can pay into a pension and obtain tax relief on in future is £4K per annum. (there are a few other rules and details around that, like trivial pots, but too much for this post!)

I totally agree with you though that people shouldn’t be scared to learn about pensions! There are loads of really well written sites, like the Pensions Advisory Service, Which, Money Saving Expert, lots of pension providers sites…

I'm 61 and retired. £750k in pension pot.

@AuntieMarys

I'm 61 and retired. £750k in pension pot.

If you don't mind me asking, is that after the 25% lump sum?

Also what kind of income do you get from that?

My letter came through today and I currently will be living off £2per month.
Congrats on your £2k a month current input.

I didn’t realise that you could only post within certain salary boundaries. Maybe this should be made clear in the posting guidelines?
Let the hounds attack.

@Cieloazzurro

Wow, some of the nasty comments on here towards the OP. So much for the sisterhood. We should all be thinking about our retirement and making financial plans. I’m fully aware that not everyone can afford such high contributions but are we just here to hand out biscuits to everyone who has something we’d like? ‘I work part time’, ‘DH is a high earned’, ‘I’m expecting my fourth child’. Lots of things on here are choices someone wishes they could make but for some reason, talking about pensions seems to get lots of people rattled

I despise it, the race to the bottom.

Nowadays, as rare as hen's teeth

Not sure defined benefit can be classed as that rare when public sector pensions are still defined benefit? That's a huge proportion of people. Unless you just mean final salary of course, as it's mostly average career salary now.

@Futurama1

Off the back of some threads today, how much are you aiming to have in a retirement pot?

I’m going for 600k at today’s value which seems an insane amount but 20k per year for 30 years + state pension. What are you aiming for?

I put 2k per month in currently (inc employer contribution)

Staggeringly insensitive and entirely unhelpful thread, OP.

Possibly because you are so new to MN, you haven't quite grasped the demographics here. On any concept of netiqutte.

The is a section called Retirement, you know.

donemeover no I haven't taken a lump sum. I draw down about £25k a year.

Wow, some of the nasty comments on here towards the OP. So much for the sisterhood

The OP has offered nothing except an account of well they are doing, nor how they do it. They have not come back to discuss ideas.

I honestly hate the chippy posters. Are those in the pregnancy section insensitive? Just jog on instead of your bitter, nasty comments.

Springs to mind 😅😅😅

I have a low income and no pension, as due to long term ill health I can only work part time.

I just have to accept it as there's not much I can do about it. Although I do dream of hitting the big time with a comedy murder novel to fund my retirement.

I certainly don't resent people with good incomes and pensions, I just think good for them. I like to think I would have been well paid and canny if I had been well. I can't really imagine being bitter that some people are more fortunate - that would be very tiring.

@Futurama1 I understand why people are a bit offended by this but I also understand you totally didn't mean to boast or gloat you were asking a genuine question.. and earning that wage probably took years of education and experience so don't feel bad for doing well.. this is coming from a low earning part time worker before anyone assumes I'm on the same kind of wage

@Tzigane bit of a bloodbath for the OP here if you’re looking for ideas 😉

Although I do dream of hitting the big time with a comedy murder novel to fund my retirement. shock

earning that wage probably took years of education and experience so don't feel bad for doing well..
It can take years of education and experience to earn fuck all and have a shit pension pot too, FYI

@Bladerunners

I honestly hate the chippy posters. Are those in the pregnancy section insensitive? Just jog on instead of your bitter, nasty comments.

Yes. The comments also come across as ignorant when they continue to roll in for the op after a number of other posters have now talked about their own very healthy planned retirement finances, including far superior db schemes.

@hotmeatymilk true.. but that's not her situation

[quote Cocomarine]@Tzigane bit of a bloodbath for the OP here if you’re looking for ideas 😉

Although I do dream of hitting the big time with a comedy murder novel to fund my retirement. shock[/quote]
MN desperate housewife scrap turns lethal - not a bad idea 😸

Hmm, I don't currently know because I've just signed up for a new job giving me flexi hours for quality of life now, not waiting til 65.

My husband and I have earned a lot of money through our twenties and are aiming to be mortgage free by 40ish, retiring at 55, with a little pocket-money type earner or two on the side.

So for now we're focusing on overpaying the mortgage, setting up passive income streams and pensions as a third part of a wider picture.

(Personally I'm not saving for care costs at all - £15k covers a trip to Switzerland, which is fine for me.)

I'll be prioritising paying my hugely increased energy bills over topping up my pension contributions...I worked part time after my kids were born due to childcare commitments and went full time about 10 years ago. My salary is just under the national average and I'm a single wage earner without a partner with a back up salary. Not looking forward to retirement as I have multiple health issues and a disabilities. Thanks for reminding me I probably shouldn't have had kids and pump primed a pension pot instead :-(

Do women now need to justify anything which others may make other envious? Is any poster who says she only works 20 hours a week forced to give an explanation when others may consider this a luxury they can only dream of?