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)

@Embroidery

There are people starving to death in this country and you get £720 per year free money you obv dont need.

I'm sorry if this is the first time you have come up against the fact that our tax and benefit system is very much skewed in favour of the rich. Only one of the reasons the rich proprietors of the tabloid papers are so keen to point to 'benefit scrounges'.

It's precisely to distract attention from all the very much more valuable tax breaks available to people who already have more.

It's not actual discrimination, anyone who contributed to a pension is entitled to tax relief on the contributions. It's just that you do need to have enough spare to make the contributions.

I'm afraid it's not fair, and not getting any fairer, either.

[quote Embroidery]@GenderApostatemk2 Thats shocking and disgusting.
There are people starving to death in this country and you get £720 per year free money you obv dont need.[/quote]
Tax relief on pension contributions for non tax payers up to a maximum gross annual figure of £3600 (£2880 contribution + £720 tax relief) is available to any non tax payer, @Embroidery

It’s not going to help someone starving to death, but it’s not only going to those who don’t need it. It’s also going to - for example, a stay at home parent who wouldn’t be able to save any more and has no company pension.

There are many forms of tax relief and benefits and I’m open to challenging them all, but you do need to be open to looking at the full picture.

@Whydoiwearsomuchleopardprint

2k per month! Absolutely ridiculous, stop it now! Even well off/rich people wouldn’t be doing that, if they had that much spare cash it would be invested properly! With 2k spare each month you would be investing that appropriately and hopefully being advised by your financial advisor!

I don't understand this post at all @Whydoiwearsomuchleopardprint Pensions are just a tax efficient wrapper, the OP has said nothing at all about how it is invested. If she is savvy enough to put away £2k a month then presumably she's given careful thought to how she invests that and there's every reason to think it's properly invested.

You are very far off the mark in assuming well-off/rich people don't use their pensions. Maximising the tax efficiency is one of the central planks of any investement planning. There may also be additional employer contributions if an employee adds more to their occupational pension. Many high earners/those with unexpected lump sums will first look to maximising their pension contributions (up to £40k each year) depending on their circumstances.

The OP doesn't say exactly how she is contributing this £2k but if she is salary sacrificing her £1.2k then that may well be costing her in the region of £600 reduction in her take home pay. Yes that's more than many people can afford but it sounds like a very sensible decision for her.

If anyone has questions about pensions then do come to the money matters board. It's very non-judgmental and there are lots of knowledgeable and supporitve posters there. It doesn't matter what end of the financial spectrum you are at.

@Embroidery
In fact it is helping to level the playing field for low earners or those who cannot work for whatever reason because the government are contributing the tax relief and boosting the pot thereby offering a better chance of having a comfortable retirement. It is not a tax fiddle ! Honestly even people on v low incomes need to understand this and try to put away whatever they can no matter how small.

I get £720 tax relief for my retirement and I very much do need it.
If I’m widowed in retirement, I will get State pension, half my DH’s forces pension (so £3k or so) and whatever I can drawdown from our SIPPs so I will get less than £20k a year, hardly a fortune but I can continue to pay the £240 into my SIPP until I’m 75 and will have an extra £720 a year, which anyone with any sense would do, DH will do the same but only get £180 extra as a basic rate tax payer once he hits 67.
If you or your partner pay into a pension, tax relief is a 25% uplift (or 40%) EVERYONE paying into a pension gets it!

The people doing this will save the country billions in means tested benefits, perhaps I should just spend the cash on Gin instead?

Stealth boast?... Although not exactly stealthy

@Mia85

If anyone has questions about pensions then do come to the money matters board. It's very non-judgmental and there are lots of knowledgeable and supporitve posters there. It doesn't matter what end of the financial spectrum you are at.

Thank you!

God, if we had a £600k pension pot, DH would retire tomorrow!

Those are rookie numbers OP

Mumsnet may be clutching their pearls at your financial planning but there are people on FIRE boards where people earn less than you and contribute more. Go to MoneySavingsExpert and there are people earning more than you with no savings and in massive debt.

FrDamo It's not that it's inflammatory, it's just - well, it seems oblivious to the reality of many people's situations.

Poverty is a real trap. It's not something people can will themselves out of. Once you're in it, it is very, very hard to get out of that pit of debt and stretching and interest etc. That's even without extra barriers such as, say, ill-health or disability or raising children.

I do agree that we could all use more education on these matters - afaik schools are supposed to teach at least a bit on financial literacy, but I daresay the govt could do some, too.

What a strange thread. You put away 2k per month. Do you know what the average salary is?

@canary1

What a strange thread. You put away 2k per month. Do you know what the average salary is?

But the £2K is also made up of employer's contributions and tax relief. If she stopped contributing altogether she wouldn't have £2K more take home pay each month, it would be closer to £600 depending on how the contributions are made. Of course £600 is a lot but nowhere near as much as what people seem to be assuming here.

The OP has posted a grand total of 5 times, is it really so difficult to look at what she says to confirm that she DOESN'T put £2000 in, more than 50% of that is employer contributions.

@userchange987

The OP has posted a grand total of 5 times, is it really so difficult to look at what she says to confirm that she DOESN'T put £2000 in, more than 50% of that is employer contributions.

@userchange987 there’s a version of Murphy’s Law: if you criticise the reading comprehension of others, your own will be wrong 🤣

@Futurama1

As everyone is asking, I earn 60k per year, I wouldn’t class that as a wild salary.

Wow I earn more but couldn't save 2k a month. I presume you've a partner who is also a high earner or are you just chucking everything at pension? 2k is 24k a year - is that 2k yourself plus then employer/gov contributions on top? I'm really worrying about pension at the moment so trying to think about how to throw more at it.

Haha I posted and then saw the comments above regarding it not being 2k of OP's in. Doh. Long thread and was pretty far in I thought but didn't see a anything on it so thought I had enough of the gist lol. I didnt realise employer contributions were more than 50% for employed people - self employed and never had employed pension. Worth paying in if you can then.

@Newmumatlast nobody is saying that employer contribution is more than 50%! What thread are you reading?

Zero. However your “not wild” salary is over 3 times mine (yes, work full time, yes have university and professional qualifications)

Approx 37p

[quote Cocomarine]@Newmumatlast nobody is saying that employer contribution is more than 50%! What thread are you reading? [/quote]
I was getting it from the username987 post you quoted lol am I too tired?!!

Yep, too tired 😉
I was quoting user-blahblah cos she was ticking everyone off for not reading OP’s posts correctly - and I found it amusing because she was reading them wrong too!

OP pays £2000 into her pension, of which her employer contributes £800. So not 50%.

It scares me when ppl say they'll be no state pension in a few yrs. Will it really be completely gone? I have a DC pension but not sure it'll be enough even though I have increased my contributions. I don't earn enough to put as much into it as the OP.

I have just turned 60 and got £21k LP sum and now get £7000 pa from Teachers Pension. I also work as a Foster Carer and so have saved up £61k in a Stakeholder pension. I also invested into 6 btl properties and get income from them. I will get full state pension at 67. My dh has a much better private pension than me of £15k and still adding to it and he will also get full state pension. We will be ok but we have sacrificed a few holidays and only bought second hand cars over the years. We help out dd with childcare cost and ds's with house deposits.

@FrDamo
I've been saying this for years! If we don't explain to the kids how the system works then they end up in the same vicious circle their parents are in. I'm almost 50 - and changed job about 5 years ago and am finally able to supplement my pension payments. Am paying the max amount now to make up for the past 30 years of being the bread winner with no extra cash. I have a foreign pension so Im guaranteed a state pension of approx 1200 euro when I'm 68- and I have hopefully topped it up to about 2K a month by then. I think that's a bit better than the UK state pension? But dear god I'd love to stop work now.. isn't 34 years long enough? 🙈😂