To ask if you have enough for retirement?

[PestilencialCrisis]

Saw this today. I'm a single parent. I halved my wage when I had children, and also my pension contributions. Anyone else worried about retirement? Should the government step in and protect women's pension pots more?

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/single-mothers-retirement-scottish-widows-report-b2447486.html

I am retiring next year, 3 years before my state retirement age. In theory, my monthly work pension together with eking out my lump sum payment should just about get me through to state pension age. I am hoping to downsize too, which will go towards travel and extras! I won't be at poverty levels but will definitely have to cut back. I had a long gap as a SAHM so my works pension is lower than I would have liked but hey ho!

Agree with this. It's baffling. Maybe their kids will support them? 🤣

I hope so. I'm a single mum with a 15yo and intend to retire in 2.5 years.

At the moment I have about £400k in private pensions and with an annuity rate of £6,200/100,000 that would give me £24,800 p.a., which sounds ok, but will look a lot less ok, in ten years time.

It's so hard to tell, and ds will probably need help with university.

I’d like to think so but I really do not know

Lots of people with 3 or 4 children made these children with a partner that they assumed would be contributing to their upkeep. Many relationships break down for a number of reasons and as the article highlights, women are disproportionately affected as they then have to reduce their working hours and/or pay for childcare leaving little to nothing over at the end of the month to put in their pension pot. Meanwhile, the man is still working full time and still paying handsomely into his pension fund. The gender pension gap is obscene.

But all a matter of choices and consequences.

You know what the say about assumptions...

If it's known that many relationships break down, and it is known, why not more aggressively protect oneself from the start.?? I've no sympathy for people who fail to plan and then complain about the inevitable outcomes.

But some of us will need more, for travel and other lifestyle choices.

I lost a couple of pensions, one after the other, in the early 2000s. Then had kids, became single and like you OP income dropped outgoings increased. That put me off track. If I can keep working and contributing at the rate I am now, I'll have enough for £18k a year for ten years plus state pension. Then after that I'll claim just state pension and obviously have a lot less but I won't be able to travel so much by that age if at all, so it's less of an issue.

No I do save what I can for one, don't have kids or do holidays. Do pay a mortgage and will be able to downsize though not by much. Will still be better off than many, but still going to be a lot worse off than many on these threads. Huge difference between the private and public sector on this. Not bothered about a stellar lifestyle but want to be able to pay for help when needed in old age.

@EmpressSoleil I think JSA is supposed to be a stop gap while someone is between jobs - hence the name.

The state pension is for ever. No option to get a job in future, Pensioners are often housebound. They can need all day heating and door to door transport. They mostly can't cycle or walk far. Yes, free bus travel, assuming there's a bus! £203 a week allows my dm to go on one week's UK coach holiday a year. She can't afford to run a car. Her pleasures are gardening and gossiping. She seldom goes out apart from volunteering in a charity shop. Her finances are ok until the cooker breaks or something else goes wrong. It's pretty precarious.

I'm on disability beneifts. I don't have a clue. Absolutely terrifying what will become of me.

Fingers-crossed.

I frame it as having 20+ years of work left to make contributions (hopefully I’ll have made enough stride to not have to work until I drop 😂), and the only better time to start was yesterday.

Slow and steady…

Love your username btw 😊

I genuinely don’t know, I need to get a pension statement. I’ve got 15 years of an NHS pension (band 6) and have just joined the Civil Service with a pay increase of about £200 a month. I’m 40. Hopefully enough 🤷‍♀️ We own our house and will downsize if needs be, especially if it would allow us to retire early. We’re on course for a full state pension each, assuming it’s still around!

No. Single parent. Low earner. Renter. I’ve barely got enough for today, I’m not going to have much when I’m old.

That’s not need, it’s want, and certainly shouldn’t be funded by the taxpayer if you haven’t saved enough yourself!

Can you go to uni for better prospects? I don’t have a degree, but SP friend with 2 kids went to uni and was able to save for a house deposit from the funding she received - they literally threw nurseries and help at her and it stuck. Sheiks doing amazing work now in a high paid public sector job. Good luck x

Fuck that.

If Liz "Liz" Truss can have a £100k a year pension for a couple of weeks' piss poor work I can have £9k to spend on booze, fags and Shearings Coach Holidays after a lifetime of working.

I like your style @Coldia 😁

Ah, you’re not her one who fell for the propaganda about a cushy ex-PM “pension”? Some people are gullible, as well as greedy. You’ll get the pension you’re entitled to, but OP’s question was whether women’s pensions should be protected MORE by the government (ie the people who will be paying taxes when we all retire). We should all get what we’re entitled to, not more protection because we want more hols.

I have saved more than a million in my personal pension pot, don't worry. And have a paid for house, a family cottage in the Lakes and will be getting an employer-funded pension, too. The state pension will be the icing on the cake.

Where did I suggest that taxpayers should fund it, btw? I was responding to someone who was talking about their personal savings. Calm down.

I have saved more than a million in my personal pension pot, don't worry. And have a paid for house, a family cottage in the Lakes and will be getting an employer-funded pension, too.

Me too, except I also have a tiara.

And a yacht.

Personally I’m in a great position (decent final salary pension plus a likely inheritance and a BTL).
My estimated pension income (state plus employer) will be at least £40k in today’s money. Plus another £12k ish from
the BTL.
But DH has sod all apart from state so it has to fund us both.

It’s a thread about wanting the government to do more to protect women, and people offering sensible advice to those who may worry that they won’t have enough to live on. Your original comment sounded grabby, and the subsequent one just boastful. There are many women on here who won’t have really considered how they’ll fund retirement, and the very sensible and useful advice which @rumred offered could make a difference and help them plan, rather than just be dismissive and frivolous.

@EmpressSoleil

I partly agree with what you are saying but what if someone (not talking about your mother) needed to change their car every few years, needed essential house maintenance for example a new roof or a new boiler, what if people wanted to do a lot of travelling, these are only a few examples of what the state pension wouldn’t really cover

A lot of parents who take time out of work to raise kids are depending on someone else for money, whether that is a partner or the government. I don’t think it would be fair for them to get even more financial help from the government in retirement for a choice they made when some of us didn’t have the same option to take time out of work, and have spent thousands on childcare, commuting costs, and don’t benefit from things like NHS dentists or cost of living payments etc. Working full time doesn’t mean someone has enough to be able to save for retirement. My salary is crap and My pension is woeful even though I’ve been working full time for about 10 years (and I have a kid - only one because we can’t afford more).