To think Mumsnet is not an accurate reflection of most women’s pension provision?

[Helpmenotpanic]

I have name changed for this although I am a regular poster.

I have always found Mumsnet really supportive but recently I think I have been hanging around on the wrong threads, because I am starting to feel worse about my life! In particular, there have been quite a few pension threads, as this has been in the news recently.

It feels like everyone on mumsnet has retired/is going to retire on at least £50,000 per year or more and it’s all down to “working hard”.

my future looks very different despite hard work and planning.

I have worked non stop since graduating from university. Full time or nearly full time, earning a pretty decent salary that probably puts me in the top 10%. I even only took a short maternity leave. BUT - it has always been private sector and various events completely outside of my control (including becoming a lone parent with a tiny baby following divorce) have meant all my efforts have been focused on keeping us financially stable right now.

So at 50, my work pension pot is currently a measly £50,000. I have £100,000 in savings (to keep me and teen dd afloat if I lose my job) and I am still paying a mortgage. I still have quite a few years left on my mortgage (thanks to my divorce, which was not my choice) so I suspect there will come a
point where I will probably use my savings to help pay off my mortgage as in the future I think my salary will be significantly lower (for various reasons I don’t think I can stay in my current job past 55).

i think there must be lots of women like me, or in fact much worse off, but maybe just not on the mumsnet pension threads!!!

Could you swap it round a bit and put, say, £40k more into your pension (from your savings) over the next couple of years? Then you'd benefit from the tax back and still have a good cushion in case of job losses.

I need another part time job and keep saving. OK, do not have pension but have so many other things

I'm 59. Had to give up work at 35 to care for 2 disabled children. So I have 16 years of pension in the pot (although thankfully my NI credit was paid due to carers allowance). DH had to downsize on his job so he could help out a bit more especially when DC 1 was in hospital (fairly frequently ).
So no massive pension here for me - although I'm grateful that I will get something from me former employer at 60.

I think those pension calculations they announce on the news are out of touch with reality as well though. Their latest figure of £31300 per person/year for a MODERATE lifestyle is more than I earn in a year and with that I have to pay rent as well.

i think they pull these numbers out of their arse and I wouldn't worry as much personally. Add up all your bills and modest living expenses (minus your mortgage cost if you think you'll pay it off before retirement) - that's how much you'll need. Now add on top of that any inheritance you're likely to get and I'm sure you'll be more relaxed.

Both sets of my grandparents survived on nothing but state pension and they bought everyone Christmas presents every year and still died in their late 80s with £20k stuffed under the mattress

"various events completely outside of my control (including becoming a lone parent with a tiny baby following divorce)"

@Helpmenotpanic So that's the elephant in the room right there. Divorce is generally catastrophic for parents' finances, no matter whose fault it is.

There are lots of stealth boasts on Mumsnet.

And lots of humble bragging- Got a pension of £60,000, hoping it's going to be enough.

I’ve got a lot of long term savings but have compromised on having a small house and the kids go to the local high school.

If you’ve worked for 25 years+ and only have £50k then you’ve paid the absolute bare minimum I suspect you’ve had other priorities.

£100k is erm quite a lot to have in 'savings' OP. The recommended emergency fund amount is 3-6 months of income. You could put a chunk of that into a private pension, get the tax relief, and watch it grow for the next 10 years.

i think they pull these numbers out of their arse

I’ve read the report and that’s a pretty fair assumption! It’s basically focus groups talking about their desired lifestyle and then it’s costed up.

You have £100000 in savings!?!? I think this is out of the norm. I've been putting into my pension and will earn about £35000 pa from it, but I've got bigger all savings

Exactly the same. I’ve stopped reading the pension threads, because I can just about pay for everything day to day there is no point me reading about how I should have planned earlier/be putting more away/ the state pension will disappear. I can’t do anything about it. I haven’t led an extravagant life I can’t magically retrain into something more lucrative - I suspect in the real world I’m not that unusual.

Also I do hear you and I suppose I'm one of the lucky ones because I have a small final salary (DB) scheme pension I scraped into in 2001 when I started work. It's worth £9k a year. That said I now pay into a DC and it wasn't looking great when DC were small between maternity leaves and us prioritising other things. I got a bit of a wake up call during Covid and now put loads in and it's amazing how my contributions have grown in 3 years or so between tax relief and growth. I still have 15 years until retirement so it's not too late.

Mine will be about 10k a year + state pension , I'm unlikely to have any savings but I can live on that .

If you’ve worked all your adult life and have a large house with equity how come you’ve never been able to afford to pay into a pension? Did you prioritise a large house over saving for retirement? That’s kind of a lifestyle choice if so.

I’m one of the ones with a better pension but if I divorced my life would be looking a lot harder in retirement. Plus if either of us outlived the other for a lot longer then that’s only half the spousal pension received. It’s down to each person as an I individual to proved for themselves even if married. You have managed that as a single parent, that’s take some doing. Though I can see from comments some have not understood your actual pension. The posters pot is 50k not the actual pension she will receive, that would currently give about 11k PA.

You are doing far better than my SIL who has zero significant savings, I know this as she borrowed money from MIL last year and no pension provision at all. She is also in her fifties like me.

Mumsnet posters are highly unrepresentative of the UK population:
https://www.ftadviser.com/pensions/2023/03/24/women-s-pension-savings-still-way-behind-those-of-men/

'These are the stark figures on pension savings from both the Department of Work and Pensions and a study carried out by Handelsbanken Wealth and Asset Management among 4,000 UK adults.
According to the DWP, women's overall average income from the state pension was materially lower, at just £232 per week compared to £254 for single males.
The Handelsbanken survey revealed that 26 per cent - over a quarter of UK women - have no formal pension savings at all.
Christine Ross, head of Private Office (North) & client director at Handelsbanken Wealth & Asset Management, said: “Women on average continue to remain a long way behind men in pension savings, with the problem at its most acute among older generations who are closer to retirement."
Handelsbanken's study showed:

• 26 per cent of women have no formal pension savings at all, compared to just 16 per cent of men
• Only 23 per cent of women surveyed stated they are confident that they will be able to retire comfortably, with over a third (35%) believing they won’t be able to
• Male respondents’ pension pots were found to be significantly higher, averaging at £142,234
• Women’s pension pots came in at just over a third of this, at an average of £51,384'

Presumably the large house was bought when housing was a lot more affordable than it is now

The posters pot is 50k not the actual pension she will receive, that would currently give about 11k PA

How are you coming up with a >20% rate?

Just to clarify, I probably should have mentioned that I am in London, which means that housing is incredibly expensive. So yes, I have prioritised housing, but that has only given my a tiny terrace house, just big enough for dd and me!!

It is true that I should put my savings into my pension. But I have this huge fear of losing my job or getting sick and having nothing to live on.

I wish it was £11 k per year!!! The last pension statement I got said that if I keep paying, I might get £350 per month!

50k pension pot 100k in savings?? I have just helped Gentleman in his late 70s get pension credit, after his wife died he was only getting the old basic of £156.20, he didn't earn enough while he was working age to pay into any of the second state pensions or a private pension, that's the reality for many older pensioners.

I don’t necessarily think posters on MN reflects the wider population. I know people that are far better off than me financially but also far worse off.

I’m 49 (soon to be 50) have a couple of very small private pensions from previous jobs and am building my NHS pension (worked for NHS for 15 years). I don’t have a large amount of savings and we are still paying a mortgage. We will be ok but not wealthy in retirement

@Helpmenotpanic it is normally 4% so £50k would get you £2k a year.

I'm 36 which a measley pension pot from a mix of no auto enrollment, saving for a deposit, struggling to keep afloat, emigrating, no auto or employer matching, chronic illness and sick leave, pay cuts, suspension of matching and not being able to afford ot keep up during maternity leave. However had I done things differently I just would have lost half in my divorce!

Regardless I consider myself to be in a good position and I think you will be to the flexibility of your savings and the ability to have a property laid off early will help you enormously

44 and hardly any pension too apart from state which I'll probably be 70+by the time it rolls around. I do work for the LA now and their pension scheme is really good although wages are not fabulous. I salary sacrifice 9K a year and buy myself an additional year of pension. Plus 10% of my salary for current pension contribution. That way every year I work I will get equivalent of two years of defined benefit pension at retirement. I do think people / employers should be paying more than minimum3%.