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!!!

OP I really hope your 100k savings is earning a higher interest rate than you’re paying on your mortgage.

Sorry I have a shocking headache currently and totally miscalculated. Need to get off MN and take some painkiller!

I am.mid 40s and my pension is very mixed and i actually really struggle to understand my local government one. I worked out it should pay out like £123 a month. I have been part time for a decade due to my child having SEN and there being no childcare. So i get i havent been earning much but it still seems really low for ten years worth of input. But people keep saying its an amazing scheme.

My pension from the private sector job i did before SEN seems to go up and down like a yo yo.

On the £100k in savings - that’s not all with the same bank / building society, is it? You should really split it between two different ones

https://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/banks-building-societies/

My yearly private pension is a lot less than 10% of the oft quoted 50 grand. And that's from the public sector. You only get big pensions if you've had a big salary, no matter how hard you've worked.

I care for DH who has a terminal diagnosis. I will get a proportion of his military pension, which will c£7k a year, will be downsizing considerably and using some of the proceeds to bridge the gap till my state pension kicks in in 6 years. No private provision at all.

I’ve got barely any pension, my husband has a very good one (we best not get divorced, and if we do I best get a bit) but lots of equity in a large house. It’s not ideal. I’ve worked part time for years and just ramping up work now. Our next plan is getting a rental house, I guess that’ll make me feel better.

Same here, and I have worked FT since I was 16.

Hopefully it's also not all in cash, and rapidly depreciating.

Yes that's about my situation too. £10k a year + state pension.
My husband has only state pension. He's nearly 67 and works part time (self-employed) but just been diagnosed with cancer so not sure what will happen with his work.

There are so many things to worry about that I'm trying to put pension worry on hold for now ☹️

Loads of employers didn't offer workplace pensions until it became law in 2012. So lots of us in the private sector worked much of our working life with no workplace pension at all.

Saying ‘I worked hard for it’ doesn’t mean ‘I worked hard for it and anyone in a different position from me hasn’t worked hard’. It usually does!

I don't read those threads that start with, 'how much does everyone earn', 'how much do you have in savings', 'how much is your house worth', blah blah because they always end up full of bragging posts.

Wealth does not equate to happiness, imho.

Some people may have had large inheritances which have enabled them to accrue wealth, some may have worked their fingers to the bone when younger to enable them a good retirement.

Many people are in relationships and have 2 salaries, which makes a huge difference to the amount you, as an individual can save. I have always been on my own, but at least what I have is mine and no one can take half of it away from me in the future.

I live my life as I go along. I have had times when I had a huge amount of savings but invested it in my house. I spent eye-watering amounts of money traveling when I was younger, so much so that I don't have so much desire to do that anymore.

I didn't want to wait until I retired to truly enjoy life, I wanted to do it when I was in my prime, at my fittest, and still had the inclination and energy to hike through rainforests and climb mountains, etc. If I had waited until retirement to do these things, I may not be able to, due to health conditions, old creaky bones etc.

You never know what the future holds and while it is always sensible to invest in the future, spending my youth squirreling money away and having no life, was not something I wanted to do, and I have no regrets.

I don't worry about retirement. I have a smallish pension - which will continue to grow and currently am still happy working. I could easily drop down to 2 days a week in my 60's which would still give me plenty of free time to enjoy life.

I'm 65 [ can retire at 66 ], no pension apart from state pension. I do have enough years for this. Two divorces to long term husbands. Completely screwed over divorces and being a single parent, especially as one of my children has a chronic illness and spent lots of time in hospital, so my working life was spent around clinic/ hospital appointments and just being there for my child, which meant I ended up in low pay jobs to survive.

I wish I had £100,000 in savings.

Omg "a measly 50k" 🤣🤣
Sorry but I have no pension pot.
I have undiagnosed ADHD meaning I haven't stuck to any sort of career or study since leaving school and have job hopped all over the place. We're going to have to get by on a wish and a prayer when DH and I are retirement age.

Im 55 have £110k in my pension amount not on the housing ladder and have £13k in savings. Will have to claim benefits when I retire despite not having had kids and working since I was 18. That's divorce for you.

I think it’s great that so many women on here are financially astute and have planned so well for their retirement. Obviously some people find it hard or upsetting to read because they aren’t in such a good position. It doesn’t mean others shouldn’t discuss their healthy pension pots & how they accumulated them though.

You realise that might have to last her 30 years right? It's not per year.

Your comments about my savings have really made me realise I need to do something to try to improve my situation.

I think being a lone mother really stuffs things up for most women. My exH is in the same profession as me and we started off the same but his career has really taken off (he has a new family but has never done any child care) so he is very comfortably off and has multiple homes he can sell if he needs to.

@ConsistentlyPeeved that is not per year!!! That is all I have. And being single is a lot more expensive - no one to share bills with. You have a DH.

Which is why it’s even more baffling. Why buy a big house without factoring saving for retirement? Unless equity release has always been the plan.

It terrifies me and I have to skip most of those threads too, especially when people discuss retiring early. I will be working until state pension age and right now who knows when that will be.
Like many women I don't have a six figure job, never had a final pension scheme and didn't go into the civil service (have been advising my dc to though!).
The first company I worked for went into receivership after I left and the pension was halved - I only had 4 years on a tiny salary anyway so pennies not pounds if I can ever track it down. Next I wasn't in long enough to keep, third I have but just with four years contribution not expecting much. Then came children and part time, third sector, northern wages.
Went full time seven years ago, still third sector. I have university loans to top up as dc have minimum loan and am throwing money into savings as quick as I can but not at 5 figures yet let alone 6! Still 15 years to go on mortgage. Hope is when uni is over I can put the top up into my pension instead.
Current pot less than £50k. Husband not much better due to working in a company with tiny employer contribution. It is very depressing and hugely worrying. If I had my time again I would have aimed for civil service and stayed there...

You should be able to go online and see exactly how much you would get each year at this moment and time. You would have to have been very, very part time to only have built up £123 a month worth of pension.
Even on a very part time salary of £10,000 a year you would have built up a pension of around £2500 a year minumum over a 10 year period.
To work it out you just need to divide your yearly salary by 49. Do that for every year you have worked and the total is your guaranteed yearly pension. This is very basic and does not take into account any increases for inflation. You may be pleasantly surprised.

"I think being a lone mother really stuffs things up for most women"

@Helpmenotpanic Hopefully you knew this before you got divorced and factored it into the decision-making. If you had no control over it, then you have my sympathy, but the impact on your finances shouldn't come as a shock.

So at 50, my work pension pot is currently a measly £50,000. I have £100,000

The average pension pot for 45 - 54 year olds is £75k. However the average savings for this age bracket is £14951. Plus. You have capital in a house. If you are worried about your pension put some of your savings into it? I really don't see what the problem is here or what is causing the panic.