To ask how much is in your pension pot and your contribution %

[Vistada]

Just that really?

I'm starting to put a lot of thought into my pension (something that in my 20s I thought just ticked over) but its difficult to get a good gauge of what one should have saved.

WIBU to ask (if you're happy to share) your age, salary, pot size and what you contribute per month in %?

Me: 33, £23k pot, £55k PA (only recently) and joint 13%

I was in my 30s and living abroad when pension contributions became mandatory. I was early 40s by the time I started one. I have managed to put in £10k in 5 years but now I am not managing £100 a month (including employer contributions) as I work part-time at the moment. I am retraining in a new field, so once qualified, I hope to get a public sector job and go full time when DS is a bit older.

Mid 50's, £450k pot in total. I pay 7% in and my employers pay in 9%. Sounds a lot but it's not enough given I'm fucking tired of working.

I'm in my early 50s so getting a bit worried. Recently went through the tedious task of finding all my pensions and seeing what was in them.

I have a pot of about £150k which apparently is not enough to live on by far if I want have a comfortable retirement so I'm upping the payments on my current pension to as much as I can to about 15%. Means cutting down on lots of other spending on clothing etc. I also checked my state pension contributions and found I'm nearly up to the 35 years required. Govt will probably up the retirement age before I get there though, so basically I don't ever see me fully retiring unfortunately.

There is no such thing as "retirement at age X".

Retirement is a financial status.

It's long been that way in the UK.

Age: 39
Income: 85k/year
Contribution level: about 20% (my contribution plus my employer's)
Pot size: £321k

My spouse doesn't work though, so my retirement planning has to cover us both. It's not enough.

I can't afford too, I had to stop the payments two years ago thanks to col and haven't been able to restart. I have a good job with the national average in wages and zero debt. It's so unfair but it's likely I'll be in my 70s anyway when I can retire so feel there's time

I was a SAHM and also working low paid part time work throughout my life. I'm 50, pension pot 30k (crap!) I am now paying in 35% and company 12% (I'm considering going to 45%). This should get my pot to about 250 by the time I'm 60. I really don't want to work till 68 especially in the job I'm doing, its managerial but also physical.

I’m 35, took 3 years off with babies and have only now started to take my pension seriously.

I have £7k in my pot, and combined contributions of 12%. I’m on an average wage, less than £30k PA.

Having done the calculations, I know I will have to work until the state retirement age. At that stage I would be comfortable, especially with no mortgage, but there will be no early retirement to look after grandbabies for me!

Thankfully DH has a very good pension and he’s also entitled to a more generous state pension (not UK). We just can’t ever split up.

I’d kick myself for not looking at it more seriously when I was younger, but I’m just glad I’ve addressed it now instead of waiting until 40 or 50 and panicking then.

In my early 50’s, after taking a (very) long career break to look after my dcs, I returned to work. I put all my earning into my pension. We survived without my earnings whilst I was a Sahm, so no difference. £240k so far, hope to double that before retirement.

46
Pensions = £55467
Putting in £378 currently, but increasing to £978.59 inc tax shortly as want to retire at 60.

Early 50s. 450k between work pension and SIPP. Employer puts 10% and I put 5% which is the maximum. I'm hoping to retire at 60 or at least cut back. I put anything over basic tax rate and all my bonuses into my pension. Only just at a decent salary now I'm full time so hoping to get a fair bit in over next 10 years. The pot required for a comfortable retirement is scary.

I think for anyone under 40 today, the state pension age is likely to rise to 70. I drum it into my dc that the state pension won't exist by the time they reach retirement age so they need to pick a career carefully so they can fund and manage older age.

38 on £40k a year
I have about £90k in my pot.
Not sure what I pay in % tbh, but it's not a lot. Reading these replies I think I should look at increasing it.

Age 47 £500k in retirement savings (ISAs which I won’t touch and pension). Won’t be able to pay any more in until I retire so this is it - need to focus on paying down massive mortgage now interest rate above 1%.

I’m mid 40s with just over 500k, I’ve always contributed more than the minimum and am very glad I did.

Am currently torn between keeping my contributions high (I had been paying c £40k a year in recently) and taking the tax hit to help pay off the mortgage, so that we can have the security of not having to pay that if either of us couldn’t work.

I'm 31 and earn 51k PA and have about 38K so far been contributing 3% ever since I started my career almost 10 years ago.
Reading the comments now realising perhaps it's no where near enough. Apparently if I carry on working until retirement age my pot will be 250k. Don't think that will happen...
But it still won't be enough as my husband opted out his company pension plan (as it was garbage anyway).

But then who knows if I will live until 68?

I sometimes feel like the whole thing is a scam.

Early 50s with around 500k.
Had a large pay rise 2 years ago so am paying as much as I can to keep my salary below £100k. Been paying small amounts in since I was early 20s and first started working.

Mortgage will be paid off in 3 years just as last kid leaves school. H has a final salary pension and a similar size private pension. We plan to stop working at 57 and enjoy life while we still can.

The most tax efficient thing to do would probably be to keep on contributing then to use (some of) your tax free amount to pay off the mortgage. See if the numbers would work for you. I appreciate that doesn't help if you were to find yourself unable to work before you could access the pensions.

PS other risk is that Labour have said they will bring back the LTA so perhaps defer the decision until they are in power (which presumably they will be).

Some of these pots are huge! Posters must have either a huge salary or a very generous employer contribution. I started my pension at 28 (employer before then didn’t offer one), new employer put in 3%, I put in 7%. I now put in 8% and my current employer puts in 7%. This is generous for my industry. Current pot after 12 years: £36k. I’m on target to be able to maintain standard of living on retirement assuming full state pension but won’t be retiring until I’m 68 at least and no doubt the government will have moved the goalposts by then.

Mine is on just over £90K, but like a PP I had to stop payments over covid because I couldn't work and couldn't afford them. I can't remember when I started it, at around 37, I think (am 51 now).

I'm paying in the bare minimum now things have settled down (£100pm plus anything extra if I have it), but it's something - I'm self employed and my income varies, so staying out of debt and paying my rent and bills is the priority atm.

57

Complicated because I have 12 years in an old final salary scheme which current estimate says will give me a pension of £14k at 65

Changed employer a couple of years back and contributions combined are 18.5%. Previously 8% on a significantly lower salary.

Pot is currently around £100k. Aiming to get it to around £300k across the next few years so that I can retire at 65.

Give or take a damn I'm hoping for a pension income of around £50k for the two of us once we start getting state pension.

I have many spreadsheets for this!

I don’t think the posters here are representative at all.

I’m not sure a huge number of people on lower or even average wages have pensions at the top of their priority lists at the moment.

With cost of living increases, mortgage rates being pushed up, childcare costs etc, many don’t have the capacity to save for retirement even if they wanted to.

Less than 10k in the pot and I'm putting in zero! Won't go into the background but I've done the sums and at my age, mid 50's, and in my personal circumstances, there's no point now chucking money at it. Not that i have loads to chuck at it! All it would do is make me ineligible for the help I'd get on state pension alone and wouldn't make me any better off financially. What it would do is make my quality of life worse now. So whats the point?

I'm not going to want to travel widely. I already find it quite tiring now. So am doing it while I still have the money (that i'm not putting into a pension) and energy. I can still work a couple of days if I want extra money, a couple of people in my team are 70+. My expenses are quite low, I have cheap hobbies. I don't have a partner and no plans for that to change. Most people who have a big list of things they want to do, have someone to do them with! I don't. I'm not really worried.

I'm 45. Not currently working so not currently making contributions. I anticipate that to change soon as I'm becoming self employed, but will initially only be able to afford £200pm contributions. I'll increase it as my income increases.

I have one final salary pension, which will give me almost £10k per year if I retire at 65.

I have a further private pension pot, which currently stands at just over £90k.

Dh has 3 pensions, two of which stand at £300k total, plus £5k per year (RAF pension). He's 54.

58 and I've got £261k. i've already taken some out to put my kids on the housing ladder. I'm on a final 5 year kick to up it before I retire.

40, £65k per annum and 20% contributions but only upped that from mandatory minimum about 3 years ago.

Only £45k in pot which provider predicts to give an income of between £29 - £53k per year for retirement. I don’t think they’re right and I think I’m way behind.

I already have enough credits for full state pension, but I don’t factor that in.

I’m looking at property investment so I can have another disposable asset in future if needed.