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%

Currently £150k in my early 40's. More than 1/3 of that is due to having an employer that makes very generous lump sum contributions as a part of our profit sharing agreement. The amount coming from salary sacrifice is combined 9%.

Those of you saying it isn't enough ( a lot of those seem to have hundreds of thousands in the pot) what is it not enough for?

Do you have a list of things you intend to spend / splurge on, is it to pay off a mortgage / to go on renting, is it to put food on the table and switch on the heating?

I'm interested as this is such a subjective topic.

I have way less than 50k in my pot, early 40s, on track with state pension payments. I may or may not inherit, but plan to have paid off my mortgage and don't go on big holidays or buy lots of stuff. Concerned about what i might have not considered!

My pot is probably around £180k. Early 40s. To avoid the 60% tax trap and keep my net adjusted income below £100k so that I can still qualify for free hours at nursery and tax free childcare, I’ve committed to paying 29% of my income into my pension this year alongside 10% from my employer. So that’s roughly £50k going in a year. Will try and keep it to that for a couple of years until my youngest is in school.

That’s what we had been thinking, but our mortgage is c £450k and once we’re subject to new interest rates (luckily we fixed just before they went really high!) payments will be over 2.5k per month at current rates.

Financially it makes sense to pay into the pension, but I’m going to save the money into a S&S ISA for a year and then see where we are at the end of next tax year (and perhaps then pay it into the pension). My job is well paid but not 100% secure, and the thought of having a lovely large pension fund but losing our house doesn’t appeal!

Not enough

I think Martin Lewis suggests contributing half your age as a percentage when you start your pension, so at 30yo it should be 15% / 40yo 20%. Its also important to increase your contributions with inflation each year. I'm in the position many working mothers are and am trying to pay catch up. I'm aiming for £250k, which isn't amazing, but my NI will be fully paid. I'm married and a home and additional property owner.

£50k in a few different pots. So fuck all really.

Like a pp I'm not going to put any more in, although I do have savings. Hopefully those together with drawing entire amounts including what's allowed tax free under the small pots rules will let me go part-year in my early 60s and travel a bit then while I can.

I rent from a housing association which is great as it means I'll always have a home. However it does also mean I'll be paying rent till I die and if I waited till I stopped working and took an annuity all of that pension money would go on rent and bills within a few years. On the other hand if I have no money when I do finally stop working my rent will get covered and I'll get whatever help is available for people on state pension alone.

I think anyone who is renting needs to think carefully about whether it's worth building up a pension, unless they can get a pot more than £600k.

Those of you saying it isn't enough ( a lot of those seem to have hundreds of thousands in the pot) what is it not enough for?

I'm one of the posters with a bigger pot than average but who's saying it's not enough.

Bluntly, I need it to fully pay for my own retirement plus my spouse. At average life expectancy I need a pot significantly higher than I'm currently building so will ramp it up once small DC are older to give it a boost.

Compare that to the poster on page 1 who has a £10k pot in her mid 50s who's paying zero. She's smart. That's exactly what I'd be doing if I weren't a mid-high ish earner in my 30s.if you have little time to build up a pension pot in the UK, or have many many years out of work due to illness or caring responsibility, there's no point going half in. Gov pension plus non means tested top ups mean those in the middle get fucked over, just like when they were working.

You either need to blast a hole by charging your pension to a scary number in the UK or don't build any really significant pot and let the government deal with it once you reach state retirement age.

You could argue that those building no real pension will face poverty and it's definitely something I wouldn't seek myself. But I have a choice. And time to build the pot. That's crucial.

I work in a field where this calculated risk/reward optimisation is what I'm paid to do.

My comments here are fairly ruthless. and the current tax system in this country incentivises this view, if people were to act in a truly rational manner. It's amazing any middle earners pay a penny into their pension.

So: my view= good for an individual.
Longer term, likely to bankrupt the country when all those people who didn't build up pensions themselves all start looking to the DWP for their monthly income and there are fewer workers to pay for it all.

My advice for the next 10-20 years is to milk it. Or push past the threshold where you're penalised for building the pension pot.

Don't be in the middle.

@AllSuggestionsTaken how have you managed to get enough years of NI contributions already?? That's impressive at 40!

Portu.. you're another great example of my advice above. You're doing the smartest calculated action here even though future tax payers will end up at breaking point once more retirees get older and do the same.

That's the way our government has designed pension benefits in this country.

You have to do whatever is best for you though.

Not much - about £10k because I didn't put much in in my twenties.
I'm now 32, and pay in 8%, and my employer pays in 12% so it's 20% total. But that's only happened in the last year because I had to work there for a few years in order to qualify for them putting in that much.

44. I don't have enough in my pension pot and not likely to ever! I'm paying 12% but haven't been doing that for long enough. Apparently, 12% is what is needed according to the Living wage foundation. Retirement won't be the same for me as it has been for my parents! My Dad was retired for nearly 30 years by the time he died 😳

Age 45. About £100K. I'm self employed so no employers contribution which makes it harder. Luckily, I love my job and it's flexible so I plan on working part time from 60 onwards which will help. DH also has a hefty pension.

@SallysLeftCheek cheers yeah, thanks for getting it. I didn't set the system up, but I have to get by within it. The worst position to be in is to have just that bit too much to qualify for any help.

No idea because I am in a defined benefit scheme. (Civil Service). We have a site where you can see what you’d get and mine says £25k pa if I retire at 65. Plus £27k lump sum. I’ll get the full state pension at 67.

Am on £52k and I believe contributions are 5% from me and 12% from employer.

Am late 50s, single and should have paid mortgage off by 60 so can always downsize and move out of the south east (if my children ever leave home!).

I want to partially retire at 60 and take reduced pension of 18k and just work part time. I spend far too much time wondering if that is actually possible! Would be useful to know what my pension equates to as cash value to compare with others.

Just under a million, 47
This came from massive employer contributions in lump sums as apposed to bonus. To balance I only have 60K in savings

Age : early 40s,
Current pot : £185k pot,
Current salary £35k (P.T hours, will increase once kids are older)
Contributions : 22% (6% me, 16% employer)
I've always contributed a minimum of 5% since leaving university at 21 and always worked somewhere where contributions are at least matched.

I had a defined benefit as Teachers Pension but I got a chunk of exh pension upon divorce and I put it in a Sipp. I also added to the Sipp and when I early retired at 57 it had reached £55k so I took 25 percent and put rest into an annuity to last 10 years from when I'm 57 to 67 years. Then I'll get a state pension kick in. In the meantime I've carried on putting into Sipp again and it's now back up to £11k. If I don't pay into Sipp I simply pay more to Mr Hunt.

I have worked and paid NI full time since 18. I qualified into my profession whilst working (and raising a family - that’s why I look 55!)

33, ~£135k pot, £80k, 18% (8% me, 10% employer)

Age : early 50s,
Current pot : £550k
Current salary £90k
Contributions : 51% (43% me, 8% employer) + my bonus

Am so fed up of working and hoping to stop within the next few years.
It won't be a luxurious retirement but it will be good enough.

43, £80k, £185k in pension, 10% combined contributions
Paid off mortgage

About £90k, I’m 31 and put in 6% a month, employer puts in 15% so 21% a month going in

Totally agree. I don't know why I open these threads, as all the posters with pots WAAAAAAY in excess of mine and saying it's not enough, give me anxiety!
I'm mid 40s. Pot is 85k. I contribute 4% to a personal one, 10% to a work one and employer puts in 5%. So 19% overall. As far as earnings go, I'm not a higher rate tax payer but not too far off.

I know it's not enough. But I do actually want to enjoy my life slightly and not throw every penny (that I don't have anyway) into a pot that I might not ever spend.

I need a new job. But my hours, office location, work ethic....it all keeps me here. I'm so tired and so fed up of worrying about money for XYZ. Pension. Holiday. University savings. As well as having an actual LIFE.

I think the CETV for an equivalent £24k per year would be about £550k.