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%

Looking above at another teacher, mine can't be right can it….

No it doesn't - have you logged into the TPS to check? Presume you've been teaching a while?

As for theoretical 'pot' it does give you what it is in fairly small print somewhere are a % of the old LTA (lifetime allowance £1,073,100)

30 pension pot £45k, didn't start putting in until I was 21. Employer 9% and me 5%. Once iv done my house up il be upping my contribution. Earning £65k

This is completely different.

Crikey, I haven't got a clue. I pay into my work's pension scheme - whatever the standard contribution is and no idea how much is in there.

I'm 40, and given the state of things I'm assuming I'll be working past 70. I have considered paying in more but it feels like a mug's game - I don't trust the terms won't change and don't really believe I'll end up better off. It all feels rather beyond my control.... We are lucky enough to have a decent sized house that'll be paid off before retirement. We'll probably have to downsize and live off the difference.

Can you explain?

Teachers' pension is DB so no actual pot? Figure ties in with my projected annual pension. I think...

Ex NHS who took early retirement with VERA (ie I lost some of it). I get about £1500 a month which is approximately half of what I was clearing a month when working. Lump sump used to pay off mortgage and help DC get on property ladder. I “save” about £200 a month with no travel expenses and I work (very) part time ours to help with our travel fund.

DH is also NHS and has done “retire and return” so got his pension but still does 2 shifts a week in his old job which is highly specialised and difficult to recruit to. He aims to stop completely in 3 years once we have saved enough to allow us to travel extensively.

we are fortunate but we have between us 70 years experience, 4 degrees and umpteen professional development courses that we self funded to get into senior/well paid positions. We both worked full time as well - doing different shifts to cover child care and only having one shared week of holiday a year. So we have worked hard for it.

we are not rich but living well. The best part of it all though is the impact on our mental health. I was so burnt out and developed a terrible drinking problem. DH had very high blood pressure and borderline depression.

I remember a pension advisor once saying you should be penniless on your death bed (whilst making sure you’ve already provided for those you want to). So that’s what I intend to do.

We plan to travel as much as we can over the next 5 years. We are both developing various health issues that come with age and I feel my confidence for things ebbing. I reckon when I reach 65 ish I will probably not be confident or wanting to do the long haul flights. I don’t see that I will need as much money then as we will be doing less. So I don’t really get why I would need £4k a month then. Ironically I will get full state pension too so I feel very fortunate in the way things have worked for us.

@Orangeandnavy you should be able to work out a cash value by looking at your Annual Benefit Statement and seeing how much of your lifetime allowance you've used up. That can be equated to a cash value.

@CommeIlFaut @Tedaaaaaaaaah I should have said , I meant no incentive as in there is no employer contribution but I do save and have a couple of properties. I worry about losing money on a pension also

LTA is calculated a pension x 20 plus any lump sum.
The CETV calculation to get the hypothetical pot which would be used for a transfer out or divorce is much more complex and multi faceted

38, earn c.£30k, put in a total of 20.5%, pot of £41k. Only started earning more in the last year or so, so pot should increase a lot more now. Also will have about £100 a month from a slither of local government pension on retirement and about £200 form a final salary scheme I was in for 6 years

At 40 there is still time to grow a pension pot! What terms are you worried might change? I suppose the pension age may increase, but a DC pot is really just a tax advantaged investment pot

DB so no pot as such, although it is an asset backed scheme. On track for approx £45k per annum if I stay in the scheme until retirement at 68. Employer’s contribution varies depending on triennial valuation, currently 0% as the scheme is in surplus. My contribution currently 9.9% of salary.

Haven't a clue. Probably won't make it to 70 so not worth worrying about 🤷🏻

Thank you

On my annual statement it says

Lifetime Allowance
Your total pension amount represents 20.44% of the current Lifetime Allowance at this statement date.

My projected pension x 20 + lump sum is £219,378
20.44% of £1,073,100 is £219,342

I wasn't suggesting it is accurate transfer out value - just what I used an an approx. guide to estimate a 'pot' for comparison. No intention of transferring out.

I was really just saying that £50K didn't look right for a teacher just off retirement as an estimated pot (assuming a reasonable length of service etc.) for comparison.

As a rough rule of thumb take the defined benefit (the pension you’ll get per year) and multiply by 20. That’s the value of the pot of it were a defined contribution scheme.

so roughly, the teacher with a 30k a year pension would need a pot of 600k to get that in the private sector

public sector pensions are still huge and people don’t understand their value

I understand. As someone who works in the pensions industry I just like to point out the differences accurately to help people who might be comparing their private pension pot with a public sector defined benefit scheme and wondering why their employer isn’t putting 20+% into their pension.

I'm a 33 year old GP partner so need to pay both the employer and the employee contribution to the nhs pension, which I believe works out at about 28% of my income in total. As it's a DB scheme I don't have a 'pot size' as such, but should have a £40k+/year (in today's money) pension by the time I reach state pension age if the scheme doesn't change in the meantime, although I will likely retire earlier with an actuarially reduced pension.

My husband (private sector/non-medic) is also 33 and pays 25% into his pension, with a current pot size of around £150k. He was a bit late starting due to many years of studying including a doctorate during which he didn't have access to a workplace pension, but it has paid off and resulted in him earning good money now so his pension is accruing quickly. Aiming for ~1mil pot (in today's money) by late 50s so that we can retire together at that stage.

Mid 50s and retirement planning is worth around £1M. Not just pensions though. Save at least £50k a year.

Very true. Pension income that is indexed is very valuable.

And often just as misleading!

33 and have a two small pots worth currently around £15 together and then a defined benefit scheme which I think if I were to think in ‘pot terms’ is on around £70,000 or the equivalent of just shy of £4000 a year from retirement age.

Civil service - pay is rubbish when I consider what we do as I would get double my salary in private sector but the benefits are worth it in my opinion.

Thank you @Express0 & @Britpop123
Yes, I was only being approximate...
DH transferred out of a pension few years back and I do remember that the amount was more than 20x annual projected pension + lump sum.
I really need to get more clued up - getting more advice (mainly around DH's pension as he is approaching 55) next month so I'll pay attention this time...

Couldn't have put it better myself @SallysLeftCheek-your first three lines are SO apt...

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

Retirement is a financial status.

It's long been that way in the UK."

My financial situation will be of no benefit to your question OP, it's not conventional, and I'm self employed, however I like my job, so I've dropped my hours down and am drawing down 25% of my (less than £100k) pension pot. I have chosen to do this as after taking financial advice, as I've decided as I'm now on the wrong side of 50, and have lost more than 3 friends to cancer. I'm not prepared to take the gamble that I may be fit and healthy by state pension age, not that I could live on that in any event. I just want to enjoy life now, with my adult children, taking them places and having a bit extra for my hobby. I'll be happy to sit and watch telly in later years and I can downsize if I can't live on the state pension-well who can- but I don't need much to be happy.

Lots of people on these kinds of threads fib. Big time!