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%

41 and I earn 30k and I only have my workplace pension contributions so that's only about 12 years worth. Also not on the property ladder yet - Doing that this year as I've received some very kind inheritance from an Aunt who passed away a few years back and we've only just managed to sell her property. So no early pay off of mortgage for me at my age. I'm going to be poor in my retirement more than likely.

I forgot to check for your reply, sorry. That's 22 years then so you're not quite there yet. If you've checked online it gives you more of a forecast that's assumes you get to 35 years.

What would people gain by lying? That doesn't make any sense whatsoever. I have a fairly large pension pot, I have the app on my phone and can see the value on a daily basis (Hargreaves Lansdown), currently it is sitting at £654619.58, and at the current contributions will be valued at about £850k when I retire at 60 (i am 53 now).

Currently about 130k but I've been a SAHM for years and didn't bother before that so have built up in last few years. I'm 48, going all in for the pension in the next few years to retire at 60 hopefully. I'm ignoring the annuity amount as I expect I'll do drawdown (partly because 25% is tax free and partly because this will allow me to stagger payments at time I need the most - I also think annuities are a bit of a rip off).

To qualify for the pension, I would have to have worked for 40 years. I moved to a different country and couldn’t work for several years so I’ll reach 40 years worked when I’m 75. Considering I’m currently a cancer patient, I’m pretty sure I will die before I can retire.

Not for another 25 years

I’m not in the UK

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Been unable to work for over a decade and before that, didn't understand it all/earned a pittance and couldn't afford to save a pension.

@Poachedeggavocado was there a website you used to find your pensions? I know my previous 2 x employers ones but I think I might have some other small ones but no how I'd get the info! Thanks

I worry hugely about this, but have no spare cash to boost my pension pot beyond the tiny contributions i currently manage. I'm 43, and have a few different pensions from where I've moved around jobs and not combined them all. I think they have £2k, £5k and £7k in them, so quite a piddly pension pot of maybe £14k in total. I'm a single parent to 2 kids, have no help from kids' dad and work part time (~£20K pa). I pay 6% through salary sacrifice which is matched by my employer.

I am maxed out on a mortgage which I extended the term of so that I can afford the repayments so will be paying that off until I'm 68, and for now that takes priority.

When my kids are a bit older I hope to go back up to full time hours and hope to throw as much in my pension as I possibly can at that point, but right now, I feel like the only thing I can do is worry.

I don't know what it's currently the pot size total is at the moment if I stopped paying it tomorrow then it would be 12k a year for my main one. I'm 37 my contribution is near 36% but 27.9% of that is employer (public sector). But its linked to state pension age so will need to pay into another pot to retire before 70!
My private on is sat around 40k total in stocks and shares pension.

I'm 36, my pot is £38k. I pay in 4%, employer pays 5%. I really need to increase it asap but it does feel like it's growing as in recent years I've had about a 40% pay rise (promotions) which is making a difference.

We opened up pensions for our kids, to get them started early and we can give them money tax free. Worth doing if you have spare cash. The decision between saving for a deposit/paying the mortgage versus paying into a pension is a hard one. Has anyone done any analysis or received any advice on what is best to prioritise and to what extent.

The decision between saving for a deposit/paying the mortgage versus paying into a pension is a hard one.

I don't think it necessarily has to be a choice in that under the current rules a private pension can be a very tax efficient way of saving for helping the kids/paying the mortgage. If you put money into the pension now, with the aim that you'll have more than you need for your retirement in the pension, then if all goes well you can use the tax free lump sum to pay down the mortgage/give kids a deposit. If things then don't go as expected and you do need the money for retirement then you've still got it. It works particularly well if you are currently paying a high tax rate (especially over 100k) and have kids who are likely to reach early adulthood as you are in your late 50s/60s. That seems to be a good chunk of mumsnet! Of course the downside is that the pension rules might well change and it could look less good if the access age/tax rules were to change in the future.

For me, the decision to buy a house over increasing pension contributions was easy. I will always need to live somewhere, and so will my children. I could die before I reach pension age!

I had to extend the term when I had kids so that it was more affordable, so will be paying it off until 68, but I wouldn't have had that flexibility to reduce my monthly housing costs if I were renting. My mortgage payments on a 3-bed house are about 1/4 of the going rental rate in this area.

When I'm older, and the kids have flown the nest, I'm hoping I will have the option to downsize and release some capital from the house to live on if my pension pot is too piddly.

I was reading Waitingforgeorge as asking about deposit for the kids not for own home and I should say my answer was on that understanding. Completely agree that securing your own home is usually going to be far more important that maxing pension contributions.

I'm not sure downsizing is always a viable alternative now near me. Bungalows tend to be more expensive here and I don't fancy living in a terrace, which are often cheaper, with steep steps etc. The new builds tend to be poorly planned and miles away from services.

Don't forget you are likely to have some state pension as long as you're contracted in.

On another thread, a poster commented that if the choice was between over-paying a mortgage and contributing to a pension, the right answer was to fund the pension as the earlier years are the most valuable for growth. Obviously, though, securing a roof comes first.

For kids or for you do you mean?

Kids - deposit above pension
You - pension above overpaying mortgage, especially if you’re a HR tax payer

Have to agree. The majority of time people on MN are talking about getting a top up of UC, can't afford a food shop, living on the breadline, yet have pension pots of hundreds of thousands 🤔

Mid 30s and have £18k in mine, earn pretty much the average salary. Employer contributes a whopping 2%. I do 3%. I know it's kind of not enough but im in my mid 30s and i've been T1 diabetic for almost all of those years. With pension age going up and up, although I'm still complication free, the reality for me is that I may well not be forever, it will probably catch up with me at some point and I'll probably die before I retire, or at least be in a position where i'm not likely to be jetting off on holidays. I do want to do all that whilst I still can, so having that money now is more valuable. I do have 18 months take home salary in savings, and will have the mortgage paid off in less than 10 years though, which I appreciate is probably more fortunate than most have who are on the average salary, but tying it up in something age restricted is not for me.

My pensions forecast thinks I'll have an income of £19.5k/yr including an allowance of £10.6k state pension if I carry on with the current, so not amazing but better than a kick in the teeth assuming the state pension still exists, plus can definitely downsize from a 3 bed house.

It’s not a ‘pot’ ffs this grinds on me so much

What do you mean? Mine is defined contribution and is a "pot" - I.e. a bunch of money invested that I can't access until I am 57

Goodness what a strange thing to annoy you. Of course its not a literal pot. But "pension pot" is commonly used terminology to describe the total amount of pension contributions and capital growth that you have saved towards retirement.