To think we are heading into a pensions disaster

[She11y]

I asked ChatGPT what the median pension savings were for someone in their mid 40s and I got the below reply:

Ages 35 to 44: The median pension pot is approximately £30,600.
• Ages 45 to 54: The median pension pot increases to about £81,200.

This website has a similarly sobering statistic - average pension pot for 50-59 is £96k.

https://www.nutsaboutmoney.com/pensions/average-pension-pot-uk

These are averages and the number will be brought down by some people who have zero pension savings but it's still a very low amount.

How are people going to survive retirement. There aren't many jobs for people the wrong side of 50z

One of my DC is doing astrophysics, he struggles as it is, a job on top of studying would make it impossible.

The State Pension will ensure that people have a basic income, topped up with other benefits where necessary.

Public Sector pensions are relatively generous but not wildly so. They are already a lot less generous than they were, and contribution rates are high.

There’s some that do not have it spare.

there’s some that choose to live whilst they’re young.

there’s a few that keep up with the joneses.

I'm not sure if I'm the current generation you're talking about (millennial), but I agree with to to a certain extent. People trot out the Avocado Toast bs, but really that's a diversion from the big monthly liabilities people commit to.

I know a lot of people who have the lease cars, the excessive 40y mortgage, plus two kids in nursery before it was cheaper. I get argued with if I say that it's cheaper to run a small, reliable older car etc.

We bought a house WAY under what we would have been lent, my car is 14yo, and we didn't have a child until we were well established in our careers. My pension and savings contributions are a third of my salary.

People leave it way too late to think about the implications of the big stuff.

I don’t think that’s controversial at all - you’ll reap the benefits in the years to come.

So many people are completely clueless about pensions, and think their £100K pension is somehow going to magically give them 50K a year on retirement.

It’s vital that we teach our kids to start paying in as soon as they start working, and to pay as much as they can afford while they’re young, so they have decades to benefit from the growth. Given that they probably won’t get a state pension I don’t understand why people aren’t shouting about this now. One of my DCs has paid between 13 to 20% of his salary since he started work. He’s aiming to retire at 60. My other DC doesn’t care and only pays 5%. She’d rather spend her money on holidays but we’ve warned her that she’s going to be working for a very long time (ie. forever).

In what way? We pay high contributions all our working life, and often for a lower salary than an equivalent job in the private sector. My so called gold plated NHS pension will give me less than a third of my current salary after paying in for 30 years. Hardly rolling in it!

So, the amount that a high income parents is expected to give their children at University is £6,710, their loan is reduced by that amount to reflect the parental contribution. This has always been the case, e.g. my parents had to support me when I was at University in the 80s. And in actual fact Money Saving Expert say that depending where they live that can be even higher, up to £15K per annum. So a student working part time is going to struggle to make up that difference.

Quite a few people I speak to say they are relying on inheritance to fund or heavily part fund their retirement. Risky, as if their parents live longer than they expect then a lot of that will be swallowed up in care fees etc.

Public sector pensions are a total piss take.

I am sure there are many clueless people

but I also think it's really hard for low to average earners to build up a good pot.

You dont need a big house, fancy car to find yourself with not much money left from an average wage. Not all employers offer more than the minimum amount they gave to pay either.

It's going to be a huge issue.

Top up maintenance whatever it’s called. Disabled kids, huge mortgage, period as of unemployment due to caring, several marriages between us. Sometimes you don’t have time to plan or spend beyond tomorrow.

Public sector pensions aren't all that despite what the Daily Nail will have you believe.

My pension was a better option when I was in private business plus my wage was comparatively better.

Don't get me wrong, I'm aware we do get some benefits that other companies might not but honestly, all this "it's the civil servants fault!" Is really boring and wrong.

It's as if people think we're all on the same pension that people retired on 10 years ago. Hint we're not. If you're retiring in the next 10 or so years, you'll be OK but after that, it's really not what people think it is and by the time I retire, it won't be anything.

Also FYI, a lot of people in my dept are on minium wage and pension contributions are a significant outlay. We did get a pay rise last year but that was after 5(?) years of stagnant wages and it didn't even come close to what we've actually lost pay wise.

And how do you expect people who are minimum wage or similar to big up their pension.

People are living day to day they aren't thinking of years down the line.

The government have enrolled most working people into bullshit pensions that will give them a pittance.

YANBU OP. Gen X are coming up to retirement and these are the generation relying (primarily) on DC pensions rather than DB. It’s an absolute ticking time bomb. The vast majority of Gen X haven’t saved anywhere near enough into their pot and now (as they head into retirement), don’t have enough time, or disposable income, to make up the shortfall.

I’m 49, have worked in banking my entire career (where employer contributions are generous), so had about 25% of my salary (split between me & employer) going in since I was 23. I’m a 6 figure earner now (and have been for about 10years) and my pot is c.£500k. I still have 15yrs for it to grow & contribute further, but I’m not going to be rolling in money at retirement. I have other savings and DH has a DB scheme so we’ll be OK, but I’m not really sure how lower earners are supposed to build up a pot that will give them a reasonable standard of living in retirement.

I’ve planned to live on SP with a small pot of savings. Will be adequate for me.

Public sector pensions (with high contributions) are one of the reasons people carry on working in thankless, relatively poorly paid public sector roles. There are already recruiting issues in nursing and teaching. Take the pension away and what do some of you propose instead to try to encourage people to teach your children or look after you in hospital?

Take away the modest pension and look forward to a society with no teachers, nurses, social workers, refuse workers etc etc.

We already earn less than the private sector. Remove the pension — the only perk — and we just won’t do it any more.

The figures that I have seen show that it is Generation X that are in the worst position as far as pension savings go. When we started our careers final salary schemes had largely closed in the private sector and there was no auto enrolment and no right to pensions for part time and temporary employees. Even when I qualified as a solicitor and got a permanent role, the law firm that I worked for didn’t offer a company pension until I had two years service!

State pension will be long gone by the time I reach retirement age if I get there, which will probably be 80 by then! I'm 40 now. I'm only just able to start taking my pension seriously and increasing payments etc. I've been too busy prioritising my mortgage and home.

They have been. A lot of people bang on about gold plated public sector pensions, without having a clue what they mean.

Can you put down your copy of the Daily Mail for one minute and explain, preferably with some actual facts and statistics, exactly how the public sector pensions are a ‘piss take’. And if they really are as good as you think they are, why don’t you get a job in the sector and reap all that amazing benefit for yourself.

You can look but don't touch 😁

Am 49 and mine is £3k, if it makes you feel better

Then the course is too difficult for him and he won’t cope with it as a career. Lectures are a maximum of 4/5 hours a day, if he can’t cope with a few restaurant shifts on top of this then he’s going to find his working life very hard indeed.

I did my degree while working and looking after 2 small kids.