Pension - I have none and I’m a little unsettled by DHs response!

[EllyRoff]

So last night I got to thinking about pensions and realised I don’t have one! I’m no longer working (I make a small amount of money through art which DH has always been supportive with). I did have an NHS pension when I was working but DH convinced me to come out of it due to the high payments. There was barely anything in it anyway so I received the contributions back. Since then I’ve made very little contribution in national insurance etc.

DH has always said I’ll be fine in retirement as we have his good pension - but last night I thought “what if he died? Does the pension automatically come to me?” Turns out that no - it doesn’t. It goes to a named beneficiary.

So this morning I asked DH if I was named on his pension - he said “don’t worry, you’d get a state pension” !!! I said “what, £60 a week? I have none pension! Am I named on yours?” He said “why don’t you start a little savings account?”

So I’m not named on yours then?? He said “of course you are, I mean - I’ll check but I’m sure you are”. I’m very unnerved by his response - firstly his lack of concern!! Secondly his reluctance to confirm that I’m named on it. He says he’ll check today.

AIBU here? You’d think he’d want me to be ok in his death surely? Especially since it was him that convinced me to give up my own pension. He is 10 years older than me so not massively unreasonable to consider he might die before me.

Disabled children or indeed dependant disabled adult eg sibling may be able to benefit.

Absolutely.

I completely agree with this. The NHS pension is one of the best. I'd look into financial planning by myself if I were you. Start an ISA when you downsize. Keep some savings. Have your own money.

Ignore the people who say it is worrying that you rely on your husband, some marriages work that way. Would it be better if you had a huge final income salary like some of the pensioners of today, of course. But ultimately it is up to you how you blend your finances and everything is yours if he dies (disclaimer: that is assuming he hasn’t done something stupid like taken out an annuity for a sole person with no beneficiary, or suddenly plays games with his will - though that would be contestable)

you get asked multiple times to review your pension and ensure it is fit for purpose. If your husband has managed to keep a job all this time I would hope he would have been checking to make sure it was. But even if he hasn’t, there is time now. Get some advice on how to protect you both in the future :) it will be fine

A NHS pension would have been very nice if you had continued working. But if you only did a few years, it's not that much.

Any alternative use of the contributions you withdrew is extremely unlikely to match the value of leaving them in the NHS scheme. Also, whenever NHS scheme changes are introduced, I believe your prior contributions continue to attract the original level of benefit they were accrued under. That money would have been infinitely better left in the NHS scheme. Withdrawing it was unwise.

😳 you don’t say what age you are but let’s hope you’re still young. I get so frustrated by women that don’t think of their financial security and rely on men telling them what to do. You shouldn’t have come out of the NHS pension.

I would start paying into my own pension asap. Sounds like your husband deals with all that so I'd ask him to pay an agreed sum each month and if he didn't then I would get any job I could and pay it myself.

I would never rely on someone else to fund my retirement.

I did this as my (D)H now exH said we needed the money to spend on the property we'd bought. So I drew out the contributions.
Then I got a promotion and was fortunate to be able to join the scheme again. I still lost 5 years contributions although I was able to "buy added years".

Later he wanted to swap our Repayment Mortgage for an Endowment one. I took advice. was advised not to and refused. 2 years later we got divorced and he set up home with OW.. They bought a house with an Endowment Mortgage.

20 years later I heard through the "grapevine" that this "all singing all dancing" mortgage hadn't reached the potential it should have done and they were up Sh!£ Creek financially.

Take care OP, better still get financial advice.

Leaving the NHS pension is tantamount to financial abuse.

I'd start by checking on the gov pension what you're entitled to.
You'd be surprised at how you could qualify for a full state pension based on hours you worked years ago.
If you don't qualify for the full amount, you can choose to pay a certain figure and then you will qualify.
I'm assuming the named beneficiary is for private pensions as pretty sure his state would go to you as his spouse but having said that, it's not the full pension and is only for a limited time.
I'd be upset with my DH if we'd had conversations around all of this, as I would expect them to intend to leave it to me

Who else would he put as the named beneficiary other than you? I really don’t understand why he wouldn’t try to help you maximise your pension as it would boost the overall household income in retirement unless he wants you to be dependent on him.

Well I doubt it was much money from the NHS pension. Exactly how many contributions do you think she made in less than 2 years?

Honestly - call me cynical. Daily Mail/whatever intern being told to find a scaremongering thread to detract from the past week of grooming gang Baroness Casey report for the weekend Mail/other dreadful news outlets. They ‘had to run’.

Loads of great advice.

From what she said, it seems she carried on working without making contributions. So it wasn't just two years of pension she's lost out on. It the years she got refunded plus the years she worked without contributing.

You need to find work, pay NI and build up some pension. Many of us live alone and if we don’t work we’re screwed!

Honestly-there has been so much more important news over the past week. This feels like another click bait - ‘it isn’t my fault ‘ I haven’t sorted my life out thread because of xyz diagnosis which then gets picked up by lazy journalists. Hopefully @EllyRoff will be back to reassure us they have thoroughly read the advice provided and all will be well.

I would ensure all money from downsizing goes to you to but back years to get as much state pension, plus to Pat voluntary contributions.

then look at how much your DH cost you in not allowing you to pay nhs pension and use that money to get you back to what you had listed due to his awful advice!

Why on earth would you let someone tell you to come out of your pension???

How can you just realise you don't have a pension? That's beyond me

how old are you ? I would imagine you are his beneficiary anyway , do you know how much he has in his pension?
depending on your age starting a fund now might not be wise but you can maybe think about a investment ?

She knows that.

That's why she said "I’ve made very little contribution in national insurance," and why she also said “what, £60 a week?" (a full state pension would be £230 a week).

Agreed! What a massive shame you came out of it - it’s one of the best around and you could never match the return rate with a defined contribution pension.

You can only fill NI gaps for the past 6 years, and you need around¹ 35 years to qualify for full state pension.

The state pension doesn't transfer to a spouse on death. That only applied to people who reached pension age before 2016.

¹ It’s exactly 35 if you didn't start paying until 2016 or later. Years before 2016 can count as a bit more or a bit less than a year depending on whether you were contracted in or out of SERPS and various other factors.

I thought it would be automatic that his pension goes to you?

The fear instilled in is to always pay your NI but apparently if you don't you can get pension credit, which tops up your state pension and entitles you to many benefits I have heard.

No - that's not automatic at all. It's probably quite rare nowadays.