to think too few people worry about pensions ...

[redskyatnight]

Was chatting to a group of friends (and friends of friends) the other day when the subject of pensions came up.

Only about half the people there (all in their 30s and 40s) had any sort of pension. Quite a few of those said that they didn't pay in as much as they ought to.

Of the others, the reasons for not having one varied from - not wanting to think about it, assuming the kids would support them, relying on inheritance (!), wanting to spend their money now and let the future take care of itself etc.

Maybe I am unduly worrying (I was in the "have a pension fund but don't pay in as much as I should do" group) but I'm astounded that so many people have effectively closed their eyes to saving for their old age. The state pension isn't going to be much to live on, and can we really rely on other sources of income just materialising from nowhere?

I do appreciate some people genuinely have no money for a pension after essential bills, so am talking about the people who do have disposable income but choose to spend it elsewhere.

Ah well, worse things happen at sea I suppose. But I'd think twice about saving in vehicles where the performance is poor, the charges are high and you have to invest 75% of your hard earned dosh into an annuity at the end of it.

Quattro, do your funds include a cash option? You mentioned fixed interest.

If you don't want the risk of poor performance but want to utilise the tax breaks and employer top ups of pension contributions, you could switch your pension into the cash option (0.2% management fee for mine).

People generally only do this closer to retirement to protect their capital, but no reason why you cannot do this now.

Reduced: half-finished novel, big risk probably not much return.

Selling sex in one form or another, probably a better deal.

I'm going to start producing porn.

D'you know blueshoes, I think about doing just that every single year. The reason that I haven't done it so far is that means I am realising the loss.

So I am waiting for the FTSE and other indexes to recover a bit before doing that.

I have a friend who writes online porn.

Sounds sensible, Quattro.

You could from today nominate all future contributions to go into the cash fund, but only sell and re-invest your existing investments once the market has recovered.

I married a rich man but I spent all his money on handbags and shoes.

I just reckon when I'm 70 I'll have to sell the house (3 bed semi) and use that money to buy food, gas, etc. I can live in my camper van, no?

When is the cut off point for state pensions do you think?

Wasn't it said a little while ago that anyone under 30 was guaranteed 'not' to receive state pension?

Wonder which government will be 'brave' enough to actually put a stop to it

So, the pensions world seems to be divided into:

1. People who work in the public sector and enjoy final salary schemes
2. People who work in the private sector and put adequate amounts into their pensions
3. People who work in the private sector and put inadequate amounts into their pensions
4. People who can't afford to do much

I'm guessing that 3&4 outnumber 1&2 significantly. It's a timebomb ...

You can check the performance of your pension fund against the benchmark index by going to www.trustnet.com. On the left, there is a section for 'Fund Performance', click on 'pension funds'. If the fund consistently underperforms the benchmark index, you know they have dud managers and it is time for a change.

I have an online account that allows me to check the value of my pension fund over the internet. If your company offers you this facility, make sure you sign up for it.

You don't have to check constantly. But a quick review (just yourself, not necessarily with a financial advisor) every year or so just to make sure things are on track.

Then, there are of course the pension provider's forecasts in your regular statements. Also, take a look at them but as you know, they adjust up and down according to the market so they are not to be relied on.

Quattro you missed out people in the private sector who have final salary pension schemes. Many have now closed to new entrants but there a still a lot of people who are still in them, and still 8000 schemes still runnning in November 2008, according to this report
www.thisismoney.co.uk/pensions/article.html?in_article_id=456617&in_page_id=6

my oh is self employed. we put£250 a month into a stakeholder pension for him. i class this as doing something rather than nothing. we have been doing this for 3 years. the last statement showed that it was worth a third less than we had put in.

that is the problem. I know it is a long term investment but in reality unless we can significantly increase contributions soon, it will undoubtedly give us just enough not to qualify for any benefits in our old age.

when you are saving for a pension without any help, even significant amounts of money go nowhere. We were told that we should be saving £700 pm by a finanacial adviser. my reaction to that is "we would have a much nicer house if we had £700 pm to spare."

But a reasonable pension pot does cost more than a house. This is the nub of the problem.

Apart from the solution of writing porn to provide for retirement, there is a corkingly obvious solution that has not so far been mentioned ...

Die young

Alternatively, at the point when you are about to cash in the pension pot for an annuity, take up smoking, heavy drinking, live in an unsafe neighbourhood and preferably change sex. Will get you much better quotes on your annuity .

Then you can go back to clean living.

Or the other (partial) solution which hasn't been mentioned: children have responsibility to look after old parents

Yes I agree. Other cultures seem to.

Other cultures do it because they have to. We might need to consider it too

this thread gave me NIGHTMARES

I need a proper job

yeah, I hate chats like this. You realise there is a whole world of money that some people know so much about and you end up seeing a future of destitution.