If you are over 40…How big is your retirement pot?

[AnIndianWoman]

Just that really. If you’re over 40 how much have you earmarked for retirement? My pensions are approx 200k and I have another 200k in stocks and shares ISAs. Even then I won’t come close to the £50-60k a year income we will need in retirement and so can’t think of stopping working before 70.

I was thinking of investing more but not sure what size pot I should be aiming for. I’m 40.

Zero. My pension fund collapsed.

That’s a massive amount! I have less than £100k 😫but am about to start a new job with huge employer contributions so hoping to boost it a lot till I retire. I think you’ll be fine. Why do you need £60-70k income? Is that to cover two people or just you?

I've stopped worrying about it. This country is fucked. Probably cost 60k for a pint of milk in 2050

You surely must know that that's way, WAY bigger than most 40 year olds? Or most 60 year olds, come to that?

I dont understand my retirement pot. I try but i cant wrap my head around it. Some is a stakeholder pension for 10 years worth of me paying in, the rest is the LGPS which for the life of me I cant work out. Me and employer seem to pay lots in as a per cent but the statements indicate stupidly small amounts at the other end which are less each month than I pay in?

I don’t know how much are in them but estimated to be 10k a year right now with about 20 years to go. I’m aiming for 15k a year minimum. DH has nothing and his will come in at about 3k a year all being well. If there’s still a state pension when we reach retirement then 35-40kish a year will be absolutely more than enough for us. We bring in 50k at the moment between two jobs.

Mid 40s. I’ve got about £350k in a SIPP and £140k is ISAs. I should also have about £25k pa from an index-lined DB pension (if I work as long as I plan to).

DH has more in his SIPP but no DB pension.

£50-60k/year in retirement does seem like a lot - but maybe that's 25% of your current income? Are you factoring in the state pension if you are eligible?

That’s a very high retirement income you’re targeting?

Your post is like another world to me.

Zero. That’s what I have for retirement. I’m disabled and on long term high rate disability benefits. We own our home (300k ish mortgage free) but that’s it!

You’ll need a Million or so along with State pension to generate that income.
40 now, you can expect your pots to at least double by 60 plus whatever you add to them, I’d say you’ll be better off than 90% of the population.
Use the Guiide website to generate some figures, it’s very useful.

I'm not 40 but not far off. I've got about 20k in a work pension which is obviously f-all. I've also got 5.5 years in a teachers pension from my time working as a teacher. DH is faring better as he's worked for longer and also pays into a private pension. Probably be relying on downsizing our house at this rate.

Why do you need so much. You say you’ll work until 70 - why when in your 40’s you already have so much saved. How many healthy years past 70 will you have to enjoy all this money. Will you be the richest in the graveyard?

I hope you are enjoying some of your money now and with where you are now I just hope you enjoy your life whist fit and healthy and can worry about a mythical income figure at the time as you already have incredible pension savings

Meant to add that we are 57 and only have about £200k between us in pensions but DH gets a military pension in 2025 that we will save for at least 3 years to allow him to retire early at 63/64. We’d need at least £200k more if he didn’t have it.
We’ll have about £35k joint income (in todays money) at SP age, that’s more than enough as our yearly spends now are only £22k ( excluding holidays) .

Between DH and , about 300k stakeholder plus I have a LGPS which would currently yield about 3k approx per year if I stopped contributing to it now. Hoping for lots of growth plus we would both get state pension and hopefully mortgage free!

Your calculations don't seem right tbh. I have less than you at 45 but think I'll be fine by around 62 on a reasonable sum. DH and I each have around £120k in DC schemes. I also have a final salary scheme worth around £9k pa at retirement. We're currently putting a lot away every month so hopeful we're on track to retire reasonably comfortably by 65.

I’ll get about £700 a month from 2 work pensions combined.
Hopefully I can increase this once the kids are older but I’m not anticipating a particularly luxurious retirement, though I appreciate I’m luckier than many.
My parents and their friends have had lovely retirements with lots of holidays etc - that’s not going to be my experience unfortunately.

Zero here too. Also disabled, unable to work and on long term disability benefits.

Zero. I have about £15k in savings. The plan is to downsize and use the money from the sale to live on. with falling house prices – which of course should come down – I don't know how strong a move this is. DH is certain we'll be fine. He has a pension about equal to OPs.

So your diamond shoes are too tight
(or you’re worried they will be in retirement…) 🙄

Not sure tbh. I pay into a workplace pension, am guessing that pays around 20k a year. My savings are much less than that but aren't earmarked for retirement, its for stuff like house issues and car etc.

I don't earn lots but enough to manage, I feel like paying into a pension is sensible and proportionate.

I suspect the OP and I have very different lifestyles based on their figures! Just goes to show we all have different definitions of "comfortable"

I have 3 DB pensions which will pay out around 49k a year at 67. I want to retire early though so will take a smaller amount at 60.

I have two work pensions worth approx £395k, one eligible from next year when I’m 60 although I’m planning to leave that one for a couple of years to get the generous annual bonuses. I am eligible for the full state pension so that’ll be another £12k approx. in 8 years time. I have some savings too.
I’m still working full time but plan to drop down a day in 2 years when I’ll make up the difference by starting to draw the work pension. I’ll then decrease another day the year after they but plan to keep working p/t indefinitely to keep the grey matter working!

I’m morbidly obese and probably going to be dead by 70 so I’m just taking lots of holidays, spilling over into your seat on the aeroplane and spending any spare cash on take aways. The NHS will look after me.

Nowhere as near as you but at the rate this country is going we won’t get to retire. It’ll be work to you drop.