Anyone else in their 30s not have a pension?

[25BeautifulGnomes]

I am really freaking out about our financial future at the moment. DH is self employed, I work part time, and neither of us have pensions. I (foolishly in hindsight) opted out of mine as I didn't believe that I could afford it, and the years have just rolled by.....

We are in the process of buying a house and have agreed to sit down and go through all our finances once we are settled in, but I just can't stop panicking about the fact I/we don't have a pension. One of the reasons we have not done anything about this kind of thing yet is that we have been saving up for our deposit for the last few years, so this really has been our only focus in terms of savings.

I want to change career after we have another child (if I am lucky enough to have another one) so I don't know if it is worth opting in to my work pension scheme for what could be a relatively short time?

What does everyone else do in terms of pensions/savings? I am sure that we are in a minority in not having pensions and I feel very stupid about this. What would the best idea be for us moving forward? Both get pensions and have other pts for any other savings we could make? (I fear that just mortgage repayments/day to day living in the new house is going to eat up whatever money we have coming in)

I also have a nagging feeling that I should not be placing all my future financial security on DH, and should be looking out for myself too?

I know that we will most probably come into some inheritance in the years to come but I don't want to count on this as anything could happen....

Any advice/experiences gratefully received.

I'm self employed with no pension.

Dh is military and will retire with a lump sum and good pension and still have 20-25 years to work in a new job until he reaches "proper" retirement.

Yes I am placing my financial well being in his hands but it's the only choice we have.

He is never here so I work from home and look after the dc but don't have enough spare to pay my own pension.

The plan is once money is more available to us in a few years time I will save into a isa or similar then his pension will be for our day to day living in our old age and my savings will fund the cruise every year

Im 31 and dont have one, DPs 36 and had one before he retrained as a teacher last year (has been in and out of supply work since) No idea how much its worth though.

As for beneficiaries, DP found a form from when he first signed up where you can name someone else to recieve his pension in the event of his death. Might be worth asking your pension provider if they have/do such a thing.

I'm mid 30s and have a final salary pension which should provide enough to live on if I remain on my currant salary. Also have a stakeholder pension I started in my early twenties which I can draw on at 55 but I don't think it's worth much but I started it while temping and an occupational pension wasn't an option. It hurts when I look at my payslip and see how much I pay each month into my pension when I we can't afford a holiday etc but I couldn't possibly rely on DH to support me - what if we divorce for instance?- and I won't be inheriting anything so although I worry about what our finances will be like next year, I don't worry too much about retiring in 2042!

I plan on DP getting seriously rich.

I'm 29 and have no pension, but have investments. Paid no attention to it until the credit crunch, lost 50% of it in 9 months and have educated myself making it back since then. am planning on relying on my own management of this plus compound interest/dividends to supply a retirement income as I don't trust the pension system at all, given that they all work through being invested in market tracking funds themselves, I fancy my own chances better. That being said, I don't expect to have enough income to maintain a champagne retirement, and I don't plan to (fully) retire till I'm 70, just dial down the workload.

Both myself and dh are in our early 30's and have no pensions in place. I'm untrusting of pensions mostly because I don't understand them and also because my dad paid into one for years and then basically lost most of it with the recession.

Dh and I plan to clear our mortgage down as quickly as possible to free up our income. We overpay wherever we can rather than paying into a pension policy. We also plan to release some equity from our property so that we can use it as a deposit on a 2nd property which we will rent out. Hopefully that property will increase enough in value that we can use that as our pension fund.

Oh, I aslo buy a lottery ticket every week - well you never know, someone's got to win it

I pay £260 a month into mine. Dh pays about the same into his.
It's not to late to start op, and i would really recommend you do ; it is scary how many people, women mostly, haven't got adequate provision

Im also a little when women say 'oh no I dont have a pension, but my husband does so that's ok'

What If he dies first? Many pension schemes do have a widows element but you are likely to be looking at a proportion of the full pension , perhaps half, not just the whole caboodle as many wives seem to think.

My dh has a pretty good pension and I would receive a reasonable proportion should he go first- but I would never rely just on his, I have my own too.

Would be useful for you to book to see a financial advisor op, also read up on the Internet about various deals

Thank you so much to everyone that has posted, some really useful insights into people's situations. I will definitely be sorting something out soon.

I can't see them all paying out anyway.

I guess no-one will let me starve, right?

I am 30 and don't have a pension, but I do have a few ISAs. Now that you don't need to save for a deposit anymore, you could start paying into a pension - it's not too late.

I personally am working on the assumption that the state pension will not exist by the time I am of retirement age btw.

Nope.

And am 42. Went to see a financial advice and was told to have a 'reasonable' pension at 65 I would need to pay in at least £ 1000 per month. It just not possible.

I too am working on the assumption that state pensions won't exist for much longer. Great if they do, and its a top up to my pension, but I'm not counting on it.

I don't think people will be allowed to starve, but I do think people will be in for a pretty miserable existence in older age without their own provision

Defined Contribution pensions are THE BIGGEST CON going - the first ones are coming on stream now and people will have to be retired for 38 years just to get back what they paid in after the bastards in suits have taken their fees all those years.

If you have a defined benefit pension stick with it.

Otherwise your best bet is to make sure you take out your full ISA allowance every year, fill up your kids ISAs and then look at other investment options that do NOT involve huge hidden fees every year

I'm 47 BTW and have taken a positive decision not to pay into a pension

Argh. Please don't seriously rely on property inheritance from parents/ILs only for your pension. You know, right, that the 'ageing population' means people are living needing care for longer, and for most that will mean using their own housing equity to pay for it? Of course many people do not need care but increasingly, older people do.

"I don't know if it is worth opting in to my work pension scheme for what could be a relatively short time?"

Yes. If your employer is contributing and you can get tax-relief on contributions, even a short time will probably be worthwhile. You have many years of work ahead of you both, chances are that your finances will ease up once your family is older, you're further on in your career and you're more settled. If you plan carefully there will be spare cash at some point in the future. In the meantime, even relatively small amounts set aside today will be worth quite a lot by the time you come to retire.

BTW... pensions are not the only way to plan financially for retirement. It's wise to spread the risk with investments, bonds, ISAs, property (or other assets) and so on. As you're saving for a deposit on a house you can tick one of those boxes.... a lot of retired people choose to downsize their accommodation and release some capital that way.

Cogito
In the meantime, even relatively small amounts set aside today will be worth quite a lot by the time you come to retire.
I have to disagree with you there.
Most personal pensions - as a result of falling markets and excessive hidden fees - are worth LESS than the contributions, even with the tax breaks.

Otherwise your best bet is to make sure you take out your full ISA allowance every year, fill up your kids ISAs and then look at other investment options that do NOT involve huge hidden fees every year

ISA charges can be higher than a DC pension. New modern pension contracts and those that are negotiated by many employers have lower fees.
You need to read the small print, sweeping statements like this are misleading.
Furthermore tax on ISA's and pension funds are very similar (but tax free cash on pensions currentlly makes them slightly more favourable). If you're a higher rate payer then pensions are most likely to give you a more favourable tax position.

Talkinpeace you're talking rubbish.

"If you are a higher rate taxpayer" - but 80% of the population are not.

Cash ISAs do NOT have trader fees

And even the Economist has been bemoaning the fact that British pensions perform less well than those on the continent due to higher fees. www.economist.com/node/21560546
As an employer I've been reading up on NEST schemes and the 1% charge is only introductory.
See this story to see that I am NOT talking rubbish www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18883932

With the stock market running at less than inflation over the last few years, and no scope within interest rates to boost demand, only those who can afford to lose the money should be investing their pension in it at the moment

@TalkinPeace2. The OP is in their thirties not their fifties. Today's pension market may not be working out well for people who are cashing up, buying annuities and seeing disappointing returns. But we're talking here about someone who isn't retiring for another 30 years. You cannot say with any degree of certainty that money put aside now will be worth less in the 2040s.