How much savings do you have - in cash and in your pension pot?

[suebfg]

I am 40 and whilst we have quite a lot in savings (over £150k and no mortgage), my pension provision is practically nil. I chose to pay off my mortgage instead of paying into a pension as tbh, I don't trust pensions.

But it does worry me that I have little saved for my retirement - mainly the equity in the house I guess.

Just interested in what others have done.

I knew I would end up clicking on this thread....mistake...I now feel worse than ever!!
46 years old, no savings, I have just started paying into the workplace pension scheme that I was enrolled onto in April.
I know I will be working until I drop!
I spent 20 years looking after my children and DGP (DGM had dementia) until the children were mid teens and DGP passed away....BIG MISTAKE!!
I am now so angry with myself, DH is older than I and I allowed myself to be talked into having a family that could have waited until we were financially more secure and/or I had a job worth more than NMW.
I now work for just above NMW, although I keep asking for training/promotion, I am told I have the qualities, I get overlooked when something comes along in favour of younger colleagues. I am so skint I had to borrow from my 24yr old DS recently to pay a car repair bill. We live from one month to the next.
I have come to the conclusion I right royally screwed my life up!

As one of the ones relying on inheritance I have called my Ddad to check if I need to worry... I don't. Happy days. Lucky really as I have poor earning potential, mentally disabled, and married to mid rate earner so piss poor... but happy piss poor.

Well I hope the ones relying on inheritance are expecting squillions - because when my Aunt went into a care home - personal care and minor nursing care - her £150k house was taken up in private care bills.

Bit of a shock to my cousins who thought they'd get the best of both worlds - not have to take care of her themselves, but pocket the inheritance ... HA!

< I know HA! sounds awful - but I was the ONLY person visiting her in the last 6 months of her life "she doesn't even know its us, so why bother" was their view..>

I think it's totally bonkers to rely on inheritance. My dad made loadsamoney in the 90s and has told me that he's set aside 5m each for me and my brothers. That is a crazy amount of cash and I should probably be counting down the days and planning my escape to Bali...

But he's a risk taker, still at 70 investing heavily in new ventures etc. One bad investment or one life-limiting illness and 10 years of private healthcare and that money will be gone and my days of living like a queen will be 'poof' - up in the air.

This is why I am sadly squirrelling away money into pension and house. You just never know...

The reality is that not many of us can afford to save. Frankly staying debt free (apart from mortgage) is tough enough.

Savings- maybe £4 in small change in a pot by the bed
Pension- £0

DH does have a small work pension though.

I have two pensions, one from each of my employers (decided to keep them separate in case one goes belly up, at least I have something else) and it worked out well, as the one from my old employer is performing much better than the one with my current employer.

I have some savings, but not much, as up until last year I was paying off student loans. I also have shares which I got through work (so comes out before tax, the occasional free share), but not many. I have like 12 in one company.

DH has a BUTTLOAD in savings, which will be used for when we buy a home in the next year or so (I'll contribute as much as I can).

For me, relying on an inheritance from my parents is not an option, given I provide them with some financial help.

we should have a really good pension
but id rather spend more now and enjoy life while young

whiteandyellowiris ... you may still want to enjoy life while your 70. My in laws are well into their 70s and thanks to their pension are able to continue to enjoy life.

OMG - I said your when I meant you're.

Wishingchair: very good point. It's easy to feel when you're in your 30s and 40s that 70 is incredibly old and that all you'll want to do is sit in a chair and watch daytime TV. It's no age at all these days, and many people enjoy eating out, theatre, holidays abroad... Indeed for many people this is the first opportunity in their life to enjoy these things without restriction of work or young children

As for 'how do you afford it'.. Well, there's no simple answer other than yes, it's tough. I am mid 40s now and tbh it's not an issue now, but earlier in my career when we had 2 young children and a big nursery bill, the extra few hundred pounds a month would have been really handy rather than watching it disappear from my pay slip. You just have to be very tough with yourself and see it as an essential in the way you see rent/ food etc.

The other thing I didn't pay much attention to at the time but boy am I glad I did it, is to return to full time work as soon as my children were in school. I dropped down to 3 days a week when they were pre school age, and a number of my friends who did this have remained part time even when their kids are in school and even beyond that when their kids are grown up. It's horses for courses, and some people prioritise part time work over full time, but you do really need to have your eyes open about the effect it will have on your pension. Even my few years of part time have knocked thousands off my pension pot.

Friend is currently looking at care homes in London, £1,200 per week.

wonders how much a nursing home would be for a week then if care homes are this expensive

Mortgage of £179 000 but equity of around £100 000 even currently, mortgage is interest only though, so in effect we are kinda renting for half the price of rent. ( our house would be over £1000 PCM rent and mortgage is £460)

I have pension pot of £50k and two pensions that'll combine to give me about £16k a year on retirement

Dh has sod all having been self employed last 20 yrs

£8500 savings

Oh and I have shares of around £14k value (bought thru employee scheme for £12!!)

We look much better off than we are

My father died just after he had spend his life savings on care (£120,000 a year day and night care in his own home) so do not assume inheritances will come although if you have nothing like most people then the state supports you. If you work hard and save then the state does not support you which is how welfare states work.

I love my work so I expect to do it for 30 more years without childcare costs so there should be enough money.

Those considering savings or debt repayment I recommend debt repayment for all kinds of reasons even if you feel mortgage interest rates are very low. They will not be forever so better once you have a month or two's money to live on in emergencies to repay mortgage debt than save.

By a spooky koinkidink we have just had a talk from our company pensions administrator and current thinking is that an individual on a salary of £25k p.a. (selected this figure as it's close to national average) planning to retire at 65 will need a minimum of £15k p.a. in retirement to maintain a roughly equivalent lifestyle. That is not factoring in inflation and assumes that by retirement, all mortgages and loans are paid off with no education fees to be paid, and that state pension is still in existence (which would provide £5k of the £15k quoted).

The average life expectancy in requirement is 20 years for men and 23 years for women, so based on national average salary you'd need a pot of between £200 and £250k, not including state pension, to maintain a decent but not extravagant lifestyle.

Orange thank you for laying it out like that.

the average life expectancy is 20 years for men and 23 for woman - ok so if men and woman retire at 67 and the average age at death is 79 then surely it should be lower?

we have about 40k in savings,no martgage,but dh has life insurance and a good pension,we also both get private healthcare through his business too.i think the idea is in a few years he will sell the business and we will buy a house,not keen on the idea of buying a house just yet and dont want to get a mortgage really.

oh and we are 27 and 34 so it hink we are doing well for our age.

ivykaty The figures he used were retiring at 65 and drawing private pension for an average of 20 years (male) and 23 years (women). I presume that people not in a pension scheme - who would be more likely to be those with less disposable income, a lower standard of living, poorer nutrition and worse health leading to death at an earlier age - make up the discrepancy between those figures and the average age at death.

Apologies for not making that distinction more clearly.