How much in your pension?

[Petpank]

I'm a SAHM & DHs pension is doing pretty nicely... just logged on to my account online for the first time however - and had a wake up call...There's £26k. Suddenly that doesn't sound very much. Not going to last me very long.

House will be paid off in a few years - but we have live...

Is it just me? Feel like a bit of a fool for not addressing it much sooner.

This thread has really got me thinking and i have been doing some research and I am definitely going to see an IFA soon.

I found a really long thread on here from about 4 years ago that makes interesting reading.

DH is 51 and I am 47. Our youngest child is 11. I am now wondering if we should retire in our early 60's once the children are finished with university and spend a good 10 years really enjoying ourselves. Not that we haven't been enjoying ourselves for the past 25 years, but we are rather cautious with money. We could travel lots, buy lovely wine and food, go to the theatre when ever we liked. Then when old age really kicks in we could revert to our rather frugal default position. Down size to a place in town, sell the cars, forget about holidays and just see what happens!

We made additional contributions to Dh's final salary scheme until it was maxed out rather than put into mine (self employed)

Provided we stay married that is a good plan as even half his final salary pension in widowhood is worth far more than what mine would have earned.

I wonder (seriously if I would be better off buying insurance against a divorce where I don't get half the pension, rather than trying to make mine work now (am 46 )

A good, though impossible, figure to aim for is £500k.

If you project at 3%, which is reasonable, that's £15k pa. Add state pension and it's OK.
That's not taking account of the 25% drawdown or taking from the capital as drawdown either, that's maintaining the £500k, so you could do some sums that include those amounts.

I'm never going to get there! My aim is half that, but I am single with no dependants so will need less anyway. In pension and ISA combined I'm now up to c£200k I think (and have a small final salary that will pay c£2k pa).

wheatchief

The general rule of thumb is to aim for an income which is 50% of your working income. (Assuming all debts are cleared)

I found one.

divorcecover.com

It has a "divorce probability calculator"

Eek!

WobblyLondoner my post of 17/03/2017 15:23 is very much applicable to you as a final salary pension scheme is effectively not that different from an annuity being automatically bought on your behalf.

Your pension is valued at £500,000 - what income is that going to give you and how many years would you have to live post -retirement to reclaim that amount? If you withdrew that £500k and put it in a relatively safe bonds-fund private pension, you could draw down a higher income and slowly eat up the capital over your retirement if you fancy making a bet that you won't live for quite as long as the pension company are cautiously concerned that you might.

I started my government backed pension scheme last summer so have nearly nothing in it.

I'm 31 years old and about to leave to have a baby.

All spare money is going on either maternity savings or house renovations. We have only just bought a house together and are in SE so not expecting to have anything spare to put in pensions for a long time.

So I did the "divorce probability calculator" and got these results:

"your score is 6 which puts you in the Low Probability category.

Low Probability
Congratulations. You're amongst a demographic of people that have the second highest long term marriage success rate. What that means is that based on the factors that you indicated, and if there are no major changes in your lifestyle and that of your spouse, the chances that you will ever get divorced are less than average. Does that mean you don't need Divorce Insurance because you'll NEVER, EVER get divorced? No, it simply means that based on the 20 factors we know have a significant impact on the outcome of marriage, you scored well. However, people change over time and life has a way of creating unexpected turns in your path so insurance against the unexpected is always a wise choice if it's in your budget. In any event, we wish you the best of luck!"

I did it and my score is 164!!
Uh oh!

This thread really scares me.
I'm 34 and DH is 40, we don't have pensions.
I'm self employed working three days a week and he is a gambling addict currently paying £800 a month off debt that was run up before he stopped (this time...)
We've got two small children so high childcare costs currently.
I probably stand to inherit half a house before I retire but that's not going to help out much, is it?
Is there any chance for us, oh wise ones?

I have been employed by the NHS for the last 21 years so hope that by the time I retire I will have a good pension??
I'm 41 with two teenage children and no savings. I have no idea what my pension will be "worth" in 20 odd years time??

Your pension provider sends you statement s each year, don't they? Often these include projections. If not then you can normally ask for one.

DH has a large pension I can't remember what it is, mine would pay out around 15k a year at current rates. We have no mortgage and substantial savings and investments enough to buy a few houses. But I have severe MH issues so will never work again.

I have final salary schemes which are set to pay about £10k per annum. I also have a defined contribution scheme which is only worth about £20k at the moment but I am still contributing to this. My national insurance contributions look good and I should receive maximum state pension of £8k. I'm in the fortunate position of owning a rental property with an annual income of C.£10k. So hopefully I am ok. DH also has some final salary and other pension schemes which aren't great but not too bad either. I'm hoping for a comfortable retirement but don't think it will be as good as my parents was on their final salary pension schemes.

This thread has made me check my pensions. No final salary schemes here. I have 2 pension pots totalling £130K so far. If I bought an annuity today, I'll receive approx £6K pa. It's taken 20 yrs for me to accumulate this so I guess another 20 yrs to double the amount before retirement. Somehow, I suspect £12K pa in 20 yrs' time might not equate to a rosy retirement. I should get whatever is left by the state pension on top so perhaps it won't be all doom & gloom - maybe....

This thread is interesting. I suspect most people (myself included) are horribly short of where they hoped to be in planning for retirement.

Well, I'm fucked tbh. First partner was in police so when we spoke of pensions be told me not to worry as we would be alright. Guess what? We split up. I was left with mortgage and no spare money to start pension. STBXH has left me in shed loads of debt that I'll have to clear as it's all in my name. Yep, I'm sooo stupid. He rarely worked and is financially incompetent so my salary covers everything so no spare money to put in pension pot. Have just started employers pension (about 3 years ago) but as am 52 I'm going to be working til I die unless a miracle occurs in the mean time. And that's not very likely. So I'll just have to cross my fingers, pay in as much as I can and hope for the best. Great thread though, even though it has scared me!!

I have £200k in my pot. Worked my arse off saving since I was 21. Now I went back to work solely to pay into my pension after being sahm mum for 2 years. I'm now putting in £2000 a month including my employer's contribution. I feel I need to put in more even. Hopefully I can afford to retire on £15,000 a year( !!)or more if I can keep going a while longer!

I currently pay about £1200 per month (including employer contribution). I'm a higher rate tax payer and DH basic rate, so makes sense after the pensions freedoms to prioritise my pension due to the tax relief.

Depending on which calculator I use, it either suggests I will have enough money at age 65, or that I need to put in £2000 a month!

Too many people have their heads in the sand on how they will fund retirement (including the government!). I'm lucky to earn well now, but I have always paid into a pension since starting work at 21.

I should say, that represents 22% of my salary, my employer pays 8 of that.

Wow I wasn't expecting so many posts - this topic must have a nerve...!

It's good to see that some people are really organised and have thought this all through. Clearly there are other people who for whatever reason haven't saved loads.

Wouldn't it be great if Mumsnet could somehow get some of us who wanted it - a better bulk pension deal?! Like the 'cheap energy club' - but for pensions... especially aimed at women who sometimes have forgone contributions when on maternity leave and when the family's purse has been somewhat squeezed. I guess that's unlikely ??? so I'll have to get off my backside and start figuring out how to spend less and save for more for retirement... damn!

Since reading all the responses I've decided to max my own contributions as per the £2880 (thank you for that) and see an IFA for a pension review. Also I'm considering opening an ISA to top up the savings.

Now trying to work out whether to add more £ to husband's pension on the understanding that if we split up - I'm going to see some of those savings... That's going to be an awkward conversation! 😬

Do we think that Mumsnet could
a) least raise awareness of the potential poverty we could be in in the future b) emphasise the possibility of paying in £2880 to a pension even if you're not working c) erm... I can't think of a 3rd point right now!