How old are you and how much do you have saved in your pension?

[availableforlunch]

I'm dreaming thinking about retirement and using the MAS calculator. Apparently I need to put a huge sum into my pension each month (over £700!).

I'm 31 and have about 20k saved. Started aged 20 thanks to my sensible boss at the time advising me that I should. She was only 7 years older than me so I took her advice on board.

£20k still seems paltry for 11 years of saving!?

How old are you and how much is in your pension pot?

Rule of thumb is about £300k of capital to generate around £10k annuity income

Except no one buys an annuity. The more up to date ‘rule’ is 4% of capital amount for a sustainable income.

I’m 43 and have about £100k in two pensions. I also have a bit in a final salary one but I wasn’t there very long so it won’t be much, I have always worked for companies that are quite generous in matching but DP whose companies haven’t been so generous has a bigger pot as he actively manages his rather than picking funds and then forgetting about them. He has suggested I just let him manage mine on his behalf and I may take him up on that offer.

I am 44 if I left the scheme tommorow I'd get £40,000 pa at state retirement age- equivilent to a "pot" of 10m ?? (using the 4% rule) That can't be right ??

I am 44 if I left the scheme tommorow I'd get £40,000 pa at state retirement age- equivilent to a "pot" of 10m ?? (using the 4% rule) That can't be right

No, but because your maths is wrong
It’s £1M, but in reality yours is worth FAR more than £1M. It’ll be indexed linked and guaranteed (although depending on the scheme your protection will vary).

@okiedokieme the problem with that strategy is your health. What if it’s not good enough?

50 and about £900k

I've always saved 10% of everything I earned but in the last few years it's been much higher than that

How do you achieve 4% income without taking risks with your pension pot(which you can never replace)?

@ElderAve

The thing is there’s ‘risk’ in having it all in cash - inflation will halve it

Risk is often misrepresented when what we mean is ‘real assets’ that vary in value. Yes the risk is you need the money when markets are low. However a globally balanced portfolio with well diversified holdings and a variety of asset types actually behaves in a fairly predictable manner. We can employ strategies to mitigate the risk.

If you want your money to last you need ‘real’ assets ie shares. Only holding Fixed Income is a big mistake (and ironically concentration risk).

I’d speak to an adviser that is Chartered and ONLY deals with investments, which a pension is.

@ElderAve also if you haven’t already, you may want to stop saving. You are going to hit the LTA and get a tax charge pretty soon.

Thanks Panicover, whilst it's savings for my retirement, it's not all in a pension.

Yes, my dad keeps telling me about the inflation risk of keeping savings in cash and I do currently have a fairly well spread portfolio, it's just that as I get closer to retirement (don't intend to work much longer) I'm more nervous about taking risks that I won't be able to work to recover.

22, £3.5k

@EiderAve you need a good disinvestment strategy. Sitting tight in a downturn is what you do, encashment needs management not reaction to an event in the markets. Not having enough invested is riskier in the long term. Short term money should indeed be in cash.

Around £100k in two old workplace pensions - I'm 47. Just started in public service where I hope to be until I retire so this will double (I nearly fell off my chair when I found out about the pension contributions) so hopefully will retire on about £300k pot plus full state pension.