State pension query

[sapphire54925]

Hi, sorry if I'm being dumb but can someone please answer for me nicely

My year of birth is early 1984 so I'm 36. According to state pension calculator I retire at 68. I know pension rules are always changing but will I still get that pension at 68 as I've been paying into it for years?

I do understand that my son who is age 2 might not qualify at all

Depends on what the state pension age is when you retire. And you haven’t been paying into a state pension - there is no pot of funds - it is paid for by current tax payers at that time. Sorry if that has burst your bubble. FWIW I have pension pots for my children, as I do not believe there will be a state pension by the time they retire.

It will really depend on the circumstances at the time. Assuming state pension is long gone by the time you retire (which I think it will) they will probably put into place some sort of taper so it doesn't just disappear all at once. It will go gradually so whether you manage to still get some of it will depend on when they eventually decide to get rid. Either way at your age I wouldn't be relying on it and would probably take the stance that I wouldn't be getting it so need to save elsewhere, be it into your workplace pension or something you set up yourself.

You have to have ( from memory ) something like 36 or so qualifying years to get full pension, i.e working . It also takes child benefit as qualifying although if you worked or not makes no difference during that time .

What pension have you been paying into for years? A personal or occupational pension you will receive according to the terms you've been contributing on. A state pension - as a pp said you haven't been contributing for years for your state pension - I've been investing in it for you

I only have the state pension (perhaps) and I have a Tiny stakeholder pension but there's only about £300 in there. So I think I should start paying into my stakeholder pension again so what would ppl say is a decent monthly amount based on my age and the £300 in there now

I think the general rule of thumb is you pay in half your age when you started paying in in %, but obviously at 36 that makes it 18% for you which would be completely unaffordable for most people if your employer only contributes the minimum 3%. Therefore I would put in as much as I could afford to and if you ever get a pay rise increase your pension contributions so you still take home the same amount as before each month if that makes sense?

stick as much as you can in your private pension. How much you can put in is related to your earnings, and there's a top up from the government. I now earn very little but put in £2880 each year and it is turned into £3600, that's a fair bit of free money.

quick, before someone notices.

You need 35 qualifying years to receive a full state pension

You can log in & see yourself via www.gov.uk using your National Insurance number

The Government doesn't stop taking NI after 35 years, it's just the maximum amount required

State pension age has increased from 60 to 68

I anticipate that it will increase to 70 in the future