Does anyone else worry about their future pension?

[NatMoz]

I have 2 pensions. One from my former employer with Legal & General which has a total pot of roughly £21k. Based on predictions this will equate to £363 a year by retirement age . Bearing in mind I contributed for almost 8 years it just seems so low.

My current one is faring a bit better. It's a Civil Service one and over 3 years amounts to £2k (annual statement was from March this year so may be a little more than that now).

Even so, as it stands it all equates to about £200pm pension.

Am I being dumb here? Is there any way I can make my Legal & General pension work harder? You can choose which investment to opt for but they are just names on a page to me.

I feel like pensions are such a minefield. I have no clue what I'm doing. Also don't think there's any point relying on state pension. I'm 32 and have been working since 21.

Does anyone else feel like this? What do you do? I'm considering a stocks and shares ISA such as Vanguard?

[quote userchange987]@stevalnamechanger it wasn't that you were being dramatic, it was that you were giving broad advice without taking account of their situation. You were telling people to put more in without even knowing their situation. Without making any overpayments I am on track for more than £36k a year, yes I don't know what will happen in future, but I do know that right now I have childcare bills, a large mortgage and children to raise, so prioritising retirement over current living when I am on track for a comfortable retirement doesn't make sense right now. The OP is in a similar circumstance with young children, property and a very good civil service pension. When we are out of the coal face of child rearing then we may re-evaluate.

Putting more into retirement doesn't make sense for everyone at every point of their lives.[/quote]
I wasn't responding to my perhaps overly cautious generalist view - I was referring to when someone said my cost of living in retirement estimates were too high

I’ve checked my state pension forecast. My Contracted Out Pension Equivalent (COPE) is £26.34 per week. I don’t understand the explanation on the website. Does this mean that even if I have the full 35 years NI contributions, my state pension will be reduced by this amount (on the basis it’s “included” in the amount I will get from the private scheme)? The website says it does not affect my state pension forecast? I’m totally confused

I’d be grateful for any answers from anyone that understands this so I will know exactly how much state pension I will receive if I make it that far…..

@Caffeinefirst it doesn’t effect your forecast because your forecast will already have been calculated taking account of that.

£49k pa! Is that net of tax? That's approximately £3500 pm. I think DH and I could comfortably live on £2000 pm which is hopefully what we're on track for. If not we'll have to cut our cloth...

@stevalnamechanger I'm single and don't earn that! Still manage to pay a mortgage, buy food, run a car, pay bills etc

I think there are extremes where people don't save anything much for a pension and bury their head about how to live when retired.

But equally I know a few people who keep going because they think they need an awful large amount in their pension pot to retire and risk never actually spending it.

The problem with 'you need x amount to retire' for me is meaningless. It comes down to your particular outgoings which vary so much as well as type of pension e.g. you won't run out of money with a DB but you need to continue to watch the pot with drawdown.

I have done the calculations for DH and I including if one of us dies early on. We both are of the mind that we would rather after over 30+ years each of FT work retire on a moderate amount and enjoy those early years in relative good health. The calculations are for our outgoings and would be meaningless for anyone else which is why I ignore the articles which say you need x amount.

@Stuffin I agree. We'd rather retire a bit earlier on less money as you never know what might happen health-wise as you get older.