Pensions question

[autumndays13]

48yr old, married, in full time employment.
Starting to feel very done with work and wondering if I'm doing enough pension wise.
This is what I have:

• 12 years left of NI contributions to qualify for state pension
• a defined benefits pension no longer being paid into as have left that job: £7k/yr and £23k lump sum upon retirement
• work pension which estimates around £200k by age 65
• should be mortgage free in 5 years on house worth approx £475k
• not much by way of savings at present but should be able to save approx £2k/mnth once mortgage and kids uni costs out of the way (so in about 5 years)

Work full time. On about £60k. Not much scope for that to increase.

What is your DH's situation? You arguably would be on 17k (if transferring your DC pension in annuity) per year of income, excl. state pension, just for you. That is not bad going (at all), and excludes your lump sum.

That is sounding really good. In your position I would just save what I can into a pension and when your mortgage is gone add the payments you would have made on that to your pension. With a house that valuable you can downsize later on and that will help too.

Oh wow, thank you both. That's reassuring to hear. I was going to add that I am by no means wanting a life of luxury for retirement (I mean obviously that would be lovely) but just to be able to live a simple life post 65 without major money worries.

DH probably similar. Earns a bit more but for years did not pay into a pension so is playing catch up a bit now.

So I can save a small amount each month, around £200 (with mortgage, uni etc we are not left with much at all at the end of each month). I'm currently bunging that in a savings account (around 4%). I'm undecided whether I should be adding it to my current work pension, start another private pension or just keep it as savings. My argument for having it as accessible savings just now is that an unexpected expense may come our way and we don't have much spare just now. Does that sound sensible?

For reference sake, a comfortable pension for a couple (excl. London) is 59k a year, a moderate 43.1k a year.

I have a Vanguard Stocks and Shares ISA, which has done really well, invested in a tracker fund which just follows the general stock market (so no investing in crypto, or individual stocks, as I don't have the time to get up to speed with these things). You can put up to 20k a year per person in (individual) ISAs, and you can sell and take money out at any time. I had my house deposit invested while looking for the house we are currently purchasing, and can take the money out as soon as it is needed.

You ideally have someone respond below with experience of a self-invested pension. Know you get tax benefit on these ones, but don't know about penalties/ease of accessing money. Which is one the key draws of an ISA for me.

Thank you @hyperkid - that's all really helpful!

Should probably clarify it is 20k total investment in ISAs per (adult) person per year, and the 20k is put in overall.

Imagine you put in 5k, then take 4k out, then put those 4k back in again. That would be seen as using 9k of your annual ISA allowance, leaving you with only 11k more to put in an ISA. It is all post-tax income and you don't pay any tax on your drawdowns.

We live very comfortably on an income of £36k. No mortgage.

Maybe wait till this afternoon before looking at the details on ISA/SIPP etc just incase anything changes!

Thanks all!
Helpful and reassuring.

For reference sake, a comfortable pension for a couple (excl. London) is 59k a year, a moderate 43.1k a year

Is that before or after tax?

After tax. It comes from this: https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk

There was quite a hefty increase last time they did the research (they do it every year or two) so you might want to look at the detail and see whether it really matches what you are likely to spend but it's a helpful starting point.