Would this be enough of a pension for you?

[greenvoid]

Okay so

Dh and I have 3DC. Dh is older than me by quite a bit and it stands to reason that he will probably pass before me. Dh is the only financial provider in the house as I focused and still do on raising the family. I worked out the other day that I will not work enough qualifying years to get full state pension by retirement age and will likely be 6-7 years short of it. Let's just assume that I won't get any state pension for the sake of argument (I only currently have 6 years qualified). If DH dies before me, my pension from his employment will be £1500 a month forever (unsure currently about inflation rules with this). If you had a house paid off and 3 grown up children, would this be enough for you to live off?

Dh tells me how lucky I am to A) get this amount without working for it, which I totally agree, I am lucky and that B) people have to save a lot to have a private pension of that amount. Whilst that may be the case, it's possible that I won't get any state pension so it would be £1500 to live off solely with the assumption that DC are grown up, but who knows if that'll be the case. But for the sake of argument, let's say that they would be grown up.

OP you haven't answered if you have checked your state pension forecast and whether you claim child benefit. Claiming child benefit will give you a stamp each year until the youngest is 12. Presumably you plan to go back to work at some point?

Without knowing how old you are and how old your DC are, I wouldn’t be starting from the assumption that you’re never going to be working again and therefore building up your own private pension provision (as well as state pension entitlement).

I think it’s about £30k that’s used as the advice for a “moderate” standard of living for a single person in retirement, so I wouldn’t want to be limiting myself to £1500 a month.

My husband is 12 years older than me aged 72 his health is fab mine is rubbish so I'm not sure it's guaranteed that he will die before you

Wouldn't be enough for me, I'm retired so I know rather than guessing. If you had full state pension it's doable.

You really do need to get your state pension forecast and think about buying years if you need to.

You haven’t mentioned any assets such as savings or investments. I think it would be a cheese paring pension. I mean many people live on very small amounts but what is your expectation or want regarding a lifestyle. I mean if my DH passes before me that’s a lot of jobs I will have to pay trades to do that he does, I can do some DIY but not as much as him and an issue with my back means I just can’t. Plus have you looked at his pension, do you receive half after he dies, has this been checked. What age are you ?

It's not sensible to rely solely on someone else's pension as many older divorced women could tell you.

I would prioritise ensuring that you qualify for the state pension in your own right, for example ensuring you have pension credits for qualifying sahp years and discussing with dh how you can buy back any gaps if it doesn't look possible to achieve the full 35 years by working.

You will get something if you have 10years or more.

This is true but isn't really relevant to pensions planning - if she dies first she won't need a pension at that point.

Yes I am planning on working again but it won't be for 4/5 years due to circumstances.

OP, you'll get at least 15 years NI contributions while you stay at home until your youngest is 12. From there you only need another 15 to give a total of 30 years, to get a reasonable state pension. OK, not the full amount but still good value.

Assuming you worked 5 years before you had babies, that means you're only 10 years away.

What if your dh is long lived but needs nursing care? Relying on one pension is a high risk strategy. You need your own pension.

£1500 a month = £18,000 a year, which is liveable, but won't allow for many luxuries. The amount that you need to retire comfortably is something that you get different figures for, depending on which forecasts you look at, but this one from Standard Life gives you some idea:

https://www.standardlife.co.uk/articles/article-page/how-much-do-i-need-to-retire

Personally, I would check the gov.uk for up-to-date info on the state pension and which other benefits you might qualify for, but I would also plan to return to work asap so you can build up not only your state benefits, but your private pension. Even a small-ish one will make a difference. Also, will you receive any inheritance(s)? Do you plan to downsize in retirement? Do you and your DH have savings or investments which could provide additional income? It really is worth doing a financial MOT in mid-life so you're aware of where you are, what you can do to improve things and what you'll have in the end.

You’ll get a better idea on the outgoings side if you add up all the monthly expenditure that you’ll need as a minimum. Council tax, utilities, phone, tv/broadband, insurances, food….plus whatever other things you have as regular outgoings. They add up remarkably quickly to more than you think, but you’ll be able to see whether your likely future pension will be enough to cover that.

Assuming you also have a 3/4/5 bedroom house that will be paid off, it will hopefully be gaining equity at a significant rate. You would be better downsizing to release equity and lower maintenance costs not to mention utility bills if you're knocking around an empty house by yourself.

My income at the moment is about that after the mortgage, with 2 kids. It's certainly manageable but saving for holiday/car/emergencies is a challenge

Have you checked your NI at the moment
do you get child benefit
discussed with your DH to pay towards the NI contributions as you can do that

the fact that he says yiu don’t deserve it for not working is a red flag to me

That doesn’t mean you don’t plan? Bizarre response.

OP I agree with many previous PP’s you need to check re. child benefit. Selling up and downsizing might also work in your favour and will free up cash. 18k won’t stretch very far unfortunately - there will still be household bills, medical bills, transport costs, and surely in old age you’ll want to enjoy a few sun holidays!

Sorry I haven't read full thread, but the rules for buying back missing national insurance years changes this April. You can currently buy back missing years all the way back to 2006. From April you will only be able to go back 6 years. You really should check your national insurance record (on the gov.uk site) and consider aiming for full state pension.

moneysavingexpert has an article on it: www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/

We have a 2 bed but looking to get a 3 bed (3rd dc is actually still in my tummy).

I have received child benefit for 8 years but we don't yet know if DH's salary will increase to over £50k yet or not pre-tax this April but if not, it is very likely to next year (it rises with inflation) at which point, I'll obviously need to stop. I have 7 qualifying years it says on the Government check website. It says you need at least 10 years to get any which I'll definitely have but I don't think (pretty confident) that I won't have 35 by my retirement age (68).

I've just checked legal and general and I have just over 2k from previous workplace pension scheme.

No it absolutely shouldn’t stop - the benefit of you for your pension far outweighs the hassle of getting it and paying it back for your DH - why cancel and lose that benefit. Plus it is a sliding scale for a bit

@Tiswa he didn't say it quite like that, he just said that I'm lucky to get £1500 a month given that I didn't earn it through work which is true.

@Tiswa I thought that if one person earned over £50k then neither of you could receive child benefit?

Sorry, just seen that it's now £60k @Tiswa , please ignore me losing it!

You can still get the 'stsmp' towards your state pension when one person earns over £50k

It is tax efficient for the family for your husband to pay £2880 each financial year into a SIPP for you as you automatically get 25% added for tax relief

It really isn’t as simple as that.

you can receive it at any salary it is just at a certain point you have to start paying back on a sliding scale until you reach a salary you have to pay it all back

its done via the tax system and can be done on a monthly basis or in a lump sum. It is a slight pain as he will have to fill in tax forms

but you gain the interest on the child benefit plus you get NI contributions and will do for another 12 years

Also I just want to clarify that the majority of savings are in my name, which we've saved since being together, which was my husband's idea. Those savings will eventually go towards a bigger home.