If you’re in your 40s, how much are you focused on and planning for retirement/ pensions etc?

[Peterrabbitismybrother]

Firstly I appreciate many are living hand to mouth and are not able to save, and being able to save for retirement is a privileged position.

If you are in your 40s, and are in a position to save for your future, how much are you focused on this, what’s your strategy (eg ISAs, pensions), and planned retirement age etc?

I’m mid 40s and would like to have the option to “step down” my work a notch in my 50s, with full retirement not later than 60. Although I might carry on if I am enjoying work when that time comes. (I currently find work stressful but I have primary age DC and juggle a lot so guess that’s the norm!)

Some of my friends always seem to have the latest and greatest (eg tech, cars, holidays) and I do wonder how much they are focusing on the future, although I would never ask them.

Not much. Though I contribute to my work pension and have an ISA + other savings locked away. I love working (at the moment anyway). My husband has a big pension, so it’s not something I really think about right now.

Most employers will not route payments to an external plan. Mine will not.

Spill the secret. Which medium risk pension returns an average double digit percentage?

I‘m not talking about re-routing directly. People still contribute to the company scheme but transfer out periodically.

You already have the “secret” regarding funds as your ISA is invested there. Put your pension into the same funds if you think they’re so great.

I think there’s a balance to be struck. Saving for retirement is important, but I think it’s a bit sad when people do it to the extent that they miss out on the here and now. You don’t need to be the richest person in the graveyard.

I have a good workplace pension and save into a stocks and shares ISA, but enjoying now and spending on things holidays and travel is also important to me. Once you get into your 70s, many people don’t have the energy to do the long haul holidays and exciting trips that are so much fun when you’re younger. I think that I will be happy to live a much simpler life retirement, and I want to make the most of health and energy that I have now.

the investments in my pension have returned around 17% this year. I am lucky in that I can choose my own investments from a large selection and appreciate not everyone has that option with their workplace pension. However if your employer pension does not allow you to do partial transfers then I would contribute the minimum to workplace (so you get the matched contributions) and open a sipp.

Great advice!

@MidnightMeltdown I do agree in principle, but I’m saving aggressively now so I can retire in my early 50s, when I will still hopefully have plenty of energy to do all the trips etc I’d like to do, rather than slogging it out until I’m 70 as the government will no doubt expect me to do by the time I get there!

I am 40 and massively focused on saving for my future.

Early retirement at 47 is my goal.

I maximise tax efficient savings as priority. So, I put £20K into my ISA every year. I put 6% of my gross salary into pensions and then my employers put 14%.
Then I also salary sacrifice an extra £3K per month.

We have an elderly dog who prevents holidays at the moment but we don't scrimp - we live exactly how we want to live because there's no point being a rich corpse 😂We spend a fortune on birthdays and Christmases.

I’m early 50s and have been putting much more into S&S ISAs than pension. Partly because I’m at a level of earning where I can only get tax relief on £10k Pa.

I’m so glad I did because I will have the flexibility to retire when I want, not when government rules say I can (speculation that state retirement age is going to be over to 68 and so my plans to access my private pension from 57 would move to 58). I intend to retire in the next couple of years and enjoy my tax free income

I'm late 40s amd I only started a pension in my 30s so I've had to have quite an aggressive approach. I put all my salary into pensions, spread across a workplace pension (NEST, which is a bit rubbish and I put the minimum in) and then the rest into a SIPP. I also put the max into a S&S LISA which is earmarked for retirement (rather than a house), and that gets a govt top up although I only have a few more years that I'll be able to contribute to that (until age 50). Then I use up the rest of my ISA allowance into S&S ISAs. My ISAs and SIPP are all invested into high risk investments, as they are long term investments (15+ years) and overall I can expect higher returns.

I planned for it earlier and so my pension savings are very healthy. So now I’m not really focussed on it and am focussed more on reducing work.

It's very unusual to have no control over where a private pension is invested, my pension grew 22% last year (setting aside my contributions).

You really don't understand what a pension is. Most pension funds can be managed in exactly the same way as ISA plus you have the tax benefit. You should take some advice - not being snarky, just trying to be helpful.

We are mid 40’s. Planning our future with pensions, paying off the rest of the mortgage and currently sorting the top floor of our house into a flatlet for a lodger in a few years once the kids are older

I’m (early) retired now but was around early/mid 40s that I really took an active interest in my personal finances.

It stemmed from being first time Mum at 41 and having previously always rented I decided to buy to make sure I could have stable school situation for DS. And it all really evolved from there. I started with Dave Ramsey to get debt free then moved on to Rebel Finance School…honestly, if I knew what I know now back in my early 20s I’d have retired by 45! However I’ve subsequently taken full control of everything…debt free, still have a mortgage (investments earn more money than I would save by paying off mortgage), and retired at 56.

My best advice, start today…get all over every aspect of your finances, have full control, and don’t take your eye off your end game.

The other thing I’d add specific to your post is be mindful of when you can access your funds…you’ll need a financial bridge of some sort potentially if you want to wind up before your pots become available (I focused on S&S ISA for my bridge).