How do I start saving for a pension at 51?

[Malinia]

I'm 51 and I don't really have a pension. I worked PAYE from age 19 to my late 20s so I have some pensions from those times but after that I went self employed and somehow never set one up, then I had to stop working because I have a disabled child and I'm her carer.

My husband has a pension, and my parents are well off and have told me I don't need to worry, but they are starting to need care and I know how expensive that is, and I think I need to sort something out. I do think I will inherit a decent amount still as they own property and have investments, but I feel vulnerable relying on that.

Where could I calculate how much I would need to put into a pension now to have something worthwhile in 15 years time? We have some savings we could use I just don't know where to start.

I always think that’s a good starting point, work out what you need and then subtract the state pension, check your private pensions and see what the shortfall is.

Based on your updates, you should try to calculate how much you will need to live on as a couple when you retire. your husband's pension is relevant and should be counted, also his state pension. If you continue to care for a disabled adult child you might continue to get carer's allowance, and as an adult they might get financial support too, that can go into the household pot.

if you have income from a private/workplace pension, this combined with your state pension might push you over the earnings limit to receive carers allowance, so you will have to watch out for that.

you should do a review of your old workplace pensions - if they are defined contribution, you might be able to consolidate them into a SIPP. If defined benefit, then you would have to consider whether to leave it where it is or move it to a SIPP (and depending on the amount you might have to pay £8k+ for financial advice to move it, so most people leave their money in a DB scheme)

use an online calculator to work out what yours and your husbands income might be from the private pensions.

Add up your and your husbands state and workplace/private pensions and carers allowance and that will give you a combined income in retirement

Compare this to how much you think you might need to live on when you retire (don't add inflation, you should do all your calcs in today's money)

If you want to invest in a pension then you are limited in the amount you can contribute due to not earning. however, when you inherit from your parents, you can invest the money in an ISA and drip feed it into a pension each year up to your max allowance. You'll get an instant 25% uplift from HMRC on it. You can hold stocks and shares in an ISA and they will grow in the long term - plan to hold them a minimum of 5 years. All returns and growth from the ISA are tax free.

Sorry to hear about your mum. Often losing a parent focuses the mind on your own life.

It's worth looking at the family finances in entirety. What is the house value, less mortgage. What is your husband's pension forecast and what is the position should he die sooner, would you receive 50% of his pension.

State pension for you is the first step, ensure you are going to be eligible, then find out about your private pensions. You should have received paperwork yearly regarding current and projected value at maturity.

There are lots of great learning resources on YouTube for pensions but also play around with compound interest calculators.

Saving for a pension is often neglected but unless you can guarantee a substantial inheritance then it's worth considering how long do you want to continue working.

it is possible to live on full state pension with a bit extra if you have a paid off home of your own and especially if there are two of you to share the overheads.

If your DH also has full state pension plus an additional pension , and you have a small amount of extra, then you should be fine.

Save what you can - and keep your marriage strong!

That would be very expensive care. We have found average is about £1300 a week

Well this is part of why I'm asking. The marriage is not strong and I'm thinking we may need to split up. So I'm not sure I've got enough to live on, on my own with the kids, though I know I would be entitled to half his pension and I would be able to buy somewhere small mortgage free with the equity from our house.

Yes his pension will be a marital asset if you split.

Have a think about what level of income you would need in retirement. People can then say roughly how much you need to be investing now.

Definitely get updated statements for your existing pensions- you might be pleasantly surprised.

Agree that it’s sensible to disregard the potential inheritance and plan as if you won’t receive anything.

Before anything you both need to go and investigate what pensions you do have, and get the annual statements for them all to assess your current situation. These will tell you what is in there annually after a certain age, and what you could draw down after x ages.

This includes the State Pension.

Start popping all that info into a spreadsheet to give yourself an overview.

Then work out how to reduce your mortgage by overpayment, this can really reduce the interest paid and mean that you can put the mortgage payments into pension funds faster than if you just leave the mortgate at the standard rate of payment.

Only after you have a full idea of your situation should anyone actually start to recommend where to put your money.

My DM’s is over 11k per month.

There’s lots of advice out there that you can access for free.

Take a look at Rebel Finance School, they offer good advice on investing for retirement and have a whole series of videos to guide the process. They’ve just about to take down the 2025 videos so that the 2026 ones (updated due to tax changes, etc) can go up, but they still have others on YouTube you can access on their channel: https://youtube.com/@rebeldonegans?si=Q4zTVySUQR732jE7

Website: https://rebeldonegans.com/finance/rfs/

Just remember, the best time to have started saving for your pension was yesterday; the next best time to start is today.

The other thing to take into account is any gap between working and state pension age.

Working f/t til 67 is probably a stretch for many. But so is the gap before you get state pension.

Im not really sure what you want to hear. You save £300 a month for holidays. You have nothing left over from DHs wage each month... How do you think you can magic up a pension if you are not able to put money into it?

Other people have managed to be helpful, it's just you who is being an arse.

According to Martin Lewis, the general rule of thumb is that once you pass a certain age with no pension to speak of, whatever your age is, you should be putting that percentage of your salary away, so in your case, you'd need to be putting 51% of your salary into a pension on order to have a passable pension when you retire.

Sounds like the difficulty will be more about in the next few years after you separate, if this happens, rather than when you are retired.

Because you're entitled to some of DH pension, you might be in a better position when this is paid out? Remember you have sacrificed your earning potential to care for disabled DC while he's been able to progress his career, earn a relatively good salary and build up a good pension, a proportion of which is yours.

Is your DD entitled to DLA? Think about the position you will be in if you divorce soon, buy a mortgage free house and have an income from DLA, carers allowance and maintenance. Also think about how this will change when your DD gets to 18. Will she still need care and to live with you?

Your parents have said not to worry. If you do separate from your DH, talk to them about the financial position you'll be in afterwards. It could be that they're willing to help you, especially if its with money that would otherwise go on IHT. You may find you have sufficient income to put away the £3k ish a year you can put into a pension, which will help with the state pension and DH pension. But also make sure you check your state pension prediction and top up if necessary although you might not need to if you've had sufficient NI credits.

Is moving near to your parents an option so you can provide the 'popping in' assistance they may need?

I'd also take little notice of Mumsnetters who say you'll be in poverty in old age unless you have a six figure pension pot or that all your parents money will go on care costs. This doesn't apply to most people.

Some people need more care than others; dementia care is very labour intensive and extremely expensive. Location also makes a difference.

If you’re expecting to divorce and also inherit a significant sum, you’d be much better off financially by divorcing now (starting point is that you get 50% of all marital assets, including husband’s pension; you may get more than that to reflect giving up your job to care for disabled child), and then inheriting from your dad after divorce. If you inherit during the marriage then that money could be in the pot for division on divorce.

Worrying about setting up a private pension is the least of your worries, since even if you had a pension, it would be a marital asset for division on divorce anyway.

I’m so sorry, I missed whether you were PAYE, self employed or a limited company?
Depending on that, I would give you different advice.
You do get tax relief putting money in (of one kind or another based on the above) but you are absolutely taxed when you start taking it back out.
If you are projecting a full state pension, a “small” private might not help you at all and I would think about an S&S ISA. You can withdraw whenever without starting penalty situations or income tax. Ab”small” private pension might cut off benefits like pension tax credit (yes I know that will no longer exist) but there might be other government plans to top up.
I have said this before and will again, STARTING a private pension in your 50s is definitely not always the best idea.
On another note. Your husbands pension and any other assets are fair game for you (unless you actually spent your entire marriage doing f* all) and even then, there’s a theory………………….

‘Save some money from the council’ You mean deliberate deprivation of assets in order to try to preserve your inheritance at the expense of taxpayers when councils are already crippled by care costs?

DD was getting DLA, she's 16 so we are waiting to hear the result of the pip assessment. By my calculations she should get both elements, but I've heard they can be really awful and I might need to appeal.

My state pension is fine, I've checked and will get the full amount.

I do not want to move where my parents live. I grew up there and hated it, I don't fit in there and would be miserable plus it's where DH is from so if we did split up that's where he would go and all my friends there are also his so it would be really awkward.

My mum is going to die this year, we are really just waiting for it to happen, dad probably won't move, but at some point if he needs care then I would try to move him nearer to me.

I really don't think we can afford that but I'll sit with DH and go through the figures

I was PAYE or self employed from 1995-2009. I was then self employed the rest of my career, but in one role I was "employed for tax purposes" so PAYE but with no pension or employment rights.

That's interesting re pension v ISA, I'll look into that

To be fair to @missmollygreen her point is valid, even if it wasn’t sugared.

Even if you were to put that £300 in a pension each month for the next 17 years (which is a long time to keep working) it won’t provide anywhere near a liveable amount of money on retirement. A pension is basically like a bank account with a few extra tax benefits but broadly, if you had £100,000 in a bank account you wouldn’t expect to be able to take £20,000 a year (as an example) for the rest of your life without running out of money. It’s the same with a pension.

Where it might be more useful is if you think you won’t be able to work until you’re 67. You might save enough to retire a few years earlier and use it to bridge the gap until you can get a state pension.

I'm not currently working, I might be able to go back to it in future but I don't know, my children need a lot of care.

Your DH can reduce his 40% tax liability by paying into a pension for you.