Anyone else thinking they’re going to be a bit fucked in retirement?

[GinghamSkirt]

I’ve seen a few threads lately where posters are discussing how much pension they’ll have, and while I’m happy for those people I’m also quietly despairing at myself for sleepwalking into a rubbish retirement.

All my fault, not blaming anyone else - series of poor life decisions and lack of forward vision and planning. Not looking for sympathy! Just trying to figure out how it’s going to work.

I’ll have the basic pension plus a few thousand per year (income will be well under 20k.

I know lots of people live on that quite happily, but I’m living on more than that that at the moment and working full time, don’t have any spare to save or invest, house (mortgaged) is crumbling around me and I don’t have enough to go on holiday as I’m clearing debts.

Not that I’m entitled to holidays of course - but I see other people on a similar income having a couple of lovely holidays per year and am just kicking myself for being so bad at money management.

The cost of living is biting very hard NOW - what’s it going to be like when my income is so much lower? I do try very hard to budget and spend money in the right way - always looking for a cheaper option, cancel unnecessary subscriptions etc, bring my lunch to work, buy clothes (and sell them) on Vinted etc.

it would be nice to hear from people in the same position (retiring in under 10 years if indeed that does happen) who have also fucked up and are contemplating a very different retirement compared to many on here! I don’t have a partner so all household bills are mine alone, no shared income pot.

I am very lucky in the sense that I own my house although it is heavily mortgaged still, but in order to pay the mortgage off I’ll have to sell it and buy somewhere else. If I want to live somewhere that’s not a total dump there won’t be anything left to invest. So it’s great that I’ll be able to live mortgage free eventually and I know that a lot of people don’t have that luxury, but I can’t really look on that as an income source either.

i couldn’t judge myself any harder than I currently am, definitely feel as though I missed an important memo somewhere in life, wasn’t working while my kids were young and then bingo - divorce 🤣

I worked full time since but have not earned enough and there were too many years to make up for. I genuinely didn’t understand how hard I should have been focusing on my retirement at that point.
NI payments are all good though 👍

There are a few mitigating factors eg supporting family members, mental health issues etc but essentially I’ve been naive and foolish - as the future comes closer to being reality and the stark facts become clear, now finally I get it.

Anyway, at the very least this thread might make you feel better about your own situation - if not, I’ll commiserate with you 😊

My mum at 80 is in this position and always rented essentially when her savings are low she will be able to access some support with her rent, so that may be something that’s still around gen you are retirement age. She just has state pension and a very small extra from 10 years of working in admin, she’s never worked enough to save for the future but she does live a nice life in low income. Give me hope!

@MickGeorge22That’s why I get really annoyed when everyone talks about wealthy pensioners - you can’t generalise like that EKG’s there are so many with little or nothing. Your work must be eye opening and heartbreaking. I’m glad you and your DH will be ok. I know it could be much worse for me.

@PermanentTemporary
My debt plan has got a couple of years to run and the mortgage will only be cleared when I sell the house - interest only mortgage. I also think I’ll be needing to work a couple of days a week post 67 to make ends meet. But can’t imagine doing my current job at that age - something easier and less stressful would be better, and as you say it will depend where I end up living. I can’t afford to buy in the area where I currently live and have no idea where else to look. I love the MN threads about where to live as I get to hear about places I’ve never heard of and immediately have a look on Right Move 🤣

A lot of people are in the same boat, OP. Don’t berate yourself.

What age are you?

what age do you plan to retire?

what type of job could you do and could/would you consider doing it (or similar) part-time for a few years post retirement for some extra cash?

How much is your current pension worth and how much are you paying in each month?

@Chewbecca More a question of whether I can get another fixed rate mortgage after this fix ends - as soon as I’m in a situation where I can’t afford to pay whatever the interest rate is then I’ll need to sell at that point. I could sell before but there’s a penalty for 2 more years, plus I still have no idea where to buy and don’t want to go through it more than once!

I am assuming you are in your late fifties?
Could you take in a paying lodger and use that money to invest for your pension? Could you earn money outside your normal job - even a few hours every weekend? You still have some time.
You could even consider babysitting as a way of earning some surplus money. How about aiming to start right away and putting a few pounds a week into stocks and shares?

@labradormam I don’t want to be too identifying but I’ve got about 7/8 more years before 67.
Will indeed be thinking in terms of some low key part time work at that stage.
Paying in whatever my employer deducts at the moment - 6% I think? It’s currently worth very little but if I keep going in this job/same pension I might reach the dizzying heights of 6-7k (that’s being optimistic).
No old pensions, there was a very small one that I had to cash in.

I should have said in my earlier post, that I make a little bit of money in retirement through my hobby. I was a gardener before I retired and now have an honesty box at my garden gate. I sell plants I've grown, flowers and fruit and veg from my garden.

The money I make is peanuts but it doesn't feel like work to me, I get to meet very nice people doing it and it keeps me in beer money.

Turning a hobby into a little bit of an earner when you retire is worth looking into as you will have time on your hands to do it.

I've spent this week number crunching and feel very deflated.Cashed in small pensions to survive years ago, didn't have any pension being paid for 7 years as a SAHM, then a series of crappy low paid jobs mean at present, if I retire at 67 I will have about £3k pension plus full state pension. Obviously I will save what I can in the ten years until then, but I bitterly regret not saving CB in accounts for my children or knowing about LISAS.Expected to be still with my husband with 2 state pensions and his DB pension plus my small one-think I'm going to be reeling when we get to the point of Form E and division of marital assets.Can't see any way to save enough for a deposit let alone get a 10 year mortgage no matter how hard I work.

I’ll have the same but I am very lucky in that I no longer have a mortgage. I’ll be living on my own (empty nester) so I’ll hopefully find it a lot easier to budget. I’ll also hopefully be in a much smaller property (2 bed max). I would have had more money but my ex’s irresponsibility has left me many thousands down 😕 I know I will never be free of tight budgeting 🥴

@reversegearthank you, that’s good to hear! Your mum’s situation does sound similar to mine.

I love this. I think I’ve done it all wrong, my kids are all artistic types who definitely won’t be keeping me in tiaras in my old age. Damn why didn’t I think of forcing one of them to become a doctor? Or better still, a stockbroker.

@BabapapathepinkoneI’m sorry, I too have many regrets. But that doesn’t help much - I hope you find a way to manage. There must be a lot of people in a similar situation - we get such a skewed presentation of normality on here. It’s weirdly reassuring to know not everyone is heading for a comfortable retirement. I hope things get better for you though.

I don’t think state pensions will exist in the next 20 years. This whole triple lock nonsense and “I’ve paid in to it so it’s my right bal bla”, is laughable, because there literally won’t be a pension when we retire and guess what, we still pay to it now and we’ll end up with zero.

I expect there will always be a safety net for some pensioners in the form of a state pension, but that the pension will be means-tested.

Bloody better will be. If there is any suggestion otherwise we need to be more French.
It's included in my retirement planning and I (early 50s) don't have the health to improve my situation any further. I paid absolutely shit loads in earlier in my career when I was senior and well paid and am banking on getting back what I was promised.
(Trouble is, I wouldn't have the energy to take to the streets about it 🤣😭)

Most people consider the estimates by these folk to be generous and a bit scaremongering. A lot of people love comfortably and happily on a lot less.

OP if you can start paying any of the capital off your mortgage as well as the interest in your remaining working years, it would be great. Or even better plough any spare money into a DC pension which then gets tax relief so you will get more than you paid in.

We have no property, so pay extortionate private rent, will have to work full time until I die, or live in a caravan somewhere I guess

I think our generation needs to come to terms with the fact that essentially retirement as we know it was basically a privilege for only a couple of generations of people like the post-war generation.

I don’t think retirement was a thing is the first half of the 20th century and before then so we’re only really basing what we think it looks like from our parents and grandparents generations.

We’re basically reverting to the mean now especially with many of the Western economies in managed decline so should probably expect much smaller pensions and having to work much much longer to fund our lifestyles and essentially survive as sad as that sounds.

Sorry to be nosy, but which part of UK do you live in ? It sounds idyllic !

That's not so bad

It's the vision of a house of 10 randoms with a lock on the bedroom door, allocated bathroom time and and half a shelf in the communal fridge, like 20somethings in London and other major cities, but the elderly, that is not quite so much a picture of fun.

You might just scrape in and be one of the last ones to be entitled to it 🤞🤞😂

Joking aside, I do think it’ll be means tested in the future. I agree we should be more like the French! (In general terms and not put up with the nonsense that we do here)

@millypeggyandpandora I'm in an Dorset, one of the less fashionable places - some parts are very expensive. The countryside and coastline are idyllic and it's so friendly here. It's not without its problems and I know young people find it very hard to find decently paid work and affordable housing, but it there's great community spirit and people are kind and contented here in the main.

I had too many children and not enough income for most of my adult life. I only learned not to live in my overdrafts in my 40s. I so could have done better.

I don't plan to retire though, my income isn't great but it should increase in the next 10 years and maintain in my later 60's.

I'm still going to have to focus on spending less and saving more pretty soon though.

Fully agree.