Ask a Scottish Widows expert your questions on pensions and retirement - 3 x £100 voucher to be won!

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We are working with Scottish Widows to help answer any questions you have on pensions and retirement. With minimum workplace pension contributions increasing in April, from 5% to 8%, we’d love to hear your questions or any thoughts you have, either on this or about pensions and retirement in general.

Scottish Widows Retirement Expert Jackie Leiper has volunteered to answer your top questions and is passionate in helping women plan for their financial future.

Jackie said: “We know women face their own unique challenges in saving for the future. With more women working part time and many of us going on maternity leave at various points in our careers it’s often difficult to know if you’re saving enough for your future.

With an increase to workplace pensions in April I want to help explain what the changes could mean for you and how a small increase now could really make a big difference to your future.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions on the changes or anything that’s in the back of your mind regarding saving for retirement.

To help get you started and explore the upcoming changes you can watch our Pension Basics film or visit our website to see how it could impact you.”

Whatever questions you have around pensions and retirement, please post them below and we will choose 10 for Jackie to answer. Everyone who posts a question below will be entered into a prize draw to win one of three £100 vouchers of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw.

MNHQ

Terms & conditions apply

I'm hoping to take maternity leave at some point, and maybe an extra year off if we can afford it. What should I do about my pension during the time I am not working? Is it worth trying to keep my contributions up to their usual level, even if it means spending less in other areas?
Thanks!

I don't currently I am needed to be a stay at home parent but I do worry about my pension. When I was working I was topping up an additional £80 on to of work contribution which isn't very much but I continued to add that after leaving work. How much really should I be putting into my pension each month? Should I be trying to put more in?

What is the youngest age you can start to take a private pension and is that age likely to rise in line with further higher state pension claim ages?

I have an AVC pension that I have stopped paying into as the Government has said it doesn’t represent a good financial investment.

How do I take the money out before my retirement age?

What's the best way to maximise my likely pension? I am in my employer pension scheme but I am a low earner at the moment and also have missed about 6 years of pension contributions. I am 45 so still 20 years or so to make contributions.

We have quite a lot of personal dept-around 20k. Me and DH both work and are in our early 30s. We currently pay into work place pensions. We feel this is an expensive time in our lives with dc 3 now on the way. Should we stop the work place pension for a few years til we pay off debt

I would like to open a SIPP . At some future date i might transfer my company pension into it. What cash savings accounts can i invest in within a sipp and what are the best interest rates and SIPP providers with the lowest charges for this?

I have a number of different work pensions having been employed by various organisations. Is there a quick, easy way of seeing what is in each pot / managing them?

Thank you

i have a few small private pensions.How do i find out if i can access them at 55 and how much i would receive from them it does not seem clear on paperwork that i have been sent previously

Lots of people move jobs through their lives these days. Is it generally better to combine different pension pots from different jobs? I had two separate local government pensions and wasn’t sure if it was best to combine them or not when they wrote and gave me the option.

Can you open a private pension and transfer in previous work pensions do you only have one pot? If you do this do you have to then contribute regular amounts?

What happens to my pension if I die shortly after I retire? I believe there is a death in service lump sum payment made to my dependents should I die whilst still on the payroll but do all my pension savings just disappear on my death? I am single with two children.

I canot get my head around workplace pensions even though I pay into one. & someone told me last month my salary sacrifice is also paying into it.
Could you explain them to me.. like I'm a 6 year old? I would really like to understand what that portion of my wage is going towards

If I decide to be a stay at home parent for a few years is it worth paying into a private pension?

I have a SIPP worth about £9K, I'm 52, am I right thinking I can take this as a cash lump sum as it wouldn't buy an annuity.

Who are the best company to use to locate a pension for a company which was dissolved years ago. My husband paid into a pension scheme, but the company went bust, and we cannot find any trace of them. Thanks

I do not have any realistic pension provision, and only work part time, and want to save for my pension, if/when my contributions increase and my take home pay decreases, do working tax credits make up the difference and my net is lower due to my pension increase.

I plan to retire in 8 years at because i can take my occupational pension, my state pension has now moved fro, 60 to 67 for me, so 7 years managing without my state pension. When I get there in 15 years I am convinced my state pension with be means tested, am I right to think this could be the case.

My fiancée (for various reasons) only paid in for 2 years on her private pension.

Is she better taking the lot (less than 2k) in one payment now (she on disability benefits, and would declare if necessary) or waiting 10 or so years and getting whatever it works out each week (probably a £5 a week if lucky)?

Would you recommend starting a pension for a child?

Will state pension be completely abolished one day?

How much do you think it is necessary to have in the pension pot for a decent retirement income?

Is it worth paying more than the minimum amount?

Is there any way to get a retirement income that's equal to a working income?

It seems likely that any/all savings will give us (at best) about half our current wages but I don't see how we can cut our living costs in half. I don't see how food/fuel etc will decrease; and the cost of medicine, needing help (e.g.a taxi for a journey I would have walked) will go up. I'm prepared to move to a smaller home, but that only helps so much.

Aside from a pension, what other savings could see me through post-retirement?

I opted in to the pension scheme for a company I worked for for a couple of years as a student - I don't have any of the papers any more - have I lost this money now?