Pension stuff, how's it all looking ? HAve you prepared ?

[Taipan]

So the wife and i will get about £1600 a month state pensions! We live simple lives and could probably manage on that as we've no rent or mortgage to find. But we both have private pensions to go on top of that as well! Y'all can kiss my superannuated arse!

[Mr. Dazzle]

It's ok, I asked Google...

https://www.ii.co.uk/analysis-commentar ... n-ii510447

I had no ide this was how the state pension worked.

Unlike when you put money into a private pension, your NICs are not set aside in a ringfenced pot to be spent on your state pension when you retire. Instead, the NICs of today’s workers are used to pay the pensions of today’s pensioners.

In most non-governmental circles, that would be known as a Ponzi scheme.

NI always strikes me as yet another example of massive over complexity. Bin it off and make income tax higher.

The one which really made me laugh was child benefits. If either parent earns over a certain threshold you have to pay some/all of it back. However 'they' still advise you to claim it in those cases so that the break in your NI contributions due to child care can be recorded.

If only there was some other way they could tell you have children.

[Mr. Dazzle]

So the wife and i will get about £1600 a month state pensions!

I read that as £1600 each and was wondering where the hell I can sign up for this option. You mean £200 each per week, so 200 ×2 x4

[Count Steer]

The link to this article dropped into my email recently. There's a couple of graphs that show what inflation does to cash/interest type savings over a decent period. There's a comparison with the same initial amount (£10k) invested in a FTSE index. None of it is earth-shattering revelations but it's still food for thought.

https://www.fidelity.co.uk/markets-insi ... Sy2iRitDi5

[Scotsrich]

£1600 a month between two when you're all done raising kids and paying mortgages isn't to be sniffed at.
It won't pay for new cars every year but for us that would mean eating reasonably well and having the heating on when we want to.

If you're not paying it via PAYE then it's definitely worth paying voluntarily, the rates are: £3.15 a week for Class 2 and £15.85 a week for Class 3.

My wife and I are getting that amount but fortunately we’ve got other pensions coming in as well.

You’d be surprised how it doesn’t go as far as you’d think. Yes we could manage week to week but then the car needs taxed/serviced/new tyres, the boiler needs replacing or the cat get rushed to the vet.

It’s the unexpected stuff that’s the killer.

My wife has just newly got her pension and out of curiosity we’re trying to see how long the 2 pensions alone will last and I think we’d be struggling at the end. Of course it’s doable but it would be a pretty basic existence.

[Count Steer]

My wife and I are getting that amount but fortunately we’ve got other pensions coming in as well.

You’d be surprised how it doesn’t go as far as you’d think. Yes we could manage week to week but then the car needs taxed/serviced/new tyres, the boiler needs replacing or the cat get rushed to the vet.

It’s the unexpected stuff that’s the killer.

My wife has just newly got her pension and out of curiosity we’re trying to see how long the 2 pensions alone will last and I think we’d be struggling at the end. Of course it’s doable but it would be a pretty basic existence.

I just did a quick run through the bank transactions for a typical month. One of those £800/month would have covered Council Tax, utilities (excluding phones), insurances and food. Leaving £100 each per week for petrol, car servicing and everything else, including trying to keep a surplus for those emergencies. ie our last month included a big slab for tree surgery. It'd be a pretty dismal existence living off just the state pension. If one half of the couple pegs out it'd be even more dismal financially.

On the plus side you get 13 'months' in a state pension year and a couple of months off paying Council Tax.

[Yambo]

I have my state pension paid straight into my Turkish bank. I have to suffer the rate of exchange on the day but currently, with the Turkish Lira struggling a bit - the economy is a shit state with (you think the UK's bad) high inflation I'm reasonably well off every month. It certainly pays all my monthly bills including food.

I'm on the lower rate of the two tier minimum pension scam - I'm 4 months too old to receive the so called minimum payment and I was opted out of SERPs for the time I was in the army (not my choice) but I'm still able to live comfortably. I have two other pensions mind so not destitute and they pay for holidays, astrophotography kit and boats. Do you want to make a small fortune . . . ?

I also took my pension as soon as I could. I'd already had a heart attack so if I'd deferred it I may well have croaked before I got anything.

[McSatan]

As well as my main pension, I started a top-up pension when I went self employed in the late 90s. I paid into it until 2008 (divorce, house move etc) when I forgot all about it. I had a letter from HMRC quite recently, saying a pension company were trying to track me down, so I got in touch with them.
I wasn't that excited as I'd only paid into it for ten years, but seemingly I'd specifically requested that everything was to be invested in high risk tech stock instead of the more usual pension stuff. The high risk stock turned out to be things like Apple, Amazon etc. Which was nice Not quite Bitcoin nice, but still enough to make me swear when the nice lady told me how much

[Mr. Dazzle]

As well as my main pension, I started a top-up pension when I went self employed in the late 90s. I paid into it until 2008 (divorce, house move etc) when I forgot all about it. I had a letter from HMRC quite recently, saying a pension company were trying to track me down, so I got in touch with them.
I wasn't that excited as I'd only paid into it for ten years, but seemingly I'd specifically requested that everything was to be invested in high risk tech stock instead of the more usual pension stuff. The high risk stock turned out to be things like Apple, Amazon etc. Which was nice Not quite Bitcoin nice, but still enough to make me swear when the nice lady told me how much

So about that "what would you tell your younger self?" thread....

[Noggin]

Think I definitely need to have another go at getting hold of someone in the tax/pensions office (DWP??) in the uk, my current projection for the French pension is pretty dire!!

I suspect it will get better as I work more (my work history here is terrible for lots of reasons! But I might be working till I drop at this rate




Yes, finding someone to talk to in France about pensions is on the list too! But probably need to sort out the UK one first as I can't access online due to them having my DOB incorrect (so can't get into the online system ) and not having been in the country long enough in the last 6 years to actually go talk to anyone

In theory I have 10 years to sort it, but I think I'll be working longer than that

[weeksy]

Well that was interesting.. Just had a Webinar with Johnson Fleming/Scottish Widows and gone through some of my pension stuff.

Massively impressed with how the pension has done in 2023... Gone up by a fair bit.

According to pension calculator it should (in theory anyway) be worth £45,000 a year at retirement.

[gremlin]

According to pension calculator it should (in theory anyway) be worth £45,000 a year at retirement.

My IFA told me the same thing a few weeks back, before adding cheerily, 'All you need to do is keep breathing 'til then'.

[weeksy]

According to pension calculator it should (in theory anyway) be worth £45,000 a year at retirement.

My IFA told me the same thing a few weeks back, before adding cheerily, 'All you need to do is keep breathing 'til then'.

Well the reality for me (i hope ) is that it won't be the case as i plan on taking some out at 55 and retiring before 67 if i can.

[Yorick]

According to pension calculator it should (in theory anyway) be worth £45,000 a year at retirement.

My IFA told me the same thing a few weeks back, before adding cheerily, 'All you need to do is keep breathing 'til then'.

Well the reality for me (i hope ) is that it won't be the case as i plan on taking some out at 55 and retiring before 67 if i can.

Retirement is ace

[weeksy]

Retirement is ace

Well, unless the wifes mindset changes, winter will still be cold... but you never know how things will pan out. I wouldn't necessarily pick your island... but in some world, i'd deffo be further south than where i am.

[Yorick]

Retirement is ace

Well, unless the wifes mindset changes, winter will still be cold... but you never know how things will pan out. I wouldn't necessarily pick your island... but in some world, i'd deffo be further south than where i am.

I had to get away from the 5 months cold dark winters.

[MyLittleStudPony]

Well that was interesting.. Just had a Webinar with Johnson Fleming/Scottish Widows and gone through some of my pension stuff.

Massively impressed with how the pension has done in 2023... Gone up by a fair bit.

According to pension calculator it should (in theory anyway) be worth £45,000 a year at retirement.

I wonder how accurate their calculator is? Or if they just want you to keep paying in.

By my reckoning, you'd need a 'pot' of about £900,000 to generate an income of £45k a year. When I looked the best annuities paid out about 5% of the total pot value (and the worst were more like 2.5%). Maybe that has all changed with interest rates at their current levels.

I still don't trust pension companies and will steer clear of them myself going forward, along with other 'financial services'.

[weeksy]

Well that was interesting.. Just had a Webinar with Johnson Fleming/Scottish Widows and gone through some of my pension stuff.

Massively impressed with how the pension has done in 2023... Gone up by a fair bit.

According to pension calculator it should (in theory anyway) be worth £45,000 a year at retirement.

I wonder how accurate their calculator is? Or if they just want you to keep paying in.

By my reckoning, you'd need a 'pot' of about £900,000 to generate an income of £45k a year. When I looked the best annuities paid out about 5% of the total pot value (and the worst were more like 2.5%). Maybe that has all changed with interest rates at their current levels.

I still don't trust pension companies and will steer clear of them myself going forward, along with other 'financial services'.

I trust them more with what is to me a massive chunk of cash than I trust myself to get it right. In this year since June it's gone up by £25k. Maybe another company would've done better, but I bet I could have got it more wrong if let loose myself.

[gremlin]

[ Maybe that has all changed with interest rates at their current levels.

Short answer: yes.

[Yorick]

Our pots would have been mega if I'd worked the extra 12 years.

5* pension at 66
Or
3* pension at 54.

But we had to move somewhere cheaper.