Trying not to stress about pension

[hulahoop09]

Hiya

I have recently turned 30 and we dont pay into a pension. I have been through various jobs and our money has been tight etc. I planned on started paying into one this year but with being on smp we cant afford it so was considering starting in a year when I am back at work. Our mortgage will be paid off in 20 years when I am 50 and we plan on saving some of that money we save each month (atm we pay £470 on our mortgage) towards our retirement although I cant see us ever retiring. We need to work! Lol. Plus by the time we are old enough it will be work til you die! I just worry about putting into a pension and not getting out of it what you put in in years to come etc.

I know people who dont put into a pension and are not worried about it. But then get others saying oh you need to put into a pension NOW etc etc.

Not putting in worries me but also putting money into one for all those years worries me also! Lol.

xx

 

[Smiler82]

I know what you mean. We can't afford to put into one, never have. Both had issues with low paid jobs, redundancies, you name it. The last few years things have improved vastly, but still haven't been able to put aside that much. I'm self-employed and my husband's company is quite new and really small, so they don't have a company pension scheme. If you or OH have a company pension scheme it would prob be worth taking advantage as they pay into it too. But yeah I think you don't need to have a specific pension scheme if you don't want to, you can just save and spread your money around into different accounts, ISAs etc to avoid having a massive sum in one place.

We are hoping (!) that in a couple of years my husband's company will really take off and we will be able to afford to live off what he earns, then when I go back to work everything I earn will just go straight into savings for the future. Nice idea....!!

 

[hulahoop09]

That sounds like a great idea. Well hubbys work I dont think anyone puts into it if they have one lol. Mine have one, I havent been in a position to put into it yet. I dont wanna put us into tougher times and I want my lo to enjoy their younger life so trying to get debts in order etc. Lol.

I worked if we saved once mortgage is paid for about 10 years we could have approx 48k saved up, even then the retirement age would be higher. Lol. Its all so frustrating. Xx

 

[Smiler82]

Yeah it really is frustrating! So hard to know what to do for the best because in 30 years time there could be another massive recession and do loads of harm, you just don't know. I know some people are planning to invest in property rather than an actual pension scheme, but I kind of disagree with that morally because the whole buy to let thing makes it much harder for everyone else to get on the property ladder.

I keep seeing adverts on TV about the laws changing re company pension schemes. It doesn't apply to my husband's company because they have fewer than 100 employees, but if a company is big enough I think they now have to have a pension scheme and I think they have to contribute, but I'm not sure about that. It'd be worth looking into it. But I know what you mean it is still hard even if they do contribute. Before I went self employed, my company had a scheme that they contributed to, but because DH was unemployed at the time, just the £70 that would've come out of my salary was £70 we couldn't afford to not have in our pockets to pay bills etc.

 

[hulahoop09]

Yeah the government are apparantly gna force people into pensions but you can opt out. In 20 yrs pur mortgage will be cleared thank god (we paid 110k but atm only worth 86k). Hubbys work only have about 7, mine have about 20. We need a bigger house as only 2 bed and having a boy but I dont wanna move plus we cant afford to! Lol. Xx

 

[Smiler82]

Shame about the negative equity but maybe it'll improve in the next few years, they keep saying property prices are rising again! It's about more than the money though, it's your home and if you're happy there that's the main thing. It won't hurt the kids to share a room for a while if they need to, I did and it was fun! My niece and nephew share a room too, they love being together

 

[LDC]

It's worth looking into the pension if you're going to go into one.

We don't pay into one ATM (my oh is in a save as you earn rather than pension), but my uncle did then when he retired he was screwed over saying that he would only get X amount a month which turned out to be really rubbish in comparison to how much money he had paid in. He was told it would go up in like 10 years when he'll be nearly 80!

So just make sure if you do pay into one you know how the money will be returned - he can't even spend the money he saved now which is ludicrous. He's told me to save in an account rather than pension

X

 

[LPF]

The thing with pension contributions is, you have to pay from the start of working so you never miss the money. If you try to find the money, it's very hard and difficult to justify!

I would consider your retirement age as 68 (as current pension will pay out at that point and you may have to retire then or before if you can't manage to work even if the age increases) and consider you may well live for 20-25 years after that even in ill health and how much would you need to live on a basic income per year......£48k as you described would only give you £1920 a year to live on or £160 per month plus statutory pension which probably wouldn't even cover basic bills in 30 years. And what if you decide in the future to move and extend your mortgage, you'd have less.

I would look at a pension as an essential and if short I'd cut back on other areas before cutting back on a pension. I don't want to spend the last 20 years of my life living in poverty, selling my house to pay the bills, struggling, hoping I don't have a chronic illness that complicates things etc. (I work in healthcare so I've seen it all before)

Def look in to the returns though. Saving into an account may be 'safer' but you get no contributions from the employer which can really boost your pension pot and is a perk of sacrificing money now.

 

[hulahoop09]

Thanks. I have been in different jobs etc and also not had the money to which are a couple of the reasons.

The 48k would go towards WHEN I put into a pension or saving, not soley on its own. Good health providong which obviously is never a given I would like to stay in some sort of work as long as poss. I think for hubby we will just have to save, his work are a nightmare AND he is looking for a new job. O know for sure I cant put into one for the next year due to maternity, depending on childcare payments etc after that I think my contribution is approx 50 per month (we dont really have cutbacks we can make atm as trying to get debts paid off some will take years tbh and dont want to take from the little money we do have to do small things with our lo).

We would like to and could do with moving but atm house is worth 25k less than what we paid so cant afford plus I love where we live so I think we will jist extend to side or loft. Lmao. Whatever happens we will be mortgage free in 20 years, I plan on not extending the term.

I think in total about 100 pm would go into a pension inc employer contribution, I just really really worry about not getting out of it what I paid in. Fil was expecting approx 20k in a pension he had and instead he got less than 5k out of it! So scary! So generally what me and enployer put in come when 68 that woukd be spread over the say 25 years? I think in the.next couple of years max I will talk about with employer. Some advice hubby got from someone who was almost retiring was save for when your out of work instead due to losing jobs! He was with company for about 30 years then got made redundant and was broke. Its a scary world. I really wanna make sure we enjoy our life with our kiddies cause I dont wanna look back and regret it. The other thing is if we need care and we have to sell pur house to pay for it then we have nothing to give our kiddies!

Man I feel stressed. Lol.

Xx

 

[hulahoop09]

Hubby is not happy with putting into pensions either for various reasons and he said he would rather trust himself to save than give other people money to do it effectively and it going into shares or whatever may happen woth it depe.ding on pension etc.

Xx

 

[Pearls18]

I am so stressed about retirement it's unreal! I absolutely hate the thought of being one of those elderly lonely people living in sheltered accommodation trying to live off on £10 a week scared to put the heating on, I want to be one of those couples who travel the world on retirement and keep their family home! I have always prioritised a pension, even when I was only earning £13,000 a year and DH was unemployed and we were getting housing benefit etc, had some debts and desperately needed the money I still opted to pay into it, although it was a bit frustrating thinking about the money missing I didn't really see it as missing money, it was like another necessary tax if that makes sense? I am so glad I did it though because it was a local government pension and even though I have moved into the higher education sector it's actually the same type of pension which is a good one so now I am 26 nearly and am just used to paying into it. Thankfully finances are much better now and I dont even think about it, although it will be rubbish to see it deducted from my maternity, but I think it's important. DH has a very good pension being military but it's not something you opt into its automatic and deductions aren't made. We don't own a house yet though, but we will make sure we do own by the time we are 35 at the latest so it is paid off before we retire. I will have lots of career changes due to the nature of my husband's job and I am so worried about the impact on my pension. It's scary being a grown up!!

 

[hulahoop09]

Ah I can imagine. I find being a home owner stressful worrying about if we got a leak in the roof or if the electrics broke etc. Lol. We are lucky we have a house that will be paid by the time I am 50 though. My dad doesnt work doesnt pay into a pension and my mum doesnt pay into one. My real mum doesnt work so also doesnt pay into one.

My dad did when he did work but I dont think he will get out of it what he thinks he will when he can cash into it in 5 years!

Hopefully in a year money will be better and we will start saving or I will put some into a pension but it really does un nerve me trusting the whole pension thing.

Xx