Can we retire please? How much money do you really need need?

[The Wino]

When I started to receive my state pension, I put all of it and more into my drawdown pension and got 40% tax relief on it. Unless you are already paying in the full £40,000 pay any excess into o pension.

You are limited though on contributions and it might depend on where to tax year falls what you can contribute.

 

[Cairngorm]

When I started to receive my state pension, I put all of it and more into my drawdown pension and got 40% tax relief on it. Unless you are already paying in the full £40,000 pay any excess into o pension.

I think my problem is that I didn’t put any money into my pension pot in the later years. I now have no income and from what I can gather, I don’t qualify for the £40,000 carry forward because of that ( I think).
Did throw some money at my pension, but I’m not sure if it’s going to work out for me or not. IR will have a viewpoint.

 

[Cairngorm]

You are limited though on contributions and it might depend on where to tax year falls what you can contribute.

I think you are correct and I still have to find this out.

 

[gus-lopez]

I’ll bet the women that were pushing for equality didn’t see the pension sting coming

Nor should they have as a sensible ,well run business(government) would have reduced the male age to achieve equality

so there was nothing I could do,

Same for me. 3 years , couldn't make the rest up. Mine was compounded by transferring the small works pension ( before osborne changed the rules) & the recipients scammed everyone for millions. so there isn't anything

I don't think it was right to have an inequality in retirement ages and that a lot of women would rather have equality if that was the cost.

As above,reduce the male age.

Totally agree, people seem to forget and 'moan' about getting a reduced SP but forget to include their work pension which will usually take them much higher than the max SP figure.

As long as they actually receive anything from the work pension.

Do I need to contact Future Pensions to find out if this info is correct? TIA

Yes.

. but thanks to this thread... I can see a relatively easy path to maximise it.

Nice one!

Martin's just done the same - we will make up 3 years. Just need to get it paid before 3 March so it shows up before he reached the magic birthday. The cash is in a 30 day notice investment as we always knew we would have 3 years to make up...... just need to get the timing right!

my birthday was in January but they had moved my pension date on to the April but as they pay in arrears& I wouldn't receive anything until May I had to make sure the payments were credited by April so that I got the pension amount due from the start. Although they would have paid any under payment later.

 

[Odd-no-more]

As far as I know unless you have already drawn from your pension, you are able to put up to the £40,000 in every year

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[The Wino]

As far as I know unless you have already drawn from your pension, you are able to put up to the £40,000 in every year

Or your earnings whichever is lower. If you have no earned income there is a lower amount you can still contribute. If you earn loads the 40k reduces.

 

[Cairngorm]

Or your earnings whichever is lower. If you have no earned income there is a lower amount you can still contribute. If you earn loads the 40k reduces.

I assume that is the £2880 you are alluding to with tax relief to top it up to £3600

 

[Diggerdi]

Some of our circumstances are similar - hubby is retired, I work 2 days a week and have approximately 8 years before my state pension. We have no children and have just downsized (partly to release funds and partly to move to a new area near the coast).

What do you want to do? I don’t mind my job -it’s interesting and mostly online so am happy to continue, but if I didn’t like it or it kept stoping me from doing something I wanted then would retire fully.

What would you do if you retired fully? Is it stopping you from travelling, would you like to spend more time with your hubby? Are you enjoying being at home under Furlough?

I would love to retire. I have so many hobbies that I don't have time to do and I no longer enjoy my job, hence dropping from full time gradually to two days. I've always enjoyed being at home and would have loved to give up work years ago if we could have afforded it. It would be lovely to just go away any time in our motorhome.

 

[Grummyb]

I started reading this thread with lots of ideas to put forward then I got a bit bored reading all the different opinions so I'm just going back to my original thought which is
We all have different ideas on how much we need to live off , I'm a sad git who lives on his own (do dogs count) and I can live off roughly 9 grand a year after the mortgage is paid but you really have nothing to loose if it doesn't work out you will always be able to get a job pushing trolleys at Asda and you sound sensible enough to realise it's all gone a bit pete tong before the bailiffs are knocking on the door

 

[Pablo19]

The cope amount is as it says an estimate of what you could get from the provider you contracted out to this figure being lower or higher does not affect the amount of state pension you receive and is only a guesstimate from the government.

When you do a online pension forecast you should have 2 figures one you would actually receive if you claimed it today and a second figure which is the max amount you could receive.

This is my figures I was contracted out have 38 years NI payments and a possible further 11 years to contribute, as you can see my today figure falls short of the max figure but only by a small amount so don't think it's worth paying a extra years NI to make up the small amount but I do have 11 years to make it up if I wish.

View attachment 457064.

The cope amount is as it says an estimate of what you could get from the provider you contracted out to this figure being lower or higher does not affect the amount of state pension you receive and is only a guesstimate from the government.

When you do a online pension forecast you should have 2 figures one you would actually receive if you claimed it today and a second figure which is the max amount you could receive.

This is my figures I was contracted out have 38 years NI payments and a possible further 11 years to contribute, as you can see my today figure falls short of the max figure but only by a small amount so don't think it's worth paying a extra years NI to make up the small amount but I do have 11 years to make it up if I wish.

View attachment 457064.

Thanks! Mine says the following and I have another 8 and half years to go if I retire at 67. So my forecast says I should receive the maximum, do I still need to check about my contracting out of SERPS for the period I can't remember the duration of?

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[Ditcha]

Thanks! Mine says the following and I have another 8 and half years to go if I retire at 67. So my forecast says I should receive the maximum, do I still need to check about my contracting out of SERPS for the period I can't remember the duration of?
View attachment 457558

That's it you have qualified for full state pension, if you needed to make anymore contributions you would have the 2 green sliding scales like mine,top one showing were you are today and bottom one what you need to add to receive full pension, my wife's is like yours it only shows one green box with the full amount so nothing to make up.

PS that's today who knows what will happen in the future

 

[Ivory55]

One thing I have noticed with retirement and pension. It doesn’t matter what you earn or size pension there’s always people who want to work on a bit longer in case they run out of money, it does seem to be people earning a lot more than me that are more worried. Only going on the people I have met or know at work.

 

[Fragle]

Thanks! Mine says the following and I have another 8 and half years to go if I retire at 67. So my forecast says I should receive the maximum, do I still need to check about my contracting out of SERPS for the period I can't remember the duration of?
View attachment 457558

Right.

I have exactly the same and was contracted out for a number of years

I have contacted the future pension people today (not easy) 1Hr wait. but well worth it.

I explained my position regarding Serps l also explained I was contacting them because despite having the £175.20 quote people on the motorhome forum I was on were saying that this is not the correct figure because of serps etc I understood what they said and wanted to check and confirm my payments and my future pension.

He also checked my payments including opted out years. I Don't know how many.

He then confirmed that my quote was correct and the figure shown on screen already takes into account your opted out years.

To quote him "If you retire tomorrow and don't pay any more in you will get a full state pension at retirement if that was tomorrow it would be £175.20

Hope this clears up this for everyone

 

[Nasher]

One thing I have noticed with retirement and pension. It doesn’t matter what you earn or size pension there’s always people who want to work on a bit longer in case they run out of money, it does seem to be people earning a lot more than me that are more worried. Only going on the people I have met or know at work.

I agree, I feel that many people die rich because they struggle to switch between saving money and spending it

Many also die with their property portfolios still intact - for a lot of people realising their assets is a step that they never take, despite the increasing hassles of being a landlord

Fine if you have and want someone to leave your inheritance to, but I'd sooner enjoy mine whilst I'm still fit & healthy

On the plus side, the inheritance tax they end up paying helps fill the chancellor's coffers

I retired at 54, if I'd continued working until state retirement age I would probably have an extra twenty grand a year inflation proofed pension and a several hundred thousands pounds extra in the 'bank'
None of which would buy me any of the good times I've had in retirement so far (hopefully many more to come)

That said, each to their own...... But you can't take it with you

 

[The Lord Squid]

As a matter of interest, does anyone know why my forecast on the gov.uk site is as high as £195.48 per week? I was contracted out for a few years.

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[MichaelT]

As a matter of interest, does anyone know why my forecast on the gov.uk site is as high as £195.48 per week? I was contracted out for a few years.

Mine is 197 I think

 

[Nasher]

As a matter of interest, does anyone know why my forecast on the gov.uk site is as high as £195.48 per week? I was contracted out for a few years.

Mine is 197 I think

I'm guessing you built up a pension under the 'State Earnings Related Pension Scheme' (SERPS)

 

[The Lord Squid]

I'm guessing you built up a pension under the 'State Earnings Related Pension Scheme' (SERPS)

That's probably it. Contracted out for a time and then, upon change of job, contracted in.

 

[Fragle]

One thing I have noticed with retirement and pension. It doesn’t matter what you earn or size pension there’s always people who want to work on a bit longer in case they run out of money, it does seem to be people earning a lot more than me that are more worried. Only going on the people I have met or know at work.

As seen here on this thread and I think it makes you question your decision probably based on something you never had in the first place

Habits of a lifetime mean I will probably spend similar each year. At the weekend I downloaded my bank statement for the last year covering all bills food holidays (5 weeks campsites) etc the spending was done without thought of saving, all in came to £16000. so this is my figure and within what we thought we might need.

We have without realising crossed the line by a fair amount. Gov pensions are now fixed and ok and funds for emergency if needed. nothing great but enough

 

[Bluemanc100]

For peace of mind I just called the future pensions team.. Even though I can't claim the state pension until 67 (57 now) I have 41 full years of NI contributions which are logged and safe... I can't improve my state pension any more than I have so I can sit back, relax and enjoy the next 10 years on my MOD pension until I win the lottery and get the state pension to spend

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[Deneb]

For peace of mind I just called the future pensions team.. Even though I can't claim the state pension until 67 (57 now) I have 41 full years of NI contributions which are logged and safe... I can't improve my state pension any more than I have so I can sit back, relax and enjoy the next 10 years on my MOD pension until I win the lottery and get the state pension to spend

Were you contracted out for your entire career? I'm assuming an MOD pension would have been contracted out?

Only asking as I have 46 full years of NI contributions, and even if I purchase another 4 years which is the most I can buy before SPA, my maximum SP will be about £10 a week short of the full NSP at current rates.

 

[JJ]

Cripey Cripes!

It looks like a Fun thread about pensions gets even more interest (geddit?) than one about dogs or grey water disposal...

JJ

 

[Bluemanc100]

Were you contracted out for your entire career? I'm assuming an MOD pension would have been contracted out?

Only asking as I have 46 full years of NI contributions, and even if I purchase another 4 years which is the most I can buy before SPA, my maximum SP will be about £10 a week short of the full NSP at current rates.

I asked about contracting out and the lady told me (the system says the same thing) that I have 41 full years and I am at the maximum in terms of the state pension i.e whatever I do not will not change things as I am at the maximum weekly amount. Another 10 years of inactivity will not change that.

 

[Howard B]

Were you contracted out for your entire career? I'm assuming an MOD pension would have been contracted out?

Only asking as I have 46 full years of NI contributions, and even if I purchase another 4 years which is the most I can buy before SPA, my maximum SP will be about £10 a week short of the full NSP at current rates.

I joined up in 1980 and I think I had a couple of years when I was contracted out. I checked online and am also at max contributions now. Will do another two years that will take me to 59 , then will have enough for a comfortable retirement.

 

[Catpirate]

Just goes to, show how people are confused or just do not understand pension options or where they are. Time to remind our kids/grandkids how important to think about it, even a little makes a lot over the years.

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[Ivory55]

Just goes to, show how people are confused or just do not understand pension options or where they are. Time to remind our kids/grandkids how important to think about it, even a little makes a lot over the years.

May be should be taught in school rather then some of the other subjects that have no use when they have left school.

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

Cripey Cripes!

It looks like a Fun thread about pensions gets even more interest (geddit?) than one about dogs or grey water disposal...

JJ

Or topless fat blokes

 

[Deneb]

I joined up in 1980 and I think I had a couple of years when I was contracted out. I checked online and am also at max contributions now. Will do another two years that will take me to 59 , then will have enough for a comfortable retirement.

I was contracted out for the whole period between the introduction of SERPS in 1978 until I retired 39 years later. I worked an additional couple of months after my 60th birthday to bank an extra full year of NI contributions, but can only buy another 4 years of contributions prior to SPA. My starting amount for the NSP was reduced by being contracted out, so that plus any additional years that I can buy still won't give me the full amount of the NSP, even though I've got 46 full years of NI contributions (50 if I buy the extra 4 that I'm allowed).

 

[Fragle]

Lets be honest when it comes to pensions you need a crystal ball and a bit of luck and hard work.

Nothing against pension advisers but I personally trust them as far as I can throw one. The last time I took there advice they were wrong and it nearly cost me quite a bit. They get away with it. Oops sorry I made a mistake with your money.

Fortunately we have the internet and free government advice and with a bit of effort and the knowledge of the greater collective I feel more comfortable with my decisions.

Personally I'm scared stiff I've missed something obvious. I haven't the figures are there. But for the covid restrictions we can retire now. I know and realise this thanks to information I've collected through this thread. I thank you all

I now need to pick a date and have confidence I've checked every Avenue.

 

[gus-lopez]

I was contracted out for the whole period between the introduction of SERPS in 1978 until I retired 39 years later. I worked an additional couple of months after my 60th birthday to bank an extra full year of NI contributions, but can only buy another 4 years of contributions prior to SPA. My starting amount for the NSP was reduced by being contracted out, so that plus any additional years that I can buy still won't give me the full amount of the NSP, even though I've got 46 full years of NI contributions (50 if I buy the extra 4 that I'm allowed).

Which surely means you will get the old state pension amount?

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