Poll: Pensions - Are you worried about the future?

How much is in your pension pot?

  • <£20k

    Votes: 69 20.6%

  • £21k - £30k

    Votes: 11 3.3%

  • £31k - £40k

    Votes: 15 4.5%

  • £41k+

    Votes: 168 50.1%

  • No clue

    Votes: 72 21.5%
  • Total voters
    335
After realizing I was pretty much following that scale I made some radical changes to my contributions and managed to pay my mortgage off 8 years early. I've had to make sacrifices along the way but I think I'm at a good place now. That's despite the recent market draw downs which have been a tough learning experience to put a positive spin on it!

Biggest change was to invest a big portion via a SIPP so I'm managing my own retirement expectations. Not to be taken lightly as I've spent the last 3 or 4 years researching and watching vids like the Pension Craft one below.

Uther said:

Average pension pots [UK]:​

  • Ages 16-24: £2,700
  • Ages 25-34: £9,500
  • Ages 35-44: £30,600
  • Ages 45-54: £81,200
  • Ages 55-64: £189,700
  • Ages 65-74: £190,000
  • Ages 75+: £90,300
Click to expand...

 
41 years old, I have two pensions one private and one with my employer. Combined the total value is currently around £100k, forecasting this out for another 20 years I would expect my pension to reach somewhere between £700k to £900k depending on how well my investments returns do. I just hope the government doesn't change the pension rules as I don't want buy an annuity and leave all my savings to a bloated pension fund.
 
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Rule of thumb (for those not contributing enough yet) is to divide your age by two and contribute that % for the rest of your life. So if you're a 32 yo who hasn't taken pensions seriously yet, contribute 16% until you retire (e.g. 13% yourself + 3% employer).

My biggest worry about pensions a government tax raid. If they don't increase the lifetime allowance in line with inflation (which they don't do right now), or if they massively decrease it, or yet somehow increases taxes in some way, that'd be such a shame for those who made the sacrifice earlier on in their lives.
 
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41 with no pension.... Probably not the brightest choice in life, got the odd company one you get put in here and there; but certainly not chock full of funds at all.

My Uncle once told me had had a pension that dated back to the 79s or so, that he'd always overpaid into, and when it came time to collect - it gave him about £144 a week!

My Wife should get a nice NHS pension, and hopefully we'd have a house fully paid off, so could downsize - but who knows what the next 30-40+ years bring.
 
Mid 30s with a DB of £5k a year at SPA. I'm not too worried as that is a good starting point, however I am starting/building my own business so will not be adding that much to a SIPP over the next few years.
 
Uther said:

Average pension pots [UK]:​

  • Ages 16-24: £2,700
  • Ages 25-34: £9,500
  • Ages 35-44: £30,600
  • Ages 45-54: £81,200
  • Ages 55-64: £189,700
  • Ages 65-74: £190,000
  • Ages 75+: £90,300
Click to expand...
I'm 36 and my pot is currently 75k
My step dad always says you should aim for 400k in your pension pot to have a comfortable and decent retirement - those averages are crazy low, but it really doesn't surprise me.

I am aiming to have a good standard pension. The Swiss state pension is also good, so good to keep paying into that. I also aim to build up my investment pot until I retire, so if I aim for a personal investment pot of 400k - I can at 55 drawn that down for 10yrs at 5k a month and then take my full pension at 65.
 
HACO said:
Rule of thumb (for those not contributing enough yet) is to divide your age by two and contribute that % for the rest of your life. So if you're a 32 yo who hasn't taken pensions seriously yet, contribute 16% until you retire (e.g. 13% yourself + 3% employer).
Click to expand...
Even as a rule of thumb that doesn't work very well if you're aiming for similar pots at the end.
 
Surveyor said:
Even as a rule of thumb that doesn't work very well if you're aiming for similar pots at the end.
Click to expand...

It's something to get people started with pensions seriously in personal finance guides, but yes, if people want their final income during retirement as well this would likely be insufficient.
 
200sols said:
Those saying Truss tanked their pensions, are you biased towards UK stocks for a reason?
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Was going to ask the same thing, I keep seeing people complain about it in various threads like the mortgage rates etc and I'd have thought most pension schemes invest in global index stocks pretty much. My portfolio is probably about 10% UK and as with seemingly everything it's US biased due to the size of the companies over there
 
Gammawolf said:
Was going to ask the same thing, I keep seeing people complain about it in various threads like the mortgage rates etc and I'd have thought most pension schemes invest in global index stocks pretty much. My portfolio is probably about 10% UK and as with seemingly everything it's US biased due to the size of the companies over there
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I think it mitigates currency risk, though how much so in a global economy is difficult to gauge
 
I'm mid 30's and have just shy of 40k in my pensions (DC scheme). I have a smidge over half of that in a S+S isa as well. That isa is kind of an emergency fund, which hopefully won't be required, and I'll end up using that for early(ier) retirement. Now I've built up a reasonable pot, I'll probably reduce my contributions into the isa and switch them into the pension instead.

I've always paid into a pension my working life and usually I increase my contributions a smidge above the minimum, but my pot isn't very big for 2 reasons. 1) I was on a pretty poor wage for the first half of my career, and 2) None of my employers have ever contributed above the bear minimum they had to. I'm very jealous of people whose employer is contributing >10%.

No idea whether it will be enough when the time comes. But I think I'm just about striking the right balance between having a reasonable pension and being able to enjoy life.
 
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Honestly, I'm more concerned about the fact the young people of today are being stolen from by the government to pay the boomers pensions. The government know full well it's a pyramid scheme and there isn't enough coming out to cover what's going out.

By the time young people today are of retirement age, state pension will be non-existent but they will never be repaid for all the money that was stolen from them to pay boomer pensions.

It's blatant fraud against the younger generations.
 
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Devilman said:
Honestly, I'm more concerned about the fact the young people of today are being stolen from by the government to pay the boomers pensions. The government know full well it's a pyramid scheme and there isn't enough coming out to cover what's going out.

By the time young people today are of retirement age, state pension will be non-existent but they will never be repaid for all the money that was stolen from them to pay boomer pensions.

It's blatant fraud against the younger generations.
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Lol you do know how pensions work, right? Private pensions.

It's been clear that state pension will stop at some point as soon as they made every sign up for a work placed pension.

Youngster are not having enough children to replenish the tax payers that are stopping paying, at some point the elderly population will crash and the burden will lessen somewhat.
 
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LabR@t said:
Lol you do know how pensions work, right? Private pensions.

It's been clear that state pension will stop at some point as soon as they made every sign up for a work placed pension.

Youngster are not having enough children to replenish the tax payers that are stopping paying, at some point the elderly population will crash and the burden will lessen somewhat.
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This. Its a right con too.

And in ref to children, is it any wonder? Working professional couples struggle with the cost. E.g childcare care costs you're looking at £1k a month to send to nursery full time
 
Devilman said:
Honestly, I'm more concerned about the fact the young people of today are being stolen from by the government to pay the boomers pensions. The government know full well it's a pyramid scheme and there isn't enough coming out to cover what's going out.

By the time young people today are of retirement age, state pension will be non-existent but they will never be repaid for all the money that was stolen from them to pay boomer pensions.

It's blatant fraud against the younger generations.
Click to expand...

I fully expect to get nothing from the Gov when I retire in many decades to come and them to tax my private one into oblivion.
 
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