What is/was your attitude to pensions?

I cared for children for 5 years and then worked (sometimes full/sometimes part time) for the rest of the time. I got no credits for the years bringing up children so my state pension is not full - and neither is my OH's as he spent many years as a student training in medicine and biochemistry and missed out of contributions then.

The only reason we are reasonably comfortable is because we were able to take advantage of rising house prices and down-sized at a critical time and managed to wipe out our mortgage in our 40s. We basically did so as OH had to retire then with ill health, so we weren't left rolling in dosh - but having no housing costs has been a life-saver for us.

The other factor is that FIL left us a small amount when he died so we always feel there is something to fall back on if the house needs maintenance for instance.

OH's NHS pension is small (he did retire in his 40s and refused to acknowledge that it was because he was ill, so we did not get the sickness retirement pension we should have had) and I will get virtually nothing from it f he leaves this world before me.

One DD puts their business excess profits into housing with a view to selling them when they retire and using the proceeds to live on; another works all the hours that are sent and pays into a company pension (her OH refuses to do so); another's OH has a small pension contribution with his company and she herself has who knows what - she works for another DD's business and I have not enquired. I think they are all going to struggle in retirement - and have to work very hard for longer.

I agree with Jane it's very difficult for the next generation. There are few firms still offering an index linked pension outside the civil service/teaching type professions. Most get no help at all. ISA's are the only practical way to save and may just about keep pace with inflation.
Personally, although I did think about my pension when I was young, the only contribution I made was to continue to pay full stamp when many of my friends opted for the reduced rate. As a full time mum, part time childminder / cleaner / school dinner lady pension provision simply didn't enter the equation.
I eventually got back into 'proper' work as a receptionist for a housing association. After nine years, the pension I now receive from them is £135 per quarter! Luckily it's indexed linked!
The last company I worked for paid £40 per month into a scheme for everyone. This I cashed in after 10 years service for just under £1800.
For people like me saving for a pension is a complete waste. Luckily my DH has a pension. We are blessed although we aren't able to save neither do we have to worry too much and it makes me seething mad when unions bring their members out on strike because their pensions are being cut back a bit. They don't appreciate how lucky they are.

I suspect we do represent the average grandparents of a certain age. Most people under 70 must be computer literate and quite a few older than that too.

We 'did the right thing' and have to hope it was correct but I am not so sure about those younger than us. They might be better just spending it as the state looks after the feckless. We have just returned from Vancouver staying with someone who went to college in the UK in the 1970s. She is still in touch with 2 women who studied with her and is appalled that neither of them has ever worked. They have both always been kept by the state and given accommodation at no cost to themselves. They did not marry or have children and there is no reason they could not work. She said it could not happen in Canada. They live in Worthing. In one of the threads there is a suggestion that the shortage of housing in the southeast is due to immigrants which may be true but is clearly not the whole picture.

It doesn't always have to be 'darling', Nanadogsbody - depends what mood you're in with him!

Thanks tanith got it now!

Agree janeains. Also granny23 mentioned that some pensions are not paid to widows, so wonder if everyone is aware of this? Most pay 30-50% I think so worth checking. Then if you are in the terrible position of having to bring up a grandchild, due to a family tragedy ( littlenellie ) who steps in and helps then?

DH is Darling Husband , so as OH is other half, DD is darling daughter, DS darling son, DGD is darling granddaughter and so on and son...lol

And will somebody please explain DH??????

Nanadogsbody I'm new to GN too, and I think you're quite right, we don't represent a true section of older people - we're a self-selected group who are relatively computer-literate, and vocal in our opinions! Most of my friends think I'm mad.
I think it's much harder for the younger generation - we have benefited from the massive house price rises between 1970 and 2000 so that it's now much harder for them to buy their own homes, then if the grandchildren want to go to university it will cost many thousands of pounds. We are in our first year of full retirement so 'seeing how things go' financially (so far so good) but I would like to be able to help them to save for the future.
If I was in their shoes, I would be putting money into ISAs rather than pensions.

When I went abroad to teach, an old family friend, a retired teacher, warned me to keep my pension contributions going. I dismissed her as an old fogey but now I am one and I know she was right. But you can't teach a young dog old tricks.

Like a few of you a pension never entered my head,my then DH had a secure job,and a good pension and I would be taken care of if he should die ....I was at home with the children and where always hard up and struggled with a mortgage etc ..never having holidays or going out,making our social life revolve around the home,I returned to work doing part time and bit jobs,no career,the last one being for a big company,and at 40 started to pay into a pension for myself ,then life as it has a habit of doing got in the way,our marriage broke down, we lost Kate,and I became a "parent" all over again,I'll health meant that I was unable to work again,my small pension,has been taken early as it all helps with a child to provide for,my pension forecast is not good..less than a quarter of state pension my partner ..20 years younger gave up work to care for me and E so he has no pension provision..heis a full time student planning to go back to work in the next year when he has finished his course..at 60 this year I am planning to rejoin the workforce as a domicilliary carer..as E is approaching 14.So I really don't know what will happen,I have taken out a sizeable insurance should I fall off the perch..and when we are earning will provide OH who is approaching 40 with a pension plan he will be ok also if I shuffle off....that is the plan,,but life turns round and bites your bum sometimes,so the best laid plans etc......

As a relative new-comer to GN, or at least to posting on forums, I wonder if we represent a true cross section of older people? Firstly we all have children, and grandchildren, so we have family.

(Incidentally who is this DH that I keep hearing mentioned? Is he a multiple bigamist, as so many of you seem to be married to him?)

I have a couple of unmarried friends who are in great financial difficulties now that they have retired, having only their state pension and a very small work pension to support themselves. One of them was unable to pay her mortgage, had the house re-possessed, and now struggles with a monthly rent.

While I really struggle to sympathise with the 'something for nothing' culture that exists in certainly families, I understand we cannot leave them to starve or without a roof over their heads. Yet, neither of my friends are eligible for benefits even though they do struggle to heat their houses and feed themselves.

I think it's so true what Ariadne and a couple of others have hinted at. When we are young we do not think of getting old and needing pensions, when we are struggling to bring up our families as best we can (and yes, crimson us working mums do care for our children), we are often too busy to consider the future, then suddenly.....it's there!

My heart really bleeds for all those young people, my own son for example, who are trying to be responsible and pouring money into their private pension funds which will not be paying out as hoped for. So as Joan says, if there is a better solution and the government is trying to find it I would support that.

I never thought much about pensions when I started teaching when the DC went to school - I had never wanted any other job. But, as I approached retirement, I did realise how fortunate I was as far as a pension was concerned, though I did work myself almost to a standstill most of the time.

DH has his army pension and a pension from his second career, so we are comfortably off. And we have saved, even when it was hard to do so - no holidays abroad etc. when there were five of us.

Two of my children are teachers, and I know they will have to work far longer, and just as hard, as I did. I can't imagine doing my job now, at 66, but they'll have to do theirs. (I woke up this morning at 5.15, which is when the alarm used to wake us ready to hit the road!)

I worked most of my life except for 8 years of child rearing - well, even then I worked as a family day care provider. I paid my stamp in the UK and paid my taxes, quite heavy ones, here in Australia, as did my husband. Our two sons pay taxes now, of course. They both work in necessary jobs (teacher and electrician) and both served in the armed forces - one is still in the reserves. Their Dad is ex-forces too.

The way I see it, part of our taxes went to pay people's pensions back then, so we have a moral right to a pension ourselves now. With a small amount from the UK (about 50 pounds a week between us ) our Australian state pension is enough to be comfortable on.

I am more than happy for the government to run pension schemes like this, and it is great that some people have private pensions too. I cannot understand resentment against either paying taxes and contributions, or against people receiving state pensions. I trust the government more than private financial services, who have a profit motive.

I hear moans about old people costing the government too much, and about 'a culture of entitlement'.

Well, I feel we are fully entitled to what the government pays us. We have paid our dues to society.

I had eight years 'at home' when the DD's were young, unfortunately this was before you could claim NI credits for these years. I was also disappointed to discover that they do not count the working years from 15 to 18, (when we paid a young person's stamp) towards your final pension so I do not have a full state pension. Although I worked for 8.5 years for one of the big banks I have no pension entitlement as the first 3 years were a probationery period and the last 5 I was deemed to be 'temporary staff' because I was a married woman!

DH was self employed so we started a small personal pension for him when the children were born and later took out a bigger one when I was working and we could afford it. A chance reading of an article in a newspaper alerted me that some pensions did not pay out to the widow if the man died before retirement and on checking I discovered that both DH's pensions were like that, so at 50 I started my own pension with a lump sum from my share of the sale of my parent,s wee flat. I worked for 25 years in the voluntary sector and it was only in my last 3 years that there were any pension contributions from my employer.

Our pension funds were growing so slowly (thank you Gordon Brown) that when my DH's endowment matured, we invested it in a small flat which has been rented out ever since and supplies more income than our 3 private pensions combined. Funnily enough the small pension which DH started in 1970 pays out exactly the same amount per month as the later larger (6x££ per month) one. We have just enough to still be paying income tax and do not get any additional benefits.

Like others above we have found we need far less income in retirement than we expected. Our planned holidays abroad have been shelved for various reasons including the cost of travel insurance - sometimes more than the cost of an off season late deal! We manage fine with one car between us and as for the house, if we cannot DIY it just does not get done. We have never been well off, are used to being thrifty and making do and mending, so we feel that we are quite comfortable and have a bit to spare to lavish on the DGC. No complaints here.

As a former employer I feel rather cynical about these new compulsory pensions. I remember when Stakeholder pensions came in and we had to go through a great rigmarole of setting them up, getting someone in to explain to the employees what it was all about, and guess what, none of the employees wanted one.
National Insurance was supposed to provide pensions and healthcare, but now it is just another form of taxation. I fear that these new pensions will be used as an excuse to make the State pension less generous.
On a personal note, I have been pleasantly surprised that we are still reasonably comfortable with our various pensions. However, I am also aware that were it not for Gordon Brown's depredations, (taxing dividends on pension funds, and forcing pension providers to sell their equities at the worst possible time) the annuity I bought with my private pension would be more generous.

You're right, Hankipanki. I was pleasantly surprised how little we need to live on now that we no longer work. True, we live in a modest house in the middle of nowhere but we now only need one car and plan our shopping/medical appointments/visiting friends and family trips to make the most economical use of petrol. We work hard at being self-sufficient and do not have to buy wood for the stove, eggs, vegetables and soon (hopefully) chicken for the freezer. We also prefer short breaks to holidays.
Our pensions are modest but we seem to be better off than when we were working ourselves silly.

I never thought much about saving for a pension when I was younger I was too busy putting food on the table for my children and shoes on their feet. Although I have always worked, mainly part time I have never had a career or worked for an employer who offered a company pension scheme. Nor do I get a full state pension. Fortunately Mr hp has an index linked pension, not a lot, but enough to ensure that we are comfortable. We did manage to save a little for our retirement but not until the children had left home and were independent. We also finished our mortgage well before we retired so do not have to find housing costs. This last factor I am very grateful for because it makes the difference between being comfortable and struggling. I think that having to pay a mortgage/rent out of our pensions would really challenge us. I don't worry about the future because whatever happens we/I will cope. We don't drink or smoke or have expensive holidays although we do have a good life.

Could we have done things differently? Well no I think we did the best we could. We put our childrens welfare first in the early years and then when we were able we saved some and we spent some on enjoyable experiences.

Retirement has been a pleasant surprise in that we find we need far less to live on than people such as pension companies would have us believe.

DH was in the Forces, and so I never had a chance to do much about a pension. When we were out of the country, which was often, the opportunities to work were few and far between. I worked where I could, mostly part time, until we came back to live in this country permanently, then, eventually, I got to work full time, but like Anagram, I never had a job which offered a pension scheme. I did not build up enough contributions to have a full state pension. DH has a decent indexed linked service pension and also a couple of small company pensions and so we don't struggle by any means. We also managed to save a decent sum to supplement our retirement, which, to date, we have not needed to dip into, so it is still invested (not that it's making much at the moment). In fact, from what we get in pensions, we are still able to save a little. If DH shuffles off before me, I would have a proportion of his pensions, but would probably have to fall back on the savings. We have a mortgage free house so that gives some peace of mind. Our kids put money into company pension schemes, but with investments what they are today and for the foreseeable future, who knows what they will be worth when they eventually get the chance to retire.

I wanted to wave goodbye to my children when they left for school and then be there at home waiting for them when they returned home in the evening. I wanted to be with them during the school holidays. I put a lot of time and effort into helping and encouraging them with their school work and anything else in their life that required my time and help [and loved every minute of it]. I didn't have a career so it would have cost me as much to pay someone else to look after them during the school holidays as I was earning and I didn't particularly want someone else looking after them. It was a complete shock to me when, after 30 years my husband left me for another woman. Although I had done part time work that fitted in with the childrens school times I didn't get a pension from it. I shall receive a small pension from the divorce settlement [something that, 10 years ago, I hadn't realised would be so important to me now] and shall get a full state pension next year thanks to my childcaring years being taken into consideration and I am most thankful for that. The 'pension' from the part time work that I've done for the past 18 years will probably pay out £1,000 a year. I regard the time and input into my childrens formative years as being far more important than doing a paid job. I didn't have posh holidays and bought a lot of clothes from charity shops. I never thought of myself during those years as some sort of social scrounger and I'm proud of the fact that I was there for them, never dreaming that I would be divorced by the time I reached retirement age. I've never forgotten overhearing one woman in a doctors waiting room one morning say to the person next to her that her child would have to be ok as she had to go to work.

Annobel Every cloud has a silver lining!

Had not my ex done a runner I would by now be financially very secure as he had a very senior role in the education world. But I would be very miserable and so would he. Better that his second missus gets the security and I get to be myself, albeit considerably poorer.

I"ve never worried about a pension , why should I ? DH gets an index linked , so with that and the state pension we do okay, we cut our cloth according to our means , know what I mean

I'm one of those who never worried about a pension, I just assumed that the state pension would be enough to live on, I suppose, when I started work. I have never been in a job which offered its own scheme, and if I hadn't married OH, who has a reasonable Company pension, then I would just have had to survive on the state pension. I would at least have paid off my mortgage by now and would never have learned to drive, so would use my bus pass, and as I've never been used to exotic holidays I think I'd have been OK!

I have been self-employed most of my working life so a company pension scheme wasn't an option. I did have it in mind to buy an annuity with my savings but this looks like chucking a sizeable quantity of money down the drain at the moment. Instead, I have invested in property to provide us with an income when I finally retire. (Mr absent does not have a pension either.) As far as the capital is concerned, I should at least break even and possibly make a profit should I wish to sell the houses in a few years' time when the housing market picks up, which it almost certainly will, whereas once you've bought an annuity, that's it.