How much pension for a comfortable life?

Why don't you change your job to one of finance as this is what really seems to interest you.

You need more of a voice in your financial affairs.

We have been 'enjoying' crappy interest rates, so none of our savings have grown. Most of it was from an inheritance and in early years, along with investments, we were raking in 5-7% for a FRB. I got rid of the shares before the crash so as to pay off our mortgage. Savings now... barely 1% ! Had to come up with a plan B.

I am 67, hubby is 74. I did not want to go back into shares this late in that it requires a long term commitment to see growth. I saw a friend turn her divorce proceeds over to a 'reputable' financial advisor and they totally screwed it up. And look at the high street banks now having to pay compensation for poor advice to people who were not used to investing but pressurised to do so. Also, a financial crash could happen again. Maybe he's afraid of that?

Instead of hoarding, we bought another property, fixed it up, and the rent is our new pension top up. Something your OH could do in his retirement. The income top-up from rent can relieve the pressure on you to carry on working. Put the property into a trust to keep it separate from your estate so it can pass to your designated beneficiaries.

Even if we sell, the CG will not be that bad, and further reduced if used for nursing home placement, but I intend to hold onto it and leave it in trust to the next generation to be 'their' pension. (They already have some properties from their late gran and it's worked out very well). I do not worry about a property losing value as the way shares can.

Also, when I needed a back operation, I paid for it from savings and got back to work faster, so it paid for itself (I am self-employed, no sick pay).

Get a freakin' passport then you will have it for bank ID. I had a real problem with our bank trying to transfer funds as even though I had a passport, driving licence, etc. I still had to sign all new signature stuff as they didn't like my 'current' signature! It had changed over the 25 years we'd been with that bank for our regular account. Let me tell you.. having arthritis in hands, or even just age, can change your sig. So you might want to update what they have on file. We do so much with chip and pin now, that writing a cheque never happens. It was that this cheque was over a certain sum and cause a lot of aggro!

Get that passport and go on holiday or cruise, or you will end up miserable and resentful stuck at home. There's a whole world of culture and interesting destinations out there.

Enjoy your money, you are fortunate...and who knows how long both of you will live? My brother bought an annuity for his wife ten years ago. He died in surgery this year. Thank goodness my SIL has that annuity as she only has state pension. His two large pensions died with him.

There are causes that could also use your help. Many communities are setting up Memory Cafe's to help dementia sufferers and carers have a place to meet. Small modest contributions can bring you big personal rewards. Hoarding out of fear creates anxiety.

You are so lucky... but do not let your OH make your good fortune a millstone around your necks.

Enjoy life, help others, help yourselves!

Maybe this will help regarding the difference between 30/35 years NI contributions - all depends on when you were born and whether you are in the 'old' or 'New' system
www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/state-pensions

Abbey - you have said that if you don't make 35 years contributions you will lose £5/week, so if you are four years short, that would be £20/wk or £1000/year. You have accepted that £15000 income per year would give a comfortable standard of living - this is for a couple. If you are left alone at some point in the future then having £1000 less than this as a single person should be plenty for a comfortable life. This is without your inheritance safety net.
It really isn't worth continuing in a job you are not enjoying if you are fortunate enough not to have to. Life is too short.

Confused about the max state pension being 8k (as someone said earlier). I qualified for mine in July this year and it's almost £10,500.
With private pension, I reckon I'll have about £16000 a year to live on (*before tax*)and my rent is currently £6900pa. I think that'll be enough to live on. Well, it'll have to be as I hate my job and am packing it in at the end of the year when I hope to have savings of £5k. Looking to move somewhere cheaper which will cost around £1k in removal (& associated) costs.
So, OP, you'll be comfortably off if you retire now and very comfortably off once your state pension kicks in. Good luck!

So what does your husband do all day.?It appears and correct me if I am wrong but at 65 and on a state pension then he is at home all day?.I have yet to meet someone of my gender who worries about money as much as their male partners.Buy a new pair of shoes and its 'what another pair?'
In my early days of marriage we never went abroad Hubby said too expensive.Even though we both worked I made do and mend
If he is so concerned about money and your future then there are plenty of men at 65 who can still find employment
Don't make excuses for him about past poverty he should have got over that by now.Idle hands idle minds he really should find himself something worth while to do than put the burden on you.Good luck.We sisters are united.

If I were you I'd be writing out my letter of resignation right now! Retire and enjoy your life and health whilst you have it, who knows what tomorrow will bring! If your husband is not happy with that tell him to find himself a little part time job to make up the supposed shortfall - being a tradesman he should have no problem finding work!

We took early retirement. DH now qualifies for state pension as well as his private pension. It goes into our joint account, no way does he regard it as his, in his eyes it is all 'ours', even though his private pension is substantially more than mine. We share all monies and all expenses. I really don't understand the attitude that it's 'his' pension. Do you always operate separately abbey?

Abbey you don't have a passport?? That can't be correct, surely. As others have advised, stop wasting energy doing sums and worrying about what may or may not happen in the future. Do what you want to do now and move on.

I think you are getting the new state pension and the maximum basic for that is £155 x 52 or £8060pa vissos.

People can, but not all do, receive payments from SERPs, etc., which is presumably how your NSP is made up to £10,500. That would mean just under £47 a week in additional amounts which not everyone will get. There have been many schemes for these over the years but the Second State Pension (the latest version) ended in April this year and it is not intended to replace it. The intention is to have a clear, single State Pension - that is one reason why the new single tier one has been set at the level of the old one plus Pension Credit so that people do not have to claim benefit or pay extra to get £155 state pension.

NonnaW I think we assume everyone works like "us" but that is definitely not true. Many couples have a personal account and the a joint account for bills; some men "look after" the finances some women do. It is very varied.

I wonder if Abbey's OH is concerned about how she will manage when he is gone? That, at least, would make some sense.

But abbey has a huge amount of capital and savings which neither party seems willing to take into account. She would certainly be able to manage very well indeed.

We have a simple system what's mine is hers and whats her's is hers.

Always had a joint account since we were married and Mrs p sorts it all out. All I want to know is if we are in credit at the month end. We do talk about what we spend, but it is not necessary (unless of course it involves £1400 for the new ukulele that has just been reviewed and seems amazing -- drool)

Sorry if this has already been posted I didn't read all previous comments. If you are a women born in the 1950s affected by the harsh, unfair steep rises to state pension age and now having to work an extra 6 years, please consider joining WASPI (Waspi Against State Pension Inequality) Facebook page to fight this injustice. Thank you.

Both my husband and I had to give up work due to illnesses. I'm his case he successfully overcame three strokes, each time ambulances from work. So our income was drastically reduced. But we are alive and reasonably well. Recently we were in a very bad car accident and relatively unhurt, dear knows how. The car was wrecked and we were trapped. My point is, don't focus on money! I know where you're coming from, my man was of the same mind and ad similar upbringing. If you have your health and each other, enough to have a roof over your head, a warm house, and food in your belly you are rich! Honest, it is not worth the stress . And you have more than enough, enjoy some of it just now. We bought a second hand residential caravan and go to it to de stress most weekends. We don't know how long we have on this earth, so focus on the moment!

Seems to me that you should retire and enjoy your money. Life to short as it is.i gave up working 9 years ago and my husband did too. We have savings and an ISA not sure how that is going now as the bank rates have dropped considerably. We have holidays and have a car I don't drive though but we have a great bus service so I can get out and about on my own.

My husband is 66 years old and he works. He went back to work , part time sub contracting, the day after brexit. I remember it well. he had been at home since 2008 when he was pushed off
(redundant) and couldnt get a job. His friend (same age but still working, painting and decorating) gave his name and phone number to a contractor he worked for who was fed up with not being able to get decent tradesmen. Hubby took one job on. He has been moving from job to job for the same bloke ever since.

So I cannot complain at hubby.He is doing his bit. I have not included the paid work in my calculations above.

LUCKYGIRL....You said it all.
Capital is for spending not hording IMHO.
As one gets older one needs to pay for services, jobs etc that used to be done by oneself. That's what having money in old age is useful for.

With that amount of money in the bank , I have no idea what your husband is thinking!!
We could only dream of having so much money.
At 65 you have on average about 20 years left, I would be dividing what I had in the bank by 20 and spend most of it each year, you can't take it with you!!
You could live a fantastic retirement now, so many people don't have that luxury.

As a couple you now have a decent income. You will both have reasonable pensions. You have a huge amount of capital. You don't like your job but clearly could retire tomorrow if you choose.
So remind me please - what's the problem?
Far too much indulgence in financial navel-gazing. Shades of Scrooge gloating over his hoard!
Stop being so self-centred and get a life!!

I retired early in my 50s, as did OH, and we still have a mortgage to pay. Thought we were comfortable, not rich but happy until I read this thread. Now I think we are reasonably poor in comparison but hey I believe in that old adage, nobody on their death bed wishes they'd spent longer at work.

I'm amazed how much some people have to live on. But I seem to manage reasonably on my approx £8000 state pension per year, providing I am very careful.
I have no one to blame but myself as I made no private pension provision whatsoever.
Money does't worry me that much though. I love being retired and would not go back to work again for any amount.

Many thousands of people only have their state pension to live on including my parents. There are also thousands of women affected by rise in state pension age who won't get this pension until age 66 and have to keep working regardless of ill health etc. There are also thousands of women on their own some due to widowhood or divorce trying to make ends meet. £28k a year with no mortgage and substantial savings ? This is significantly more than most people have. I suggest you enjoy your life and count your blessings.

Do you always operate separately abbey?

We never operated separately and still do not. It was the DWP who told him it was his single mans pension ( he asked about the married mans pension because he retired at the time when some were getting single pensions and some were still getting married mans pensions depending on age and birthday. Hubby was under the changed rules. NO married mans allowance). He was told it was his pension and I would have to work and make my own NI contributions for my own pension. Thats where it started really.

We had always worked on the fact he had paid in and he would get a married mans allowance for me because that is what we were told back in the 1980's/ 90's.

Just consider the many thousands who'd like to go home to retire in their cultural homeland but find if they do so they will have their UK State pension frozen. Consequently they stay back in the UK costing the Budget £ billions in costs like the NHS winter power subsidies that might other wise be saved if these people were encouraged by non freezing of their pensions to migrate back to their cultural homeland www.theguardian.com/money/2015/aug/15/keith-vaz-frozen-pensions#comment-57557177 ; www.voice-online.co.uk/article/time-fix-great-pensions-anomaly These people are forced to receive some pension money with which to live on but are forced by an appalling British pension policy www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/money/article4104695.ece to loose their cultural background.

I have no one to blame but myself as I made no private pension provision whatsoever.

I have myself to blame too. I didnt make any pension provision. I had for a while a job with a pension attached and I left the job. The pension was frozen and I will get a small amount from it apparently. So I am also reliant on the state pension.

My state pension is under the new rules ( I am a 1950's born woman and I got caught in it) and so I have to work until I am 66 and get 35 years NI to qualify for that new state pension - which is as everyone keeps saying £155 a week (£8K a year). But if you dont get the 35 years in it is cut. Its all the little rules they do not tell you.