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It's all very well the MPs with their fat pensions advising people to make provision for their retirement but in reality you may not have enough to set anything aside after food and bills.

When we were young and just married with not much money ,although we both had jobs , my husband encouraged me to pay the full national insurance contribution. I left my teaching job for 10 years when the children came along. When I returned I paid my pension contribution for the lost working years. Consequently when I retired early I had the full state and teachers pensions! ( which was handy because my husband,who was self employed, had put money aside into a private pension scheme which now pays next to nothing!)
I used the lump sum from my pension to pay off the mortgage and invest in double glazing and replacement of all the outside woodwork with u.p.v.c. so as to avoid any repainting.
Now we are elderly and my husband is unwell we have enough to live on comfortably as we can no longer travel or spend on meals out or buy expensive clothes. The older you get it seems the less you spend !

Thankfully I had a really good company pension when I had to retire at 44 due to ill health & disability. I received my maximum pension that I would have received at retirement age but if anybody doesn't have a great company scheme I would urge them to take out a good private pension

Although it's important to save for one's retirement, retirement itself doesn't have to happen in one foul swoop. For me the option to go part-time at the age of 60 in a totally different field enables me to just about earn enough on which to live, gives me plenty of free time to do the things I want and also keeps me relatively active. As and when I do opt to give up work altogether, my spending needs will have decreased, and pensions [although small] plus savings and the state pension will see me live out my life comfortably enough.

Before redundancy I paid into a works pension and an additional voluntary contribution scheme. Now I can barely pay the bills so try not to worry about what I can't change. I think retirement may well be pretty grim...but I'll certainly be used to living on next to nothing!

Always pay into a pension when working. I am still incensed woman have to wait years for their state pension now when we have worked all our lives. I will be 66.

I could never afford to save so only have very small work pension (worked part time in a shoe shop so nothing special) and state pension. We are lucky to live in the north where it's cheaper, not have a mortgage anymore and not really need much but I do wish I'd been able to save and encourage my children who have better jobs (though more expensive lives) to do so

We were careful early on in life & we also bought our own house, this was paid of early 10 years ago. We both worked hard before retiring & managed to save a sum we felt we could mange to retire on. With our State Pension & 3 small pensions we manage fine, taking Holidays as and when we want. Next year an Endowment we took out when buying our house matures so that will go into the savings pot to keep us going also.

start early and save continuously

Like many I started planning far too late.
This has been the main issue for me

It is so important to prepare for retirement and although I wasn’t in a well paid job the pension was good. Right from 21 the money came straight out of my salary and therefore I never missed it. Having just retired I am really grateful that this happened.

save as much as you can

Took lump sum & early retirement from final salary scheme at 55 as no death benefit as such to leave my children. My younger sister passed away age 53 so got no benefit from hers at all

Wish I had the chance to be able to pay into a pension.

There have been major changes to pensions in recent years and it has never been more important for young people starting their working lives to be in a pension scheme. The onus is on parents, guardians and employers to reiterate this important fact . This will enable them to have decent finance for their later years when public funds may have further diminished and they could be relying mostly on their saved pensions.

It has been very difficult for me - now retired. Did get a small works pension which helps as the state pension isn't enough to run a car etc. Also to add my children couldn't go to uni so stayed at home until they left to get married, that added a lot to my finances. They are very poorly paid now so are not saving - what can I do to help? I am just surviving in sheltered accomodation for which I am extrememly grateful. It seems that my family finances are to repeat themselves. I was on my own most of this time.

I thought I could look forward to having a comfortable retirement then got unexpectedly divorced! I accepted a clean break settlement and kept the house and he took his pension so I am asset rich but cash poor. We had previously decided, as a family, that I would be a 'stay at home mum' so I didn't have enough years of NI for a full state pension. I did manage to build up some savings after my separation by working several jobs at the same time when the children were teenagers so then couldn't claim any benefits from the state so I still now continue to work a bit past state retirement age to give me enough to get by.

However, now approaching 70 and finding it harder to continue working, I am spending most of my savings on house improvements. Hopefully, this will allow me to still continue living there in my dotage so I will try and claim pension credit and pay no council tax soon then I can just about manage as I live frugally. It is very wrong that workers and savers are penalised while those who don't bother to try and provide for themselves get a lot of state help especially when there is almost zero % of interest nowadays.... something else I was relying on to help me in retirement!! I will also do all I can to prevent the state taking my house in care fees if that need arises.

Saving for one's retirement can be so difficult. The trick is that, when you do get a windfall, don't splash it out to celebrate. That's what you should be saving for an enjoyable retirement.

I think its very hard to even survive let alone think of saving for retirement these days.

I have an employer's pension and also saved from age 30 it was not easy especially when children were at uni. However going without some things during this time enabled me to retire at 55 when my grandson was born with cerebral palsy. I look at others I envied who had larger houses and cars but are now still working and cannot retire for some years to come and am happy with my decision.

DH and I decided very early on that our aim was to retire early -we therefore increased pension contributions and overpaid our mortgage, with the aim of being mortgage free before retirement. However, I accept that we are lucky that we had a good works pension, and we were both reasonably well paid. I would not want to be relying on my state pension

I'm lucky that I have a good occupational pension and equity in a large house plus inheritance due, again mainly from parent's house bought cheap & worth lots.

MY kids however have the double whammy of low wages and high rents, there's no way they'll be able to save beyond workplace pensions and as jobs are no longer for life they may not get the better return on longer pensions

Ill health and disability has stopped me saving for retirement, so there's not much I can do about it.

I was a single parent with sole responsibility for my son. I never took benefits so had to work all hours at low paid jobs in order to support us. After basic living expenses, mortgage etc there was nothing left. I am not talking about after eating out, holidays etc for we didn't have any. I have always felt frustrated when advised to save for retirement and there is never any acknowledgement that many people are working as hard as they can and do not fritter but still have nothing left to invest.

Due to illness we are having to wing it and hope that the state pension will be enough