What Age Did You Start Paying in to a Pension?

Jersy

25 for me, the reason that I was so late was that I worked for a year when I was 21 knowing that the following year I was planning on starting my masters, being on a graduate wage I could not afford to may my masters up front, so I paid it off as I went along.

Id hope that that £6k will indirectly go towards my pension.

Darren_G

Just had a check back of the results after the weekend.

I think previous posters are correct in saying that we are a savvy bunch to be on teh MSE forum in the first place, and unlikely to admit to any poor retirement planning! Bit surprised that there was not a more balanced mix of votes from each sector, as having read other threads when last year's strike was looming, there were quite a few representing each side of the debate. At 114 total votes, 78 were from the private sector and only 36 from the public sector.

Just done some quick and dirty analysis of the responses to date:

Age Range Percentage Overall Percentage Overall
Votes – Public Sector Votes – Private Sector

Under 21 44% 16%
21 to 24 28% 50%
25 to 30 17% 24%
Over 30 11% 10%

Not very scientific, but food for thought and perhaps prompt a bit more voting on the poll

melancholly

i guess it's hard to interpret based solely on age - i work in research so have a private sector pension, but to get my job i needed a BSc, MSc and PhD.... there is little option of paying in before 25 because that's how long the studying taskes (plus not everyone wants to/can do 7 years of straight studying with no break - i certainly worked for some time in between studying or i couldn't have afforded it).

i wonder what the results would say if the question was more along the lines of once a pension scheme was offered to you, how long did you wait to start paying in? plenty of private sector companies don't have any scheme at all, so it could be a few job changes before that becomes an option.

jackyann

I too am concerned about the linking (especially public sector which I know about, but applies across the board) of pensions to state pension age.
We may be living longer and in better health, but those who do very physically demanding (or even jobs requiring very quick thinking) are going to be struggling before age 68.
I retired at 58 because I was not "on top of my game" and knew that I was on my way to being a hindrance rather than a help to younger colleagues in a high stress environment. I was deeply grateful that I could (so I think, would my colleagues & patients be, if they realised where I was heading!)

JCB20

Private sector FS scheme. I suppose I am unusual as I have worked for the same company for 40 yrs. Joined at 20 as the company suggested it was in your interests to do so. As you can imagine I am now rather glad I did so!
The scheme was closed about 3 yeas ago and we were out into a DB salary sacrifice scheme run by Standard Life. The company matches contributions up to 10% of salary. I am overpaying currently with the intention of taking a large lump sum when I retire. It also allows me to stay under the 40% tax band (better in my coffers than HMRC).

My son by contrast has only just started paying into his company scheme at 30. I have been trying to encourage him to do so for some time. It was only when I pointed out what he was missing out on that persuaded him. As his company contributes at a good rate he has been missing out on "free" money for a while!

aka666

work for nhs, started paying into a pension in 1984 and i am 49 now,and i just got my son (19) to start paying into a private one