How Does My Pension Pot Compare?

hyubh

Muscle750 wrote: »

Simple get a job in the public sector as ive been told numerous times and then your pension will be 5 times better than us low lifes in the private sector who are paying for the gold plate public sector pensions in taxes.

Let me guess, Mrs Muscle is *still* not saying whether she'll have her ginormous LGPS pension paid into the joint account...?

Albermarle

I'm 40 now, and have only just upped my contributions to 10% (so 15% combined between me and employer), but I'm thinking I should probably go higher, but with a 3 year old and a 6 month old things are pretty stretched as they are.

For sure it is a move in the right direction and if you can not contribute more at the moment due to family then not worth worrying about for now.
Another point is that as well as your monthly contributions from salary , you might be able to put away a bit more from time to time . Either into the pension ( usually one off payments are OK for most workplace pensions ) or into a separate savings/investment account.

Muscle750

excelpaul wrote: »

Muscle750 you really do have some serious issues with envy and bitterness. In thread after thread you go on and on about public sector pensions. You are so blinded by your feelings that you even state inaccurate factual information about such pensions. You must be a godsend to the Daily Mail. Get over it and move on or seek professional help.


Don't blame others unfairly, for whatever has happened to your own pension planning.

https://www.ftadviser.com/pensions/2018/02/01/private-and-public-sector-pension-gap-almost-doubles/
https://www.moneywise.co.uk/news/2018-08-28/public-sector-pensions-triple-the-size-private-sector-counterparts

Are these statements also talking out their backsides? And also please enlighten me why when the Government started looking at the Public sector pensions they all started to kick off and throw toys out the pram. I know quite a few people who have recently retired from the public sector and havent heard any whinge about their future and not one has worked past 60. The statement i made about many been better off taking their pension than if they carried on working ive been told by at least two people that this scenerio applies to them. My company pension is open to the stock market etc and one year lost nearly all that was put in in the previous 12 months correct me if im wrong but the public sector pension is basically written in stone and because there is no such thing as a public sector pension pot the public sector pensions are basically guranteed no matter. I have to work till im 65 to access mine why is it the public sector can access theirs with no impact at 60 again correct me if im wrong

Thrugelmir

Mr.Anderson wrote: »

As for time to retirement... that's the big Q, I guess I will use all the good info above to calculate what size pot I think I need and retire when it's reached. I just hope the result isn't too ominous!

Heavy lifting is achieved with the benefits of compounding. As the years pass surprising how the speed of growth increases.

System

Dear sad muscle750
The NPA for most public sector schemes is being raised to 67. Anyone who goes before will suffer quite large reductions. Most people who work in the public sector work hard and not that many get large pensions. The pension schemes helped recruitment. I also suspect that many people enter public sector jobs because they want too or need work. They do not necessarily consider the pension scheme before applying. I certainly didn't.

Personally I worked for 36 years as a full time teacher because I wanted to teach. I worked long hours and gave it my all. I also paid in thousands of pounds of NI contributions, pension contributions and income tax just like everybody else. My pension is reasonable but I worked very hard for it. I have since returned to part-time teaching as I enjoy it still.

By the time I reach 66 I will have paid in a total of 47 years NI contributions to ensure a full state pension. I realise I was contracted out so don't moan as those are the rules.

Quite a few people in the so called private sector also seem to retire early or at least on decent pensions. I was the only one of my group at university who went into teaching. Most of my friends earned salaries at least four times mine. Quite a number retired early on pensions greater than my salary ever was. Am I bitter, no way!! I spent my working life doing what I loved. I see my pension as a reward for that dedication and hard work.

Obviously your plans have not gone well. That is not my fault or that of many thousands of other public sector workers. What exactly do you want? Would you like to see the public sector workers punished or stripped of income? I think Hutton himself found that very few public sector pensions were 'gold plated' and that the onus should be on other providers levelling up rather than the public sector levelling down!

I suspect nothing will ever moderate your view. I have said my piece. I rarely bite but I am so fed up with misinformation being bandied about by aging middle class males who live in the make believe world of some bygone glorious age!!!

bostonerimus

The impulse to drag down other people's pensions because if the poor offerings or performance of your own pension is self defeating. People with poor pensions should put their energy into improving their own options.

There I something to be said for both DB and DC pensions as one gives a guarantee and the other offers flexibility. People who feel their DC pension isn't performing need to shout at the administrators and maybe look to the size of their contributions and asset allocation decisions.

I have both DC and DB pensions and my DC pot could provide far higher income than my DB pension because I saved to it aggressively and made sensible investment decisions.

AlanP_2

Have spent the weekend with some friends who are similar age to us, late 50s.

Both private sector, both looking to retire in next 18 months on a higher pension than I earn in public sector. One of them is optimistic of catching a redundancy bonus of 60k plus increased by 25% because of their age.

Its really tough in the private sector isn't it muscle?


What you actually complain about so often is, I think, that your employer has closed your DB scheme and isn't paying much into it's replacement and so you are upset. Nothing at all to do with public and private sector.

Thrugelmir

AlanP wrote: »

Its really tough in the private sector isn't it muscle?

Public sector wage freeze is going to have a long term impact on many peoples pension provision. Besides which pension contribution levels have risen and public sector workers now pay full rate employees national insurance contributions. Far from being a one way street.

Deneb

AlanP wrote: »

What you actually complain about so often is, I think, that your employer has closed your DB scheme and isn't paying much into it's replacement and so you are upset. Nothing at all to do with public and private sector.

Well he could have chosen to increase his pension contributions to 12 - 13% of salary, which some of us in the public sector had no choice over. Every little helps.

Then again, his wife is in a public sector scheme, so must of course be retiring on more than she earns if his repeated protestations are to be believed. It's not all doom and gloom then!

cfw1994

Mr.Anderson wrote: »

Yes, 5%/5% this is the naive trap I fell into thinking that if I just matched my employers contributions things would be ok. I'm 40 now, and have only just upped my contributions to 10% (so 15% combined between me and employer), but I'm thinking I should probably go higher, but with a 3 year old and a 6 month old things are pretty stretched as they are.

Albermarle wrote: »

For sure it is a move in the right direction and if you can not contribute more at the moment due to family then not worth worrying about for now.
Another point is that as well as your monthly contributions from salary , you might be able to put away a bit more from time to time . Either into the pension ( usually one off payments are OK for most workplace pensions ) or into a separate savings/investment account.

Wise advice!

If you can edge it up, even by a few %, I’d recommend it.

Some simple advice at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/discount-pensions/#need-3, but ultimately we all have lives to lead first and foremost, esp with young children: enjoy that time, don’t wish it away! Find cheap simple things to enjoy as a family and help save the pennies there too, kids are expensive things if you’re not careful!