Is my pot looking ok?

Cammywatson033

Hi guys,

Could someone tell me if my pension pot is looking ok for someone my age, please. I’m 35 years old and have a pot of roughly £245000 so far. I contribute 10% of my salary per month and my employer contributes 16%, so roughly £950 a month going into my pot. Do these figures look ok? I know it all depends on the lifestyle I want to have when I retire but as an average of what a 35 year old should have and be saving, am I on the right track to retire comfortably at say 60?

Thanks 

ffacoffipawb

Seems significantly above average for 35 imo.

techno12

Looks like way more than enough to me. 26% a month is brilliant - I thought I had it good 10 years ago when my employer put in 10% to my 5%. I'm now back on the statutory minimum of 5% all in, and I'm 15 years older, and have less than half the pot.

Brynsam

Cammywatson033 said:

Hi guys,

Could someone tell me if my pension pot is looking ok for someone my age, please. I’m 35 years old and have a pot of roughly £245000 so far. I contribute 10% of my salary per month and my employer contributes 16%, so roughly £950 a month going into my pot. Do these figures look ok? I know it all depends on the lifestyle I want to have when I retire but as an average of what a 35 year old should have and be saving, am I on the right track to retire comfortably at say 60?

Thanks 

As you say, depends on your lifestyle and your definition of 'comfortably' - and how many more Covid19s or similar we have in the next 25 years.... Excellent that you are saving so much now, but remember to leave yourself enough for your rainy day fund (6 months' salary) and to enjoy yourself while you're young!

squirrelpie

Also depends on what other provisions you have.

JoeCrystal

Cammywatson033 said:

Hi guys,

Could someone tell me if my pension pot is looking ok for someone my age, please. I’m 35 years old and have a pot of roughly £245000 so far. I contribute 10% of my salary per month and my employer contributes 16%, so roughly £950 a month going into my pot. Do these figures look ok? I know it all depends on the lifestyle I want to have when I retire but as an average of what a 35 year old should have and be saving, am I on the right track to retire comfortably at say 60?

Thanks 

Well done! That is good for 35 years old and with a high contribution rate as well. As for average, well, the median fund amount for someone in their 35 to 44 with a pension is £36,300. According to ONS, if all people aged 35 to 44 included then the median fund amount is £14,000). And in the private sector, the average employer contribution rate would be barely higher than the minimum auto-enrolment. So the fund value in question is outstanding. It may be worth working out the possible incomes expectation by many pension calculator, here is one of them, for example, https://www.hl.co.uk/pensions/pension-calculator. 

AnotherJoe

Much more than OK, i would guess you are in the very top few percentile.

You need to keep an eye on the Life Time Allowance (and hope this ridiculous thing is abandoned though with them looking to get all the tax they can in future years i doubt it).

What about housing? is that covered? And a rainy day fund ?

carpy

Wow!!
I've got half that and I'm about to turn 44......and I was happy with that!

Albermarle

It depends on how you look at the statistics but your pot is somewhere between 10 times and 3 times what the average person has when they actually retire !
16% from an employer is very high for a DC scheme . Although large companies usually pay more than the minimum auto enrolment, some thing between 6 and 10% is more normal.
As you are building up such a large sum, hopefully it is invested within the pension in the right sort of funds for your situation/age?

kuratowski

JoeCrystal said:
As for average, well, the median fund amount for someone in their 35 to 44 with a pension is £36,300. According to ONS, if all people aged 35 to 44 included then the median fund amount is £14,000).

OP is certainly doing well but I would caution against using those averages as a benchmark.  The average level of pension savings is going to leave the majority of people with a very ascetic retirement.

Hopingforthesimplelife

You are extremely well placed if you are looking to compare it on age basis.

I am 34 and have about £40k (which again is more than most of my social group with DC pensions). 

As mentioned above though, it is all relative to individual lifestyles/spends and also important to consider it in a broader view of housing provision, easy access money etc.