Bleak outlook

doris540

My husband works in private sector and had done all his life sadly made redundant last year after 30 plus years. His old DB pension with the company gone into PPF and a massive hit intially on both his own Pru pension and the company DC scheme all told a loss of some £14k, some recovery has been made but not back to where it was by a long way.. His Pru pension now has some £65k in it and the last statement showed a possible forecast of a astounding £880 a year not exactly healthy, His DC scheme has approx £54k in it, so again the return will be next to useless. for alot of investment over the years. The DB scheme now will also be reduced due to it going into the PPF which only stood at £5k anyway due to the short time they ran it before pulling the plug. He will have the State pension as well obviously. What we find quite annoying is the fact that the public sector pensions have been totally shielded  from the effects of the virus and have suffered no loss whatsoever yet private sector pensions have been hit from here to middle of next week. Hes now 58 so not much time to make amends etc sadly. I was pretty upset when i saw the projected figures. Weve gone without over the yeas to put money into our pensions yet the forecast  is basically useless 

El_Torro

You seem to be having a moan rather than asking questions, but I'll comment anyway:

Doesn't the PPF protect 90% of the pension? I appreciate that 90% isn't 100% but it shouldn't put a big dent in your retirement planning. 

I'm not too clear on why you think your DC pensions are low, but there is still time to pay more into them. Depending on what they're invested in they should be doing quite well at the moment anyway. Whether investments will stay high in the foreseeable future, who knows?

My concern now would be for your husband to get another job and do what you can about paying more into your pensions. I appreciate that finding a new job at 58 after working for the same company for 30 years isn't easy.

Aretnap

The forecast of £880/year will be based on some assumptions which are arguably out of date. For example the assumption that he will use most of the fund to buy an annuity - most people don't buy an annuity nowadays and withdraw the money gradually instead. If he does this he will likely be able to withdraw significantly more than £880/year over the course of his retirement, albeit with some risk of running out (either because he lives for a very long time, or because of poor investment returns.

Obviously most investment related pensions suffered bad losses at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, however they have recovered a good chunk of that since, and will likely continue to recover. And of course keep in mind that prior to that they had over a decade of more or less uninterrupted growth.so do not get overly upset about one year's performance.

xylophone

He will have the State pension as well obviously. 

Have both you and he obtained state pension forecasts?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

dunstonh

His Pru pension now has some £65k in it and the last statement showed a possible forecast of a astounding £880 a year not exactly healthy, 

It is not a forecast.  A forecast is something that is likely to happen.  What you have here is a projection.  Projections are synthetic calculations using a range of assumptions that may or may not be realistic for the individual.  Plus, they are converted to be shown in today's spending power and not future money terms.

For example, £65k could provide £3250 a year pension now (so ignoring future growth).   Much higher than the £880 a year.

His DC scheme has approx £54k in it, so again the return will be next to useless. for alot of investment over the years. 

Not many people would call £54,000 next to useless.  If you don't want the £54,000 then give it to charity.

The DB scheme now will also be reduced due to it going into the PPF which only stood at £5k anyway due to the short time they ran it before pulling the plug. 

So, it will barely have a dent on his retirement planning.

What we find quite annoying is the fact that the public sector pensions have been totally shielded  from the effects of the virus and have suffered no loss whatsoever yet private sector pensions have been hit from here to middle of next week.

Most private sector pensions are DC schemes and have been unaffected by the virus.  Indeed, 2020 turned out to be a very good year overall unless you invested 100% into UK equity (which no sensible person does - but some people do anyway).

I was pretty upset when i saw the projected figures. 

Ignore them.   You are reading them wrong (not your fault but they do state the assumptions with them).

Weve gone without over the yeas to put money into our pensions yet the forecast  is basically useless 

Hopefully, you will now see that its not.  Plus, at age 58, he still has around a decade to go.   Broadly speaking, his fund values could double in that period.  

ewaste

I think we'd all do better to steer clear of this user and thread and save our energy, they have periodically created quite a few threads according to the user history. Furthermore a common theme seems to be ranting about public sector DB schemes and how hard done to they are with the performance of DC schemes. 

Marcon

ewaste said:

I think we'd all do better to steer clear of this user and thread and save our energy, they have periodically created quite a few threads according to the user history. Furthermore a common theme seems to be ranting about public sector DB schemes and how hard done to they are with the performance of DC schemes. 

Quite. Everything comes back to moaning about the public sector schemes...and with the NHS doing an unbelievably brilliant job for all of us at present, words fail me.

JoeCrystal

doris540 said:

My husband works in private sector and had done all his life sadly made redundant last year after 30 plus years. His old DB pension with the company gone into PPF and a massive hit intially on both his own Pru pension and the company DC scheme all told a loss of some £14k, some recovery has been made but not back to where it was by a long way.. His Pru pension now has some £65k in it and the last statement showed a possible forecast of a astounding £880 a year not exactly healthy, His DC scheme has approx £54k in it, so again the return will be next to useless. for alot of investment over the years. The DB scheme now will also be reduced due to it going into the PPF which only stood at £5k anyway due to the short time they ran it before pulling the plug. He will have the State pension as well obviously.

Your husband is in an extraordinary fortunate position of still having a DB pension scheme protected, so this can use it as a foundation for his retirement. As far as I gathered, he got £119k in two DC pension schemes and a DB pension scheme of £5k per year? Plus the state pension as well. It can all adds up in the end. In other words, he should be able to reach £18k per year once he gets a state pension (providing he paid enough years to get £175.20 per week.). Anyway, what about your pension provisions and state pension? The fact you both got a personal allowance of £12,500 meant you could get an income of £25,000 tax-free, which meant you got a lot more flexibility when retiring. . So not a bleak outlook after all.

AlanP_2

One of the least likely sectors to discriminate on age when recruiting is the public sector.

If you are convinced that the public sector pension is so good that it outweighs some of the downsides then why doesn't he, or even both of you, apply for a public sector role?

Our county council is desperate for additional care workers to support the elderly in their own home. £9.81 per hour, but if all you want is a public sector pension (which must be true as it seems to be all you ever post about) I guess the pay doesn't matter 

TVAS

Good point Alan about public sector re age. In order to confirm low performance and low projections depends on how much you have put into these plans.  
Also he can claim statutory redundancy if the firm has gone bust has he done this?
If he is a negative as you he won't get a job. It depends on his skills and if they are in demand. You have not said what he did nor if he can do the same on a self employed basis.

Good luck anyway.