Miniscule pension, mid 40s, should I increase it?

MaxiRobriguez

onthebench said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

Bit of snobbery going on here.

Anyway, what's the deal with statistics and averages - what do they even matter? They don't impact me any. Most of you will be better off - still doesn't impact me any.

I see above the average mortgage is £600whateveritsaid. Makes no difference to me, mine is £390. The average wage is whatever it is, mine is around £27k. These figures really mean nothing tbh. 

What matters is your own figures - and whether they're good enough, or not. Not someone else's figures. 

Absolute figures don't matter, of course - someone who has been accustomed to living on a six-figure salary probably wouldn't be happy with the same things that would satisfy me in retirement.

But I can see the use in averages in terms of "by the age of X you should have Y times your annual salary saved in your pension pot", as it helps you to see whether you may be on track for a comfortable retirement. But finding those rules of thumb doesn't seem to be very easy!

Don't bother looking. Most people underfund their pensions massively, either through ignorance or because they can't do any more, to the point whereby it will not be enough for them in retirement. 

There is no point comparing yourself to others. Work out what your goal is, then set a plan how to get there. Everything else is irrelevant. 

Albermarle

As someone in their mid-40s myself, I am curious what the average total pension pot actually is at this age?

It is actually difficult to find a meaningful figure . For example public sector workers have DB /final salary pension , where there is no pot .

Also due to auto enrolment a lot of mainly younger people have a number of very small pensions which will drag the average down.

JustAnotherSaver

onthebench said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

Bit of snobbery going on here.

Anyway, what's the deal with statistics and averages - what do they even matter? They don't impact me any. Most of you will be better off - still doesn't impact me any.

I see above the average mortgage is £600whateveritsaid. Makes no difference to me, mine is £390. The average wage is whatever it is, mine is around £27k. These figures really mean nothing tbh. 

What matters is your own figures - and whether they're good enough, or not. Not someone else's figures. 

Absolute figures don't matter, of course - someone who has been accustomed to living on a six-figure salary probably wouldn't be happy with the same things that would satisfy me in retirement.

But I can see the use in averages in terms of "by the age of X you should have Y times your annual salary saved in your pension pot", as it helps you to see whether you may be on track for a comfortable retirement. But finding those rules of thumb doesn't seem to be very easy!

I did such a search this morning actually.

The results basically said the people on here could likely afford what mine is supposed to be as I approach 40 but someone earning what I have would surely have had no chance with the rest of life being a cost as well.

But again, it doesn't really matter to me. My pot is my pot. It needs to be more and I need to pay in as much as I can afford to temporarily say goodbye to.