retiring early - Voluntary national insurance contributions

pensionboffin

Hi, rI'm hoping someone can help.  I am 44 and have 16 years of full contributions with the option to top up a further 12 years.  my projected state pension balance is is currently £185.15 a week claimable from 2047.  I want to retire at 55 though and plan to be in full time employment to that time (adding another 11 years to my 16 years of full contributions. So 27 full contribution years in total.)  I know i cannot claim state pension until im 68.  But should i top up the additional 8 years so i have a total full contribution years of at least 35 years? Any help would be greatly appreciated! thankyou! 

Marcon

pensionboffin said:

Hi, rI'm hoping someone can help.  I am 44 and have 16 years of full contributions with the option to top up a further 12 years.  my projected state pension balance is is currently £185.15 a week claimable from 2047.  I want to retire at 55 though and plan to be in full time employment to that time (adding another 11 years to my 16 years of full contributions. So 27 full contribution years in total.)  I know i cannot claim state pension until im 68.  

Have you obtained a state pension forecast?

pensionboffin said:

But should i top up the additional 8 years so i have a total full contribution years of at least 35 years? Any help would be greatly appreciated! thankyou! 

Nobody can answer that, not least because your plans might change (particularly if you find yourself unemployed for any length of time between now and age 55 and financially have no option but to keep working), and the legislation almost certainly will change. Making voluntary contributions now might be a waste of money, so possibly waiting until your plans become a reality might be a better idea.

pensionboffin

Thanks for your response. Yes - forecast is for £185.15 a week claimable from 2047, but assume this is if I work up until 2047 and was hoping to retire around 2035 (nothing written in stone as you suggest however) 

molerat

pensionboffin said:

Thanks for your response. Yes - forecast is for £185.15 a week claimable from 2047, but assume this is if I work up until 2047 and was hoping to retire around 2035 (nothing written in stone as you suggest however) 

But how much is your up to April 2022 figure ? The further number of years you need to contribute is £185.15 - that number divided by £5.29. Your forecast will also tell you exactly how many more years that is.  You need to look at much more than the top line figure.

If there is a shortfall it would likely best to top it up but much nearer retirement time unless there are some very cheap gaps available then it might be worth the gamble - you are betting on living long enough to collect.

pensionboffin

ok thanks Molerat - april 2022 figure is £83.52.  So you are saying, (£185.15 - £83.52) / £5.29 = 19.2 years of further contributions. Yes, definitely hoping i live long enough to collect!

molerat

Does your NI record show any particularly cheap part filled years?

pensionboffin

Hi Molerat, yes there are two that are less than the rest for sure - I should request to pay those first right? thanks again for your help here 👍

molerat

I would say they need to be very cheap to be worth the gamble when you have enough time going forward to make up.  What price are they coming in at ?

pensionboffin

really minimal tbh - cant remember exactly but i think less than £100 contributions so each payment would be over £700 - probably not worth it 👎