Self Employed - State Pension if retiring early

DrPepper1234

Hi all, if your forecast is for a full state pension but you wish to retire early, can you pay the short full? If so is there any info out there on this?

Marcon

DrPepper1234 said:

Hi all, if your forecast is for a full state pension but you wish to retire early, can you pay the short full? If so is there any info out there on this?

Vast amounts of info if you google, or try starting here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/state-pension-topping-up

DE_612183

Can you explain a bit more?

The age you can take your state pension is set - you can't take it early if thats what you're looking to do.

Depending on your age that's probably when you reach 66 or 67....

Undervalued

DrPepper1234 said:

Hi all, if your forecast is for a full state pension but you wish to retire early, can you pay the short full? If so is there any info out there on this?

How many years contributions do you have?

I may be out of date but I think you need 35 years for a full state pension? If you have that then, although you would still have to pay contributions if you were earning, if you retire early and live on savings you don't have to pay any more NI.

DrPepper1234

DE_612183 said:

Can you explain a bit more?

The age you can take your state pension is set - you can't take it early if thats what you're looking to do.

Depending on your age that's probably when you reach 66 or 67....

Will not be taking it early. I assume you can plug any gaps so that once you reach retirement you can get the full state pension?

DE_612183

DrPepper1234 said:

DE_612183 said:

Can you explain a bit more?

The age you can take your state pension is set - you can't take it early if thats what you're looking to do.

Depending on your age that's probably when you reach 66 or 67....

Will not be taking it early. I assume you can plug any gaps so that once you reach retirement you can get the full state pension?

Yes you can - your original post didn't ask that.

You need to get a State Pension Forcast - then review your NI contribution years - if there are nay gaps you can "buy" those years - there was a deadline to do it but I think it's been extended - see this link:

https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions

molerat

The first thing to do is get a pension forecast, https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension  available in your on line tax account.  That will show you where you are currently at and how many more years you need to reach the maximum achievable.  Once you have got that forecast come back and someone will point you in the right direction.

I have reported this to move to the pensions board.

p00hsticks

Undervalued said:

DrPepper1234 said:

Hi all, if your forecast is for a full state pension but you wish to retire early, can you pay the short full? If so is there any info out there on this?

How many years contributions do you have?

I may be out of date but I think you need 35 years for a full state pension? If you have that then, although you would still have to pay contributions if you were earning, if you retire early and live on savings you don't have to pay any more NI.

The '35 years for a full state pension' only applies to those born this century whose working lives will fall entirely under the new State Pension rules introduced in 2016. Those of us who are older will fall under transitional rules, and the number of years required will vary according to an individuals personal work history (whether they were contracted in or out, etc) - from as low as 29 to as high as 45+ years. 

So as others have said, it's important to get an individual State Pension forecast to see what you are no track to get and how many more years (if any) you need to reach that target figure