Let's get this sorted then!

Smudgeismydog

You can look at your State Pension Forecast online, using the link below;

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

This will show your State Pension forecast, if you have any missing or incomplete years for National Insurance (NI) contributions, it will also tell you how many more years of NI contributions are needed.
This is the best place to start

PennysIntoPounds

Well done Rhy, the debt paying off and plan sounding fabulous 🍻 Ugh to norovirus, glad you're feeling better

@RhiBi I'm also generally befuddled about pensions (and have no spare money for them to worry me anyway) but I would say first off, create a .gov account and see what your state pension forecast is and take steps from there

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

Rhyddid2026

I have almost contributed for long enough to get full state pension. I'm a few years short (spent some time overseas but have contributed for 30 years) but I doubt I'll be finishing work any time soon with the amount of debt I have.

When I start looking into pensions I'll (obviously) bang on about it here and maybe a few of us can figure it all our together. Just need all my brain space for debt busting for a while yet.

PennysIntoPounds

Cross-posted with you @Smudgeismydog!

Absolutely focus on the debt Rhyddid, you are smashing it (though do also check when you have mind space that your state pension seems accurate 😁)

Dakota_Rose

Fantastic work with the paying down! Really rubbish about the virus though. I hope you’re feeling much better now.

ArtyJ931

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81956497#Comment_81956497

I think you can purchase missing years of NI contributions but not entirely sure. Worth looking into. Also if you had caring responsibilities then you can often get the years credited.

LzzyIsGod

So sorry to hear you've been poorly.

II'll be here for any pension chat 🤣but I do think (and personally plan to as well) having no debt heading into retirement is probably the best gift you can give Future You x

FootyFanDan

Hope you are feeling better soon. Absolutely amazing work with the debt pay down.I can totally get the confusion with pensions, I am currently in a whirlwind thinking about future with pensions, investments, my own savings, tax stuff it is all just so confusing so I am also trying to research the best options. I often wondered if it is even worth bothering with as I am sure there will be no retirement by time it comes near for me 😂, although my body feels closer to retirement than my actually age ha

Rhyddid2026

Finances are tallied for the week. I had a couple of quarterly bills come out that I'd forgotten about 🙄

I need to start thinking about what I might need for my weekend away at the start of May. I need to get my summer clothes down from the attic and see what I have and what fits. Check what toiletries I already have etc etc. Oh and get travel insurance. I keep getting annual insurance in the hope I go away more than once.

Rhyddid2026

The lurgy returned yesterday morning, so I have spent some money on deliveries so I could do some useful stuff around the house instead of going out to shops. I did check the prices online against BQ prices and they actually weren't more expensive (for the brands) so I don't feel too bad about it. I've started filling cracks and holes around the house.

I got my mid month food delivery early. I need to get some good and healthy stuff in to me.

I took the dog training this morning and I think it's finally clicked for her! It did seem like it had when we went last month but it could have been a fluke, but no, today she was even better! That means I'll have to start taking it a little more seriously and buying a few bits for it, rather than my usually haphazard winging it. It's only £20 so not a huge expense, and even if we do it once a month she will be happy. It's lovely to see her start to feel confident. The older dog completely rules our lives so it's nice to do something just for younger dog.

I calculated my net worth (just for funsies) and it's not negative! Woohoooo! And my student loan has reduced this month (possibly for the first time ever) due to my pay increase. The interest rate for it is currently 6.2% which is less than my roof loan but more than my mortgage. Sickening.

OOOOO!! A podcaster who I have listened to for maybe two years, who made finance stuff more accessible for me, has reached FIRE this weekend, and I feel so pleased for her. A complete stranger who I have never met and never will, but it's nice to see someone succeed. It makes it feel more achievable for me (too old to retire early but still nice to think about). I suppose it's in the same way as I love seeing everyone's success on here, and why I follow some of the MFW's.