Newbie Question around this week's Weekly MSE Email

TIALTNGO

Good Afternoon All,

I'm a newbie here, although I’ve been a long-time lurker for several years. I’ve finally decided to register and post a question prompted by this week’s MSE weekly email.

I’ll be turning 55 in August. I’m single with no dependents, and my mortgage is fully paid off. I currently work part-time after reducing my hours due to some underlying health issues, with an annual salary of £27K. I have approximately £70K in savings spread across ISAs and easy access accounts, and my defined contribution pension pot stands at £240K.

I lead a modest lifestyle, with monthly outgoings of around £1,000, and I’m seriously considering retiring when I turn 55. After checking my state pension forecast, it shows

Your COPE estimate is £14.80 a week.

 As stated above my question centres around this week’s weekly MSE email and the part in brackets below that says

“Are you on track to get the full State Pension?

Someone on track for a full State Pension would currently see a £221.20 a week forecast. You can't go higher, so if it says this, you're good (providing you don't plan to move abroad or stop work early).”

Can anyone clarify what the wording in brackets mean.  I’m not planning to move abroad but as mentioned above may look to stop work early at 55.  Does that mean my forecast will be wrong and I’ll no longer be on track to get the full State Pension.

Appreciate your thoughts around this.

Thanks

TIALTNGO

elsien

You need 39 qualifying years to get the full state pension. For some people, working part-time or stopping working may affect how many qualifying years they have. That is what the caveat is about. 

molerat

Your forecast shows you have already reached the full state pension amount.  You cannot increase it and it cannot be taken away from you.  The wording is based on looking at the top box on its own, that is purely what you could get by the time you reach retirement  - are you on track to get - so a youngster with 10 years NI would still see that.  What clarifies the situation is the text below the box, yours states you need do no more, the youngster's will state they need to contribute another x years to reach that top box amount.

TIALTNGO

Thanks for the replies, I've a bit more ease of mind now that I've reached the reached the full state pension amount, cannot increase it and it cannot be taken away from me.

I suppose I'll just check annually my forecast to ensure nothing changes other than the annual pension increase if I decide to retire at 55.