Do I leave my job or stay put at 46?

notgotaclue_2

Hi Guys

I'm single - have always been - and am 47.

I do not own a property and I earn around £25k. I have never earned much during my life - just enough to survive and have no savings.

For the last 5 years I've been employed by local government - and contributed to the local government pension scheme which is a final salary pension scheme.

For most of my life I've worked for charities - and so never had contributions or any salary scheme torwards a pension. Many years of that work for charities was abroad - and so no NI was paid - and no compensation made for that - approximately 15 years working out of the UK.

But I did take out a private pension plan years ago - when I was 25 -which now totals around 12k - but which I could not contribute because I was abroad - and which has just stayed static - because I've not understood all the rules about contributing to the funds - and just left it alone.

The rules of the pension plan have changed for us at local government - as of now - there is no final salary plan - I was the last to get that.

Also, they've changed it so that you can't buy extra years (not that I understand all that).

I'm totally confused.

My job is really low paid for the skills that I have - and the amount I have paid in my personal tution in order to get my certifications - I spent all my savings on retraining into IT when I was 37 and came back to this country.

I've never got that investment money back - but I managed to keep a job for over 5 years - but I had to do it by taking a local government job - I was made redundant 3 times for my jobs prior to this - and just decided to take the safe option.

Now I am really torn - I want to get out - and earn more money - but I'm the wrong side of 40 to do it.

And worse still I'm really worried about the pension stuff.

I'll never earn much in this job - and there is no way that I will ever get beyond this post due to restructuring of my post (it got down-graded as did all posts in my area).

I now have to decide to jump ship - and get a better job vs the chance of the last of the final salary pension payments which I have now.

With all you guys and your expertise out there - can you give me some idea of what I should do?

I'm so loathed to stay in Local Government for the next 20 years just to ensure I get final salary when all I can ever achieve will be 26k.

But I'm scared that if I jump ship - and go to another company - I'll not get any benefits in terms of pension that the Local Government could give me.

However, we're about to be restructured again - to a unitary authoritary and my post in the last restructuring was down-graded by 2 points with no consultation and no notice given - and so next time round - I can't guarantee to even be there.

I'm so worried about making yet another big mistake in my life - and that financially I will be totally screwed and ironically dependent on the charity I used to provide for the 3rd world!!!!

Can anyone give me figures or ideas about what I can do about this - given the uncertaintity?

Anyone got figures I should consider that will make it worthwhile jumping ship?

I'm assuming that the next employer I get will pay more but not be a final salary employer?

Plus I was always a live now - worry later person - and that's why I worked for charities - some very well known - because I always believed that helping others worse of than you was the way to better society.

Sadly now in my middle age I realise it was a bit short-sited - I failed to realise I counted too in society - and now am faced with trying to get things together in short measure so that I can keep body and soul together for myself.

Please bear in mind I do not own any property - and I have no savings?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Oh, and by the way - if I won the lottery - I'd still use that money to help others I was working for before - but this time round, I'd make sure I had some where to leave and enough income coming in to enable me to do it. In many ways that also is odd - but now I'm scared.

You may say it depends on job - qualifications etc - I've got a degree - certifications in IT etc - so can you factor that in although I came into IT late - 37 - having spent 27 years doing charity stuff - prior to that - I taught piano from 15 years of age - and all my students passed 100% but I wasn't qualified to teach - and now you need to be qualified - so there's no way I can go back to that - and the studio flat I live in will not allow me to even touch my piano - which moves with me everywhere I go.

Thanks to you all for your advice.

Retired_I.F.A.

Dont be afraid to change jobs just because there is no final salary scheme on offer with a new employer. They are not all they are cracked up to be anyways. As a rough guide if a new employer offers you 15% more gross pay you'll be just as well off pensions wise investing that difference into a scheme you own yourself.

EdInvestor

I would suggest that before making a decision you should collect some more information on exactly how much pension entitlement you have already clocked up.

Step 1 is the 2 state pensions. Good news for you! The number of years of NI contributions you will now need to get the full basic state pension is 30. You should retire at around 66, and have around 19 years to go. Assuming you pay all of those future NI contributions them, that leaves 11 more needed, of which 5 should be covered since you started with the LA.

Contact the pension people and ask how many years you already have.If you need to, pay voluntary contributions to catch up the back years.Later in 2008 they'll be able to give you a forecast for the total state pensions you should get, as you may be eleigible for state second pension as well.

www.thepensionservice.gov.uk

Next it would be sensible to ask the local authority pension department for a forecast of how much you would get if you stayed to retirement from them.

And you can also write to your private pension provider for a retirement for cast from them as well. (This forecast may be quite low, it's possible you could get a lot more than they suggest.) Also ask for a transfer value, fund options and charges.It may be wise to move this pension if it is an old fashioned one.

Please bear in mind I do not own any property - and I have no savings?

If your total likely pension income falls around the pension credit level (around 6604 p.a, BSP is 4,836), it won't be worth saving any more in the pension wrapper, as you would then miss out on housing benefit and free council tax which come with pension credit.It would be better to save in other ways, such as building up a savings fund in an ISA which could also serve as a deposit on a home if prices later fall and make that a possibility.





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