I know that when I retire I will get a government pension, I also have a work place pension, I had a vague meeting with a pension advisor who was sent to my work and he walked me though some forms, asked me questions I didn’t really know the answers to and gave me some advice that I didn’t understand. I don’t think it was his fault that I didn’t leave the meeting feeling any the wiser than when I first went in, its not his job to educate me on what a pension is, how the whole ecosystem works or what might be needed or wanted later in life. But this total lack of understanding is quite dangerous, equally this total lack of understanding is quite common.
Nobody really talks about pensions, and when we speak to our parents their experience is often different to our own as their working lives and the rules governing pensions are likely to be different. Before we take advice, we need information, we need a whole picture. It can be bewildering to be part of a conversation where you are vulnerable in your lack of information.
So, I decided it was time to learn. I knew that I had two things, two things that have been attached to me or are in my basket. So that was my first step: get the name and number of, get access to these ‘things’. Once I have that, I will be able to start working out the world in which they exist and what they mean.
Kicking off with the most basic – my state pension. And this was in fact a really easy step, simply Googling ‘my state pension’ led me to the gov website and with just a few clicks, and by knowing my birthday, I now know that my state pension age is 68 (so just 30 years to go then!)
The next thing I wanted to know was how much money will I get? Do I have to do anything? In order to see how much money I will get I had to sign in to my Government Gateway account (sign up at home so you have your ID and NI number handy) and just like that – £175.20 a week (£761.81 a month, £9141.69 per year).
…..oh shit.
https://www.gov.uk/plan-for-retirement
On The Eve Of It 