Will my state pension be enough?

will my state pension be enough Don’t think that if you don’t save for your retirement that the state will help in any significant way.

Basic state pension at the time of writing is £5,587.40 pa which is a measly £466 per month. Anyone who thinks that’s enough for them to live the life style they need, well hat’s off to you! I know I certainly couldn’t and most people I speak to couldn’t.

Even if you don’t have expensive tastes and high spending capacity, this amount has to pay all your utilities (gas, electric, water, council tax etc) and provide enough for you to eat. How much do you think will be left over after that? If you own a property you’ll need to also have funds to do some basic maintenance.

And that’s before you’ve even looked at having some funds to socialise and enjoy yourself

So, when you think about it, do you really think £466 per month will be enough?

Remember too that when you retire, you have more free time in your life than you’ve ever had before. So it’s likely you will want to take up some hobbies, or spend more time doing the hobbies you didn’t have enough time to enjoy whilst working.

You may want to have more holidays and weekends away because at last you have the time to enjoy your breaks. Well you have the time, but do you have the money?

So think about what you’d like to do when you stop working and if you think you can achieve this on £466 per month, think again!

If you retire in your mid 60s you will probably live for somewhere between 20-30 years. The typical woman in her mid 60s these days is certainly not old. She probably doesn’t even consider herself to be middle aged yet. Maybe just on the cusp of middle aged but still a long way to go before she’s in her dotage.

She’s looking forward to having time away from work to enjoy herself. But having lots of free time doesn’t sound so attractive if you can’t afford to go out and do the things you want.

Many women end up relying on the state- not because it was their plan but because they didn’t plan anything else. Do not end up in this category. Your state pension will cover basics and keep you off the poverty line, but not a lot else.

Do you really want to have worked hard for 40 years to spend the 25 years of your retirement in poverty?

If you want to discuss your pension options please contact me on Mary@mary-waring.co.uk or call me on 01932 698150. We’ll have an initial chat without obligation to see what would be an appropriate next step for you.

Photo credit: Flickr/Tax Credits

Mary Waring

Mary Waring is a Chartered Accountant, Chartered Financial Planner and Money Mindset Coach, helping women transform their relationship with money so that they can become free and powerful. She is also the bestselling author of "The Wealthy Woman: A Man is Not a Financial Plan."

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