Pensions: Mum, 57 worries she has no time left – How to increase savings in a ‘short time’ | Personal Finance | Finance
On the Rewirement Podcast, presenter Angellica Bell spoke to Di, 57, who is trying to see how she can provide for her retirement. She raised her son alone and as a result missed some years paying into her pension.
She said: “Now I find myself around seven to eight years before my retirement age thinking, ‘Have I got enough time to do anything?’
“Now I find myself in a much better financial situation so it’s daunting to now only think about what I’m doing with a short amount of time left.”
Her company had previously enrolled her into her workplace pension however she opted out as she had other things to pay for.
Angela Kirkwood at Moneyhelper gave suggestions to Di about what steps she can take next for retirement.
READ MORE: State pension forecast explained: How to see if you can boost your retirement savings
She said: “Anything you can put away at the moment is definitely worth doing.”
Discussing putting money in a pension, even for a short amount of time, she said: “We have to remember the benefits of employer contributions and tax relief. This actually increases the amount you have invested.”
Ms Kirkwood explained that under the Pensions Act 2008, every employer in the UK must put certain staff into a workplace pension scheme and contribute towards it.
This is called ‘automatic enrolment’. The minimum auto enrolment contribution to an employee’s pension savings is eight percent of qualifying earnings.
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“But there are options. So one of the really important things that a financial advisor would do is assess how much risk you could afford to bare and match up the investments that suit you that have a profile that allows you to have growth.”
Di responded: “Given the short amount of time I have left to plan for my retirement, I think my risk appetite has to be high.
“I never thought I’d be in this situation but I raised a child by myself. That’s why I’ve come to this as late as I have.
“I expect a lot of woman will be feeling this.”
Rewirement from Legal & General is available on all podcast providers.
