Hundreds of thousands of women choose a part-time, self-employed life to be around for their children. One of the many sacrifices they make to do so is often their own retirement savings. But with a pension pot for a “comfortable” retirement at £210,000 per couple, according to Which?, this is a compromise too far.
Good With Money, in partnership with PensionBee and some of the UK’s top Mum bloggers including Clemmie Telford, Mother of All Lists, has launched a campaign to encourage Mums who do not have a current pension of any kind, to think about their own futures too and start saving as much as they can.
Here’s what Clemmie said when Good With Money asked her a few candid questions…
And just so you know you can see how much saving a bit now can generate for you in retirement by having an experiment with this calculator.
Clemmie Telford, mum blogger “Mother of All Lists”
Did you know you need a £210k retirement pot to generate a basic income in retirement (joint pension pot figure for a couple retiring together)
Gahhhhhh no I didn’t! It is such a reality check to see a number there in front of me (us). Right now retirement seems way off, but I am sure everybody thinks that and then the days, weeks, years soon fly by. And if you carry on living in denial like me you’ll have very little to live off!
Have you got a pension? If so, is it – a former workplace pension? Your own private pension? Both? If so, do you know how much your total pension pot is currently worth? And do you know how much it will be worth when you retire?
No. Sort of. Don’t know?! This is so exposing! I used to have a pension at my old workplace. But I have zero idea how much it is worth. Or even how I might go about accessing it.
I don’t know my husband’s pension either. So I don’t have the foggiest how much our pension pot is worth or how much it will be worth when we retire.
I pride myself on being relatively on top of things, but this has definitely slipped through the net!!
Do you worry about not having enough money when you retire? If not, why not?
I didn’t worry about it until now!! It’s not so much that I have specifically been avoiding looking at pensions, it’s more that I have been so focused on just surviving the here and now. Getting through maternity leave, affording childcare, making mortgage repayments, that I haven’t really stopped to think about the future. I’ve been putting it down as ‘one of those jobs I’ll think about later’.
It’s definitely time to stop burying my head in the sand. Especially since I became self employed earlier this year. There is no longer ‘someone in HR’ doing it for me!!
If you don’t have a pension pot or a very small one, can you describe how this makes you feel?
Panicked! My palms are actually sweating as I type this. Also a bit embarrassed and naive. But also motivated to get on and sort it out.
If you do not have a pension pot or a very small one, do you anticipate you will live off your husband or partner’s pension?
Errrrr no. I am proud to be financial independent, something I definitely want to carry into my, soon to be established, pension pot.
This campaign was created in partnership with PensionBee. PensionBee is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. With pensions, your capital is at risk. The value of your pension with PensionBee can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you started with.
