Pensions are a long-term investment. The retirement benefits you receive from your pension plan will depend on a number of factors including the value of your plan when you decide to take your benefits which isn’t guaranteed, and can go down as well as up. The value of your plan could fall below the amount(s) paid in.
Working part time: Charlotte's story
Working part time: Charlotte's story
For 10 years I worked full time as a teacher. One of the benefits was paying into the Teachers Pension Scheme every month. I never really thought about retirement, my pension payments just went out of my monthly wages.
When we had our first little girl, I took a year of maternity leave, so payments into my pension were greatly reduced. Once I stopped receiving maternity pay from work, and was on Statutory Maternity Pay, they stopped altogether. Paying into my pension and my private ISA had to be put on hold, and I had to use some of my savings to cover expenses whilst I was on maternity leave.
At the end of the year I returned to full-time work and began paying back into my Teachers Pension. Knowing that I was going to be having our second daughter soon, I also tried to save as much as I could into my ISA. When I went on my second maternity leave, once again I couldn’t afford to continue paying into my pension or ISA for 12 months.
I had already decided that I didn’t want to go back to full-time work, but the part time option I was offered was neither practical nor economical. So I decided to leave my full-time job and join a Supply Agency, working 3 – 4 days a week. Handing in my notice was the scariest decision I had made, but I haven’t looked back.
With my current job I don’t have the option to contribute to my Teachers Pension. Instead I’m enrolled into a pension scheme and I pay a small amount each month. It’s much less than when I was working full-time, but at least it’s something! I still can’t really afford to save into an ISA, as I have pretty much cut my salary in half. But I get to be at home with our girls four days a week, so that is much more important.
Thinking about the future, I honestly don’t know what will happen at retirement. We will have to manage with what we have, which won’t be much! It is scary when I think about it, and I wish I had thought about it earlier. Hopefully in the future I will be able to start to save more again.
If Charlotte’s story resonates with you, you might be interested in watching our short Pension Basics films. We also have lots of really great hints and tips on our hub page, just close Charlotte’s story to see more.
Saving for my retirement isn't something I thought about when venturing into the world of employment. I was more concerned about paying back my student loan and sorting out my deposit for my mortgage.
I’ve worked for a large high street retailer for 27 years – since I was 18. I had a non-contributory final salary company pension scheme through work until the company closed that scheme and replaced it with a workplace pension.
I started my career as a primary school teacher and loved my job. Part of the attraction of teaching was the knowledge that I’d be able to pay into a pension scheme. So I happily signed up to that as soon as possible.
My name’s Nikola, I’m 48 and I’m currently a full-time carer to my two lovely kids, who have conditions which prevent them from attending school. This means I’m their mum, their nurse and their teacher all rolled into one. I get a government Carer’s Allowance, which I’m very grateful for - don’t get me wrong - but which does little to ease my situation.