It is never too later to save towards retirement. Even if you’ve diligently paid contributions to one or more pensions vehicles over the years, there are ways to make your pension pot go further before you reach the age of retirement. Whether you hold a state pension, private pension or investment, take a read of the different options available to ensure you make the most of your money for later life.
Deferring the start date of your retirement income
You don’t have to draw down on your pension the minute you reach the qualifying age. You can simply defer the state date which you’ll start receiving the income. Meanwhile, the money sits safely in the account – earning more interest if applicable – for when you want to begin drawing down on it.
Many people assume that when you reach the qualifying age you will automatically start receiving your State Pension. However, this is incorrect, you can delay the start date here too. This can boost your pension in a relatively short timeframe. At the time of writing, for every nine weeks you defer your State Pension it increases by 1% – around 5.8% for every full year (source). The extra money is paid when you start drawing down on your State Pension
Increasing your pensions contributions
If you fancy boosting a pension pot, adding any additional cash you can spare can be a clever way to boost income. You could simply top up a pension account you already hold or open a new one entirely; there are countless options available.
Workplace and personal pensions
Improving your pension pot via a workplace or personal pension comes in the form of tax relief. This is particularly helpful if you are a higher-rate taxpayer. It is worth remembering that there is no limit on the amount you can pay into your workplace or personal pension every year.
How is my State Pension affected?
When you reach the qualifying age for the State Pension you will need to have paid 35 years of National Insurance. This will entitle you to the full State Pension of £175.20 per week – just over £9,000 a year.
If you have gaps in your National Insurance payments, such as when you weren’t working and raising a family, or out of employment due to ill health, this will mean you won’t qualify for the full State Pension. For example, if you only had 17 years of NI contributions, you’d only receive around half of the State Pension.
However, you can make amendments before retirement to supplement your State Pension. You can make voluntary National Insurance payments within a six-year period of missing the original payment. For example, if you missed payments in 2020, you’d have until 2026 to pay them back to boost your future State Pension. There are also some circumstances when you can make payments on years further back.
For further information regarding your State Pension, please refer to https://www.gov.uk/browse/working/state-pension.