Whenever I begin to advise a client on their retirement planning it is important that I fully understand their current circumstances.  This often involves dealing with various historic pension funds and benefits all (hopefully) packaged together in a tidy manner for me. However, there is always one ommission and that is details of the State Pension.

The State Pension is the foundation block of your retirement plans.  Whether it forms the majority or minority of potential retirement income it is still valuable.  It can vary quite significantly based on your level of earnings and your employment status (employed, self employed, not employed etc).  I’ve seen State Pensions for this year vary from £91 per week to £164 per week.

Also, you may have noticed a lot of press about State Pensions and extending the retirement age from when you can draw your pension.  This bad news is offset by the return of the link between the State Pension yearly increases and earnings increases.

If you would like to find out the details of your own State Pension then you can request a forecast online here for free.  It will tell you what you have built up so far, when you forecasted State Pension age is and how many more years of contributiong you need to do in order to get the maximum basic pension is.  It will also confirm if you have any entitlement to The Graduated Pension Scheme, SERPS or the more newer State Second Pension (S2P).  It’s only 4 pages long and iit is something you should read well before you plan to retire. 

If you would like any advice on State pensions or your retirement planning then please get it touch.

Women aged 53 to 60 will soon be able to pay a further six years worth of national insurance (NI) contributions to boost their state pensions.

It raises to 12 the number of extra years of contributions that can be topped up, going back to 1975.

The government’s decision is included in an amendment to the Pensions Bill currently going through Parliament.

The change is aimed at helping some women who left the workforce to raise families or care for other relatives.

The extra six years of contributions will generate extra pension of about £18 a week from 2010.

In 2010 the number of years of NI contributions needed to qualify for a full basic state pension will come down to 30 for both men and women.

Currently the number of years needed are 39 for women and 44 for men.

New weekly credits will also come in to help people caring for children or disabled people build up their contribution records in the same way as if they had been working.

People who want to take advantage of the ability to buy six extra year’s worth of contributions will have to have paid for a minimum of 20 years already.

The cost of buying those extra contributions will also go up, from the current rate of £8.10 per week.

But is it a good thing to do.  Well, compared to what it would cost to buy that level of income from a private annuity, it represents some good value.  But one factor you will never know is how long your going to live for.  

If you die soon after retiring, any annuity represents poor value for money.  But, live until your 100 and they are the best investment you are likely to make. 

Still confused?  A good starting point to asses you own situation is to request a free State Pension Forecast online.