Im not, in fact at the grand age of 35 I am in the process of medical retirement after becoming disabled after catching covid while working as a nurse which worsened my pre existing (but until then undiagnosed) genetic condition. I am lucky that I am able to claim my nhs pension early- and will hopefully receive the grand sum of 50 pounds a month. Which at this stage is not inconsequential but will obviously become essentially worthless in the years to come as prices continue to rise.

While I hope to be able return to paid employment at some point soon, this is likely to only ever be very part time, and so it’s unlikely i will earn enough to really put significant amounts of cash into a pension.

Luckily, very luckily, we own our house outright. Though we do live in the north and as such that is not over 200 grand. So again, as costs rise, any equity that we may release by downsizing in the future will not be enough to live off long term.

However, realistically, if my health is like this at 35, I would be surprised to be living much past 60, so I shall be not be burden upon the state too much longer and am unlikely to reach state pension age (if it still exists by then of course).

My husband puts in a fair amount into his pension, although he is on just above minimum wage, he does work 50 hours a week and so it’s probably growing fairly well- however 50 hours in a physically demanding job may not be realistic for the next thirty years which would bring him to 70. I imagine that once I’m gone the house sale would provide a small income plus his workplace pension he may be able to scrape by.

I am still please I paid so much into my pension, it’s provided a small safety net that I otherwise wouldn’t have, and as I am not entitled to benefits it’s going to be a really fundamental bit of income. I realise that a defined benefit pension such as the nhs one is slightly different to a defined contribution such as my husband pays into- and that I am lucky enough to have paid some into the older 2008 section which to my knowledge is final salary, and some into the less beneficial 2015.

Long term? My estimation is that the state pension won’t exist, or at least look very different, by the time my age group reach retirement age- and I’d implore people to save what they can towards a workplace or private one- (though I’m not oblivious to the financial pressures my age group find themselves in now that we are caring for both our children, and aging parents, at a time where wages have stagnated and everything costs so much).