Tony Collins Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 I retired from full time work with maximum NI contributions. I registered as self employed stock photographer but being below the earnings threshold opted out of the additional NI contributions. Coming up to retirement age this year, 65 and a half for me, I discovered that I could make retrospective self employed NI contributions of £145 per annum and the increase in state pension only requires me to live another 10 months to be in profit 🙂 Seemed like a reasonable gamble. By comparison to get the same benefit as an employee the extra contribution would be about £750. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 Does that apply outside the usual 6-year limit? I have some incomplete years from way back I could do with topping up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Collins Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 Don't know, I did 3 years. Ring up, I found them very helpful. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 3 minutes ago, Tony Collins said: Don't know, I did 3 years. Ring up, I found them very helpful. Just the usual then. I've not been on Class 1 for 30 years so no help to me. Thanks for mentioning it though, might help someone else. The current "catch-up" rates for the new pension are much more, as you say, about £15/week, so it's not going to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 (edited) 9 hours ago, Tony Collins said: I retired from full time work with maximum NI contributions. I registered as self employed stock photographer but being below the earnings threshold opted out of the additional NI contributions. Coming up to retirement age this year, 65 and a half for me, I discovered that I could make retrospective self employed NI contributions of £145 per annum and the increase in state pension only requires me to live another 10 months to be in profit 🙂 Seemed like a reasonable gamble. By comparison to get the same benefit as an employee the extra contribution would be about £750. Yes, if you haven't already contributed the maximum number of years, then paying the additional voluntary NI contributions should be well worth doing. To buy the same increment in your pension privately would cost many times more. You can get your own pension forecast here https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension which will show the years of contributions you have already made and give a forecast of your pension. Although, a note of caution, there have been some problems with the accuracy of the forecasts. See https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-5202631/Is-state-pension-forecast-correct.html . If in doubt ask for a manual calculation. Mark Edited October 5, 2019 by M.Chapman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Collins Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 I should probably have persuaded my wife to get her own Alamy account and register as self employed so that she could enjoy a similar top-up 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, spacecadet said: Just the usual then. I've not been on Class 1 for 30 years so no help to me. Thanks for mentioning it though, might help someone else. The current "catch-up" rates for the new pension are much more, as you say, about £15/week, so it's not going to happen. It's only costing me £3/week in Class 2 self employed voluntary NI contributions. This isn't the retrospective top-up rate, I'm paying as I go, so to speak Mark Edited October 5, 2019 by M.Chapman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Douglas Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 I think you need to get a pension forecast which will tell you how much you will get as a state pension at retirement age, and whether that is the maximum that you can receive. It's not just based on the number of years that you have paid NI. The maximum state pension you can receive is not the same for everyone either! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Estall Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 If you have reached 65 or whatever is the current retirement age and you are in a position to NOT draw your pension you should check out how much your annual payout will increase as you delay. You can delay until the age of 75. I was still doing pretty well in my 60s and for those ten years, my pension pot increased by 10.5% per year. You wont get that rate of interest anywhere short of robbing banks! But I think things have changed. As ever, get and take good advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 On 05/10/2019 at 17:32, M.Chapman said: It's only costing me £3/week in Class 2 self employed voluntary NI contributions. This isn't the retrospective top-up rate, I'm paying as I go, so to speak Mark The retrospective rate was always higher. It's now much higher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted October 7, 2019 Share Posted October 7, 2019 Hmmm. This is very interesting to me being from out of town (outer space). Edo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulm Posted October 7, 2019 Share Posted October 7, 2019 I had more than 30 years contributions, but as several years were contracted out, I had a shortfall. I have back payed an number of years and will pay each year until I am 65 and this will get close to covering the shortfall. As others have said, the amount paid in versus the amount of pension increase is a no brainer. I suggest anyone with a shortfall on their pension forecast would benefit from looking into this. If you worked long term for a large private sector company with a non-contributory pension, then there is a good chance that you were contracted out as companies used it to part fund their commitments into the pension fund. Not sure if the same applied in the public sector. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted October 7, 2019 Share Posted October 7, 2019 2 hours ago, Ed Rooney said: Hmmm. This is very interesting to me being from out of town (outer space). Edo It's about social security contributions building up pension entitlement.. You need to have contributed for a number of complete years (35 IIRC) from the age of 16 to get a full State pension of about £160/week. This is more of a problem for the self-employed (that's most of us) because of our irregular or low earnings, or both. You get credit until you leave school, but you lose the college years, because you're not earning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYCat Posted October 7, 2019 Share Posted October 7, 2019 40 minutes ago, spacecadet said: It's about social security contributions building up pension entitlement.. You need to have contributed for a number of complete years (35 IIRC) from the age of 16 to get a full State pension of about £160/week. This is more of a problem for the self-employed (that's most of us) because of our irregular or low earnings, or both. You get credit until you leave school, but you lose the college years, because you're not earning. Our system is about the same. I was working summers in college so I didn't lose years. I don't make anywhere near our maximum of $3,770 per month for someone who files at age 70. $2,861 for someone who files at full retirement age (currently 66). One reason I get less is that I've never had high income and I did claim early at 62 because I could still work part time and get my benefits. If I die before 82 it's a wash but if I live on (as I hope to do) it will have been a mistake to claim early. Anyway, I could use the money at the time. Can't we all? Glad to get what I get. Paulette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted October 7, 2019 Share Posted October 7, 2019 Yes, Paulette has it right. I get US SS. I hoped I might be able to get some more here . . . and from Ireland and Spain and Italy too. No? What about all the money I gave those restaurants and pubs? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan_Andison Posted October 7, 2019 Share Posted October 7, 2019 Just logged in and checked HRMC to see how many years I had... 26 full years + this year. Only another 8 needed out of 19. Does that mean by the time I'm 56 I can tell them to bog off with their NI payments 😂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted October 7, 2019 Share Posted October 7, 2019 27 minutes ago, Duncan_Andison said: Just logged in and checked HRMC to see how many years I had... 26 full years + this year. Only another 8 needed out of 19. Does that mean by the time I'm 56 I can tell them to bog off with their NI payments 😂 You wish. No, you pay till retirement age. The extra years are money down the drain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan_Andison Posted October 7, 2019 Share Posted October 7, 2019 1 hour ago, spacecadet said: You wish. No, you pay till retirement age. The extra years are money down the drain. Haha... yeah, I have 8 years to think of a way to get out of it 🤔🤣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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