I always say that if you get nothing else right in your financial life, at least own where you live outright by the time you hit retirement and ideally much earlier. Well that’s not quite right, the other thing you need to make sure of, is that you qualify for the full UK state pension.

Currently, when I am 68, for so long as I have 35 qualifying years, I will get £185/week in state pension until my dying day. That’s about £800/month or £9,620/year. This is not an insignificant amount and if you live with someone, i.e. your partner, a sibling or friend, it’s double that as you would each qualify separately.

My calculations suggest that if you’re living on your own, that amount of state pension would at least cover all basic utilities (water, energy, council tax) and food.

You can check how many qualifying years you have and whether you can boost them here: https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

If you’re self-employed, to qualify for the full state pension later on, make sure you’re signed up to pay Class 2 national insurance and if there are any gaps in your national insurance record, pay for them asap as you can only fill gaps going back 6 years:
https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance/national-insurance-classes

As the state pension is unlikely to be enough, it’s helpful to contribute towards a personal pension (aka a self-invested personal pension or SIPP) as pension contributions get tax relief such taht every £240/month contribution equates to £300/month into your pension pot.

Based on a 7% gross growth rate of your pension pot (and keeping in mind the historic average return of the S&P 500 is 10%)
• if you contribute £240 into your SIPP from age 20, you would have £1.6m at age 65.
• if you contribute £240 into your SIPP from age 25, you would have £1.1m at age 65.
• if you contribute £240 into your SIPP from age 30, you would have £790k at age 65.
• if you contribute £240 into your SIPP from age 40, you would have £370k at age 65.
• if you contribute £240 into your SIPP from age 50, you would have £155k at age 65.

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Related post on my website: https://www.katsonga.com/wealthblog/pension-sos-for-women-and-the-self-employed