Pension

[Tommy21bn]

Hi All

I was wondering what pepple with long term health conditions do about pensions. I am 33 and concerned that I haven't been able to start a pension as yet. I plan to start one as soon as I have a full time job. Do most Crohnies pay a higher percentage into their pension than the average pension? Are there any pension funds that are particularly good for relapsing and remitting illnesses? Sometimes it is not the pain that I am in rather the financial hardship that I face that makes Crohns difficult to deal with.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[ronroush7]

I was diagnosed in 1990 , nine years after I started working. I didn't change to a special pension.

 

[Lisa]

If you are talking about a pension in the US, as far as I know there is no difference if you are ill or not. The pension/retirement usually depends on what is put into the account either by your employer or yourself. If you put more into it, you get more out of it in the end (hopefully)

 

[Eridon2002]

I'm 39 and putting away as much as I can for retirement since I have no idea how my health will be in the future. I'm in the states so I put 20% of my income into my 401K and max out my Roth IRA. I am currently working on paying off my house. I am single so it is scary to think of my financial future if my Crohn's gets to the point I can't work. That is why I'm socking away as much as I can now while I have a good job.

 

[Tommy21bn]

Anyone from the UK want to contribute?

 

[DEmberton]

I'm 44 and only started paying into a pension a couple of years ago. I don't see it makes any difference; if you find yourself unable to work paying into a pension is not something you're going to be able to do.

If you're not an upper rate tax payer you may well be better off saving the money in ISAs where it isn't locked away for decades, or if you have a mortgage or other debts pay those off.

I suppose you could say with a chronic illness our life expectancy is lower so a pension is less important. That's not really true of Crohns though. You could say you should put as much away as possible whilst you can in case your health gets worse in future, but on the other hand maybe you should enjoy yourself whilst you can in case your health gets worse in future.

 

[Bufford]

I am glad I put money into savings when I was young. Rather than making big purchases, and choosing to heat the house with wood instead of oil has allowed me to build up savings. I retired on my pension from my employer, while it pays the house hold bills it is not enough for unexpected repair bills and that is where the savings come in. Without them I could easily be financially swamped. Money is still tight, and I really have no choice but to continue to heat with wood as inflation on the essentials of food and fuel is much higher than I anticipated.

 

[Cross-stitch gal]

I'm turning 38 this year. My work has a percentage match towards merrill lynch 401k and I started matching the percentage 2 or 3 years ago. I would check with your current employer to see if they've got a match too. It could be beneficial whether you're part or full time.

 

[JaimeM]

I'm too stubborn to admit I may not be able to work someday haha.. However my employer matches a good portion of what I put into my retirement.. I'm only 30 so have a long way to go. My husband works too but works from home and watches the kiddo.. I work full time +. As I take a ton of call and try to volunteer on our ambulance as much as I can, when I'm healthy. Which will hopefully be soon again. I'm sure I'll regret not putting more into retirement. But tbh I'm not really worried about it.