State pension: How to increase yours by £4,000 and why you should do it before 5 April
THE STATE pension is a sum of money all Britons can expect to receive if they have paid enough national insurance? Should you pay more and how much will you get in your state pension?
What is the State Pension?
Could you be missing out on £4,000 from your state pension fund?
If you have holes in your national insurance record you could boost your pension by the up to the large sum.
To do this you have to make national insurance payments?
What does this all mean and how does it work?
State pension: Increase how much you will get by £4,000 by doing this
What are voluntary national insurance payments?
People who are working pay national insurance automatically.
However, you can choose to pay more, to plug holes in your record.
The amount of state pension you are paid depends on the number of qualifying years you have paid in.
Making voluntary payments for the years you have missed can increase what you will be paid greatly.
The amount it will cost for each tax year is set to increase.
As of 5 April 2019 it will cost £639.50 more to pay national insurance for all years between 2006 and 2016.
This is because the cost of paying a year of national insurance will go up to a blanket sum of £780.
To get the full amount of state pension, you need to pay 35 years worth of national insurance.
This amount is £164.35 per week. However, you can get less than this if you have years were you have not paid the full amount of national insurance.
By doing this you could score up to £4,000 more for your pension.
However, this is over a 20 year pension, meaning the amount you receive will be £200 a year.
Scottish Widows advise on pension savings and retirement
How can you check your state pension?
Work out how much you’ll get in your state pension with this calculator.
The government website offers a system to work out how much you will receive, when you will receive it, and how you can increase it.
If you reach your state pension age in more than 30 days, it’s advised you call the Future Pension Centre to ask for a statement.
But if you’re not quite near to retirement age, there are other ways to find out what’s in your pot.