- Are you eligible for a pension? How much pension will you get?
- Do you have enough contributions to retire at age 61 instead of at the respective pensionable age?
- Are you entitled to any credits such as study credits, child rearing credits that would increase your contribution average?
- How will the percentage (%) increase affect you when postponing your pension award date?
Ask for your assessment
Firstly, ask for a tentative assessment, a service being offered by the Department of Social Security.
A tentative assessment which can be logged at one of the Department of Social Security Area Offices, presents the applicant with:
- a clear picture of what his / her social security pension would be,
- an opportunity to pay missing contributions in case of gaps in NI contributions along the years,
- different pension rates at different pension ages,
- whether one would be eligible for a widow’s pension, invalidity pension and more.
Most people, upon knowing their estimate pension rate, would want to take that step further to receive an income in retirement that is much higher than that received solely from the Social Security Department to ensure that their present standard of living is maintained.
That is why it’s important to KNOW, to PLAN and ACT.
Therefore, to make up for this gap, to aim high and to receive a higher income in retirement you just need to save. Building a retirement savings nest egg by saving income today whilst you can since you are in employment would imply that you are taking proactive action to plan for your retirement. The earlier you start saving for your retirement nest egg, the sooner you will allow yourself to benefit from compounding whose returns would increase by time.