small public pension- can't afford to top up

[buzybee]

I started civil service as clerical officer in 2007. I would like to retire 62 or 63 as health is not great to work full time. Then I would not have full service and pension would be small. I have 17k in private pension from before having children. My gross pay is 560. I take home 420 and have to pay childcare for 2 and food shop from this. I find it even hard to save to change my car every12 yrs not to mind putting more away for pension. The public sector takes 70 a wk for pension. I can only contribute such small amounts 5 euro a wk. I dont know if it is worth saving a small a
mount for a pension. Maybe it is better to put this in a post office.

Any advice?

 

[oysterman]

Go easy on yourself. You have very significant financial commitments at the moment with childcare etc. You already are contributing to a pension. There may well be a time in the future when you have some spare income and then you can look at an AVC or whatever is available at that stage. For the moment, if you find yourself with any cash left over at the end of the week, build up your readily accessible cash savings. With children you are going to need some.

 

[LDFerguson]

Agree 100% with Oysterman. AVCs are just a way of saving for the future, with an incentive of tax relief. Don't put yourself under too much pressure in the present, in order to save for the future.