Martin Lewis, founder of Money Saving Expert, is urging people to check if they can significantly boost their state pension, but only if they are of a certain age. He has previously highlighted that the deadline to buy back up to 13 missing National Insurance years from HM Revenue and Customs is fast approaching, with only a few weeks left.
The amount of state pension received is based on the number of years National Insurance contributions have been made, so buying back missing years could greatly increase the state pension. According to Martin, spending £800 to buy back a missing year could add an average of £6,100 per year to a pension pot.
Over time, this could result in a substantial increase to the state pension, especially for those approaching retirement age. However, for those under 40, born after 1985, it's likely not worth pursuing unless there are significant gaps in their National Insurance history.
Martin Lewis' Money Saving Expert website states: "There is a potentially unbeatable opportunity everyone aged 40 to 73(ish) needs to consider.
"You've got until 5 April 2025 to buy back any missing National Insurance years from 2006 to 2016. This can prove very lucrative, as some are on course to make over £50,000 in boosts to their State Pension.", reports Yorkshire Live.
A listener of Martin Lewis's podcast successfully boosted her pension contributions by £49 per week after purchasing six missing years. MSE clarified the impact of such a move, stating: "To put that in context, Martine paid up to £5,000 (it may've been far less) to increase her State Pension by £2,550 a year. If she lives for the typical 20 years after state pension age, that'd be a total uplift of around £51,000... and it's inflation-proofed."
On an episode of The Martin Lewis Money Show Live, Martin advised viewers: "If you have gaps between 2006 and 2018, you need to think about this this year because you can only do it until April."
He went on to say: "If you're nearly at the state pension age it's easy to see, it's pretty obvious that you should be buying them."
He further explained: "The older you are, the more likely you should be. If there are no gaps after 2019, then you could buy those so you could wait and see."
Martin also noted: "If you're under 45 this probably isn't worth doing, unless you've got very cheap partial years. If you've got a year available for £16 just go and buy it because it's so cheap just in case you miss years in the future because it's so cheap for what it could be worth."
However, he alerted his audience to the looming deadline, emphasizing that this opportunity closes in April, and cautioned that once it passes, the chance to buy back any missing National Insurance years will disappear forever.
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English (United States) ·