I work three jobs but I’ll never be able to retire – I had no idea about pensions, now it’s too late
WHETHER you’re planning to put your feet up or travel the world, anyone with a fulltime job will have daydreamed about their retirement.
And that was certainly the case for Cecilia Floren who was looking forward to putting her feet up after decades of hard work.
However, despite working three jobs Cecilia, 45, who works in marketing and public relations, says that she’ll never be able to give up work entirely.
Here Cecilia, who lives in Lymington, Hampshire, with her two daughters, Ronja, 19, and Maja, 14, reveals why she will never be able to retire. She says:
Running upstairs, I jumped straight into the shower.
It was a Friday afternoon and I’d just got in from my cleaning job. I’d spent Monday to Thursday working at my main job, in marketing and public relations – and I still wasn’t finished yet.
I worked weekend shifts at a local pub, and I was due there tonight. I worked seven days a week, just to pay the bills. Yet, despite my endless hours at work, I already knew I was going to be doing it for another 30 years. Maybe more.
I was born in Kenya, where there is very little financial support from the government. I moved to the UK when I was 17 to go to college and got a job in a law firm when I was 20 years old.
When my friend and I clubbed together to buy our first house in London just a year later, I was incredibly proud. It felt extremely grown up - and sensible.
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After three years, my friend moved to Ireland and I returned to Kenya, and we rented our home out for some extra cash.
But when my friend got married in 2004, she wanted to put money towards her life with her husband and so we sold it.
Looking back, it was probably my biggest regret. Yes, I got a lovely lump sum but I wasn’t thinking about the future then. Instead, I used it to pay the hospital bills when I had my two daughters and I invested in my mum’s business.
I was still working and got a good job as an executive PA. I didn’t give it a second thought that, because I wasn’t working for a British company, I was no longer paying my National Insurance and therefore not contributing to my pension and my future financial stability.
We stayed in Kenya for 15 years, until my daughter Ronja won a scholarship to a private school in Dorset in 2016. She came over first, to see how she fitted in, and when she settled quickly, Maja and I followed the year after.
I worked seven days a week, just to pay the bills
Cecilia Floren
It was a really difficult time. I’d had a good job in Kenya and presumed I’d be able to find a similar one over here. But I was stuck in a Catch-22 situation. I couldn’t find a job without a permanent address but I couldn’t secure anywhere to live without a job.
We ended up in an AirBnB and I got a job as a sales assistant, paying minimum wage. For the three of us, it wasn’t nearly enough, so I also got an evening job in a pub.
When I eventually found us a rental property, the landlord asked for seven and a half months rent in advance. That cleared out the rest of my savings but at least we had a secure place to live.
After 15 months, I found a part-time job in marketing and public relations but it wasn’t nearly enough to cover all of our expenses.
I still had to keep up my job in the pub though, and on my day off, I started working as a cleaner.
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It was cripplingly exhausting, but we needed the money. My savings remained woefully empty as any spare cash I had I sent to my mum to help support her life back in Kenya.
It was only in my 40s that I started to seriously think about the future. As we lived month to month and in a rented property, I realised that if anything happened to me, the girls would be left penniless.
So, in October 2020, just before my 44th birthday, I took out life and critical illness insurance. The last thing I needed was It was another bill to pay but I couldn’t take the risk.
Then early this year, one of the recruitment companies I’d signed up, Working Wise, asked me to fill out a survey about pensions – whether I had one, if I knew what contributions I and my employer were making, etc.
As I started filling in the answers, I realised that I’d never thought about my pension before.
I realised that if anything happened to me, the girls would be left penniless
Cecilia Floren
I’d always imagined I would retire at 60 but I’d never thought practically about how I’d be able to afford to do that. And now I was thinking about it, I was scared.
Looking into my old payslips, I discovered I’d paid into six private pensions over my career. Even when I tracked them down, I didn’t know if it was best to keep them all separate or merge them together.
I even spoke to the helpline about my National Insurance contributions and although they said I could back-pay some of them, I couldn’t afford to.
I do have a pension with my current employer but, having been there for less than five years, it’s too late to make much difference.
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And now, with the cost of living sky-rocketing and having to pay £950 a month rent – which I know is relatively cheap – my future feels very fragile. I know I need to put money aside but, even working three jobs, I can’t afford to do that. I’m incredibly stressed, and feel like I’ve failed at something I didn’t even know about.
I have no idea what I will do if my landlord decides to sell the property.
I’ve recently been offered another, better-paid job. Again, it’s part-time but it means that, while I have to keep my marketing job, I can quit my pub and cleaning jobs. It feels like a small step forward.
Even so, I can’t imagine being able to leave work in 30 years time, let alone at 64, the average retirement age here in the UK.
This isn’t a sob story. It’s reality. My reality. And something needs to change.
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Children should be taught about budgeting at school. When you receive your National Insurance card at 16, you should be told what your contributions will go towards. People should know to ask about pensions at job interviews.
I’ve already started talking to my daughters about the future and I’ve advised Ronja to start saving for her future now, even just putting £5 a week in an ISA or a high interest account. I can’t afford for them to make the same mistakes I did.
Retirement in the UK - the facts
The full basic state pension is £141.85 a week
50% of older women are planning to work into their retirement because of the gender pensions gap
53% will be unable to be financially independent on their pension
