UK Pension Update

Back in April, I got a letter from the UK pension authority laying out the voluntary contributions I could make to get a UK pension. They sent this via snail mail and there were only a few days left to the deadline to make the contributions. I transferred money to their Barclays account from Commonwealth Bank. I thought this would be more reliable than OFX. But turns out that OFX may have been better because CBA only allowed me to put the relevant reference code in the "message" field rather than a standard "reference field". 

I soon got another letter asking for 2023-24 contributions, which I made. I waited a couple of months, as the website said it could take up to 8 weeks for my National Insurance record to be adjusted. It was still the same when I checked. I phoned the help number at HMRC and after waiting for ages and starting to talk with someone with a heavy foreign accent on a bad line, got cut off. I tried to send a letter with copies of my transfer receipts by express mail. But the Australian Post Office computer system couldn't handle non-geographic UK postcodes! So, I resorted to sending the letter by regular airmail in a hand addressed envelope. 

In the process, I managed to drop my wallet in the shopping mall. I got it back the next day from the mall concierge desk with all the cash intact! I think the last time I lost my wallet was almost exactly 30 years before in Albertville in France on an epic bike trip from London to Nice. I didn't get it back that time, but a nice policeman found a hotel that was prepared to host me until I received a spare credit card I got my parents to send me from London. 

A month later, I just checked the HMRC website and see this:

Previously, I think it forecast around £400 per month. So, it looks like they updated my record! It's all pretty confusing because the website still says most contribution years are incomplete but doesn't say how much I did contribute! It also says I am short about £17 for 2023-24, despite me sending the amount they requested. I will send it with next year's contribution.

In my accounts, I value this pension as the value of contributions I made - around AUD 9k. But using the 4% rule it is equivalent to having another AUD 538k of net worth! This forecast includes the effect of contributions in the years up to 2031.