Martin Lewis’ Money Saving Expert (MSE) has revealed what he calls ‘the single most lucrative thing you can do with your money’.
According to the finance guru, a simple check could boost the retirement funds of millions of Brits — with many adding upwards of £10,000 to their pot.
And in a recent edition of the MSE newsletter, he urged ‘everyone’ under age 73 to see if they’re eligible now, as there’s not much time left to act.
The door closes for this on April 5, but Martin warns that ‘it’s not a quick process’, so the sooner you get the ball rolling the better.
Here’s what you need to know
How to boost your pension
According to MSE, buying back missing years in your national insurance record could massively boost your pension.
Your state pension is determined by how many years you have paid national insurance (NI). As a general rule, you need about 35 years to get the maximum amount, which is currently set at £221.20 a week.
However, some people may have gaps in their NI record for a variety of reasons:
- You were earning a low wage (it’s only mandatory to pay NI if you earn more than £242 per week from one job), or were unemployed.
- If you were self-employed making small profit margins
- You lived or worked outside the UK for a period of time
While currently, men aged under 73 and women aged under 71 are able to buy missing years back to 2006, the launch of the ‘new’ state pension means the option won’t be available for long.
You’ve now got until April 5 to buy back any missing national insurance years from 2006 to 2018. After this date, you can do it to 2019, potentially meaning you’ll miss out on the years you need to boost your retirement.
And when we say boost, we mean it. One MSE subscriber emailed into the financial advice platform to share just how lucrative this hack is.
‘My wife had 10+ years missing,’ David wrote. ‘Her pension forecast was £69/wk, but a (large £8,200) contribution to fill the gaps increased it to £132/wk.’
This equates to a £3,280 per year jump — a staggering £60,000 if his wife draws her pension for 20 years.
The process is pretty straightforward, although Martin’s advice is to start now, commenting: ‘Leave it to nearer the deadline and if the systems get clogged, it could be very cumbersome to make it work.’
Step one is to check your national insurance record on the UK Government website.
If you do have any missing years, MSE says its worth using the Government’s state pension forecaster to determine how much pension you’ll get with your current NI record. If you’re already getting the full state pension – which will show as a £221.20 a week forecast – there’s likely no point in buying back any years.
Bear in mind too, if you’re still a way off retirement, you still may have plenty of time to make up enough years, so you might not need to fill those gaps.
In some cases, you may not even have to pay for a full year (which typically costs £824), so the risks of spending more than you’ll get are effectively ‘diminished’.
‘What matters most here is whether you’re on track to get the full forecast, the cost of the years, and your age right now,’ adds Martin.
The Government website can help you decide whether to buy back certain years, and how to do it, and you can find more information on the MSE website.
This article was first published on March 5, 2025.
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