Money saving expert Martin Lewis shared a little known tip to add £5,500 to your state pension pot - causing the government's website to crash on Tuesday night (October 25). But Martin stated time is running out to secure the cash boost during his return on his ITV Martin Lewis Money Show Live.
He explained that the 'returns could be huge' as he set out the method. Martin explained that a new state pension system was introduced in 2016 and that it requires you to pay National Insurance in at least 35 separate qualifying years to be able to claim the maximum amount.
But he said people who started their NI record before 2016 may need more than 40 years to qualify. So those people can 'buy' extra years for £800 per year to become eligible - which could net you over £5,000 a year back, Yorkshire Live reports.
Martin told his ITV viewers: This is the bit that's time sensitive. Until April 2023 you can buy National Insurance years back to 2006. After that, you can only go back 6 years. So if you have national insurance gaps between 2006 and 2017 you need to decide soon whether you are going to buy them or you will lose the opportunity to do so.
"One year of National Insurance eligibility costs £800 and it adds around £275 a year to your state pension. So the break-even point is three years.
"So if you live three years beyond the state pension age, you're quids in." He tweeted straight after the programme: "OK it looks like we've crashed the govt site too now..."
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