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Thinking ahead meant Ms Baharie was able to boost the total she might be eligible for by 60 percent, from £116 a month to £194.
In order to increase her amount she did two things:
Ms Baharie made the decision to pay voluntary National Insurance Contributions (NICs) after moving to Israel when she was 28-years-old, to boost her pension.
She also added to her state pension by delaying taking it for a few months after she was eligible.
She turned 67 in November 2020 but waited until the following April to benefit from another boost at the start of the new tax year.
By waiting five months, Ms Baharie boosted her pension by 2.4 percent – or just under £5 a week – state pension increases every week someone decides to defer for at least nine weeks.
Britons need 35 qualifying years to get the new full State Pension if they do not have a National Insurance record before April 6, 2016.
They will usually need to have 10 qualifying years on their National Insurance record to get any new state pension at all.
Ms Baharie told The Sun: “I didn’t know how long I was going to be in Israel, so I wanted to keep contributing towards my British pension.
“I worked as an accountant and for a union before leaving the UK, so I knew about the different classes of National Insurance and how pensions worked, which many people don’t.”
The 68-year-old had 13.5 years of Class 1 NICs when she left the UK which meant she was already over the 10-year minimum to make her eligible for the benefit.
She ended up staying in Israel for 18 years and paid Class 3 NICs for 16 of them.
Ms Baharie continued: “It started at about £8 a month, so £96 a year, but went up annually. I must have paid about £1,600 in all over 16 years.”
Class 1 contributions are made by individuals and their employers when working.
Class 3 contributions are a voluntary payment which fills in gaps in one’s National Insurance record so that they can qualify for the State Pension or boost the amount they receive.
Britons are urged to get a State Pension forecast, which will highlight any gaps in their contributions. They can do this on the government website.
One pensioner was able to boost her retirement income by £1,014 a year by following these two steps which increased her state pension.
Linda Baharie started thinking about her retirement whilst she was working which gave her the time to make necessary changes to boost her pension.
The state pension is a regular payment from the government most people can claim when they reach state pension age.
The state pension age in the UK is currently 66 for both men and women.
Those with the full new state pension are entitled to £203.85 per week
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