Pension

[My2pWorth]

The one thing life has shown me is by pension age you stop worrying. You aren't interested in having a new fitted kitchen or the latest gadgets and you end up spending less money. You spend more time appreciating things that don't cost a lot like gardening. All you want is a daily conversation, family and friends visiting and the odd day out. That's if you're lucky enough to reach that age.

 

[HoGi]

You can write to the hr department at your old job asking for the information. They can tell you who administers the scheme and contact info

And if that doesn't work or the company no longer exists take a look at the pensions tracing service. Free on gov.uk . Please don't pay a company to trace it for you

 

[Tommyb]

Thanks for sharing. Do you mind saying what your minimum goal for your pension pot is? I know as much as possible is probably what you want, but what’s the bare minimum you’d need to survive? Just ignore if I’m being too nosey!

No it's fine

At the moment I'm on track to have 500k in there by time I retire at 67.. plus I'm hoping my house will be paid off by then which is worth 525k at the moment.

So right now my projected pension would be approx £9,339 state pension a year plus £16,000 from my work pensions. So I'd be getting around
£2k a month once I retire (after tax of course).

My partner was always taught by his parents the importance of a pension so has around £70k in there at 33 so he will have more than me. Between us we should be fine if everything goes to plan.

 

[Twinks10]

Thanks to this thread I’ve contacted a pension provider from my former employer and I hadn’t changed my address with them so have had no documents for years and had forgotten all about it.
Sent off some docs to verify my identity and confirm my current address so I should now get the plan info and statements etc so I’ll know where I’m at. So thanks everyone

 

[rainbowlemon]

I have a stocks and shares ISA and I've made £59 profit on £1k since Feb. Pretty happy

Overall I'm still a bit undecided about what to do. I think I should open a private pension. Can anyone recommend a company?

Vanguard also have SIPPs. They have the lowest fees on the market and have a easy transfer process.

Last month I was charged just £1.09 for my S&S ISA instead of the £1.20 - £1.35 a month with the stocks and shares account I had with MoneyBox .

Personal Pension | Vanguard UK Investor

Investing in a pension is a tax-efficient way to grow your money for retirement as the government will give you tax relief on your contributions.

www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk

I’ve been thinking about a LISA. I was wondering about an s&s LISA to save for when I’m 60. Seems moneybox do one that seems fairly easy to manage.

I have a s&s isa but no real serious investments in it yet. I put a small amount in to get my head around trading a bit.

On youtube and insta I would really recommend

1.the humble penny channel - for explaining the basics.
2.Our rich journey - for motivation as they're american but retired early.
3.Nicole at the Frugal cottage- on how to create a dividend income.

 

[ChilliBean]

I have an NHS pension that I’ve had for the last 5 years - I started paying in as soon as I qualified as a nurse at 21. I’m now band 7 and contribute 9.3%, whilst I believe the NHS contributes 20%
It’s a great pension scheme compared to others and I feel very lucky to work in the NHS. The only downside is it is linked to state pension age, so I won’t be able to get it until I’m at least 68 (if not older!) so I’ve started saving money in a LISA - the idea is for me to save a lump sum that I can access when I am 60 so I can afford to work part time for the last few years until I get my pension

A few of my colleagues in their 20s like me have opted out of their pension as they’d rather have the money now… I’ve tried telling them how important it is and it’s the best free money they’ll ever have but they just don’t listen!

 

[Tommyb]

Thank you very much! I just attended a pensions for dummies course but the info was presented differently. I actually have a follow up session next week so at least I’ve got more questions

In the example you gave, I thought 500k meant you drew a pension of £41666 a month (500k/12 months) and I mean, I wouldn’t complain but I definitely don’t need that much a month to live on!!!

But the work pot plus state pension fits into what i understood.

Thank you again for being so open. You’ve really really helped me out. I’m older but I lost many years of contributing. Had assumed
I was paying in but wasn’t so that’s been a real shock! I’m still on track though, so to anyone reading - it’s not too late!

So the 500k would be divided by roughly 30 years so £16k per year.

My work pension is invested in a high risk category. By age general advice is to invest it in high risk if you are under 40, between 40-50 medium risk and 50+ low risk. Of course thats just general advice.

I'm so glad it helped. I wish someone would have helped me when I was younger. Iv learned so much more about it since meeting my boyfriend. He's a finance genius lol! Without him I would have not even thought of it.

It's never too late and well done for looking into it!

 

[Fofoca]

The £500k is for more than one year, so if you theoretically had a single pot of money with no more income or return from it, you'd need x number of years from pension age to death times 12 (number of months in a year). Or just plan a MASSIVELY luxe 1 year retirement and a swift exit at the end of that year!

Swift exit it is then!!! Party on my yacht, you’re all invited.

Could I be absolutely lost because I’m on a defined benefit and maybe just get one smaller figure? I think that means that I could live until I’m 1000 years old and keep drawing my pension without my pot running out?

(and thank you too!)

 

[Sheeeet]

Swift exit it is then!!! Party on my yacht, you’re all invited.

Could I be absolutely lost because I’m on a defined benefit and maybe just get one smaller figure? I think that means that I could live until I’m 1000 years old and keep drawing my pension without my pot running out?

(and thank you too!)

You'd get a set amount of money every month until death with a DB pension. The longer you are in service with your employer, the larger that amount would be. There's no reason you can't set up an additional private pension/SIPP alongside if you think that won't be enough. Or, in some cases, you can add "additional years" called an Additional Voluntary Contribution in a one off payment to get a larger monthly amount of pension.

Or you could set up your own ISA investments if you think you might want to quit work before retirement age, or before you'd be eligible to draw from a personal pension (55 at the moment, I think). Obviously that depends on having the disposable income to do that and the return on whatever funds/shares/miscellaneous you chose.

Anyone considering pre-55 retirement could do worse than googling FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) and reading around - the Monevator blog is fantastic.

 

[Peaches_xox]

I’ve been paying into a work pension since I was 18. I’m 30 now. I pay 7% & my employer matches it & it’s an aviva one however when I get the letters saying how much I might get at retirement I’m like fucking hell that’s not a lot!

 

[Saddlesoap]

Thought I'd create a Pension thread as two threads have recently got me a bit concerned about getting old.

Do you have a pension? Private, work based?

I have a work one, but recently found out it has shocking reviews. Really need to tackle it, but I'm so confused.

 

[justbeingnosy98]

I have a stocks and shares ISA and I've made £59 profit on £1k since Feb. Pretty happy

Overall I'm still a bit undecided about what to do. I think I should open a private pension. Can anyone recommend a company?

My personal pension is with Scottish Widows - Aviva, Aegon, Pru also do them. I have seen adverts for Pension Bee and it looks quite good too.

I *think* some providers might require you to go through an IFA to open a private pension. It’s probably worth having a chat with an IFA anyway so you know your options and they can help you make the best decision for you!

I had a stocks and shares ISA with MoneyBox and it never did that well. Opened a new one with Hargreaves Lansdown and it’s performed really well over the last 2 years!

Not sure if I’m allowed to say this or not on here but the UK Personal Finance sub on Reddit is really really helpful for financey things like LISAs/pensions/stocks and shares ISAs.

 

[Lizzie Mintdrop]

I'm lucky enough to be in a defined benefits scheme on career average, with a few years at final salary. If I retire at SPA, it's projected that, along with state pension I'll be on just a little less than I'm on now. I don't plan on taking a lump sum as I doubt I'll need it due to being a good saver.

At retirement age, I won't have the full 40 years in, it'll be 35 years in, so I'm pondering whether to make some AVCs to top it up. Also, I will probably want to retire early so may well make sense to pay AVCs.

I've always been afraid of being a poor pensioner, my mum didn't work very much, due to being a housewife and her and my dad divorced so it meant that she's lived off pension credit, I don't want that for myself, I don't want to be scrimping and saving when I should be enjoying the fruits of my labour after having worked all my life

 

[ChilliBean]

I didn't realise the employer contributed so much. I thought they matched the contribution? That sounds like a good idea with the LISA. I will do the same. Who did you open with?

I only found out the other day when I did some Googling. I’d always been told the NHS pension was very good and I should always pay into it, but I didn’t realise how good!

I opened my LISA with Moneybox and it’s pretty good, I put about £100 a month in at the moment but will increase when I am able to, I have 23 years left to pay into it (I think you stop paying into it at 50) so should have a nice lump sum in there by then

 

[WilmaHun]

I have a workplace pension. I opted in to mine when I was 18 rather than waiting until I turned 21 (? - I think 21 is the age they automatically opt you in but could be wrong) so I built up a little bit in those extra 3 years of contributing.

I've been toying with the idea of opening a private one too, but not really sure if it's worth it if I've already got my workplace one.

My partner is self employed and doesn't currently have one. Whenever I mention opening one to him he always says "I'm only 25 I'll worry about that later!" but I think it's best to start it as soon as you can!

 

[no-no]

Bloody hell, I’m going to have to seek out a Wayne Rooney when I retire. Until recently I never earned enough to even justify a 0.01% salary sacrifice. Going to look into it before Christmas, but still apprehensive about the security of it all. Goalposts can and will be moved as far as I’m concerned but if it means paying less deductibles it’s fine.

 

[Sheeeet]

In the example you gave, I thought 500k meant you drew a pension of £41666 a month (500k/12 months) and I mean, I wouldn’t complain but I definitely don’t need that much a month to live on!!!

The £500k is for more than one year, so if you theoretically had a single pot of money with no more income or return from it, you'd need to divide it by x number of years from pension age to death times 12 (number of months in a year). Or just plan a MASSIVELY luxe 1 year retirement and a swift exit at the end of that year!

 

[Hertfordshire_home]

Not sure of the amounts but i have the pension through work. My employer contributes 6% whilst i contribute 3%.

I also have a direct debit set up to put in £100 every other month into a charles stanley direct account (growth on the particular fund over the last 6m alone has been 12%). The value of this is about £4k at the moment.

I am hoping to increase my contributions to both funds in time. I remember reading that a rough guide to total pension contributions is to take the age you started paying in, divide by 2. Ie if you started at 20 you should be paying 10%. I started after uni (21/22) and therefore am not paying quite enough but as my salary continues to grow, i aim to increase these contributions.

 

[Shoequeen91]

I have a stocks and shares ISA and I've made £59 profit on £1k since Feb. Pretty happy

Overall I'm still a bit undecided about what to do. I think I should open a private pension. Can anyone recommend a company?

My personal pension is with Scottish Widow too. I don’t have a bad word to say about them at all and find their customer service really helpful in that no question is too silly etc

 

[Hertfordshire_home]

I've got a bit of a daft question and hoping someone can answer!

I pay in 5% and employer pays 3%, so the mandatory 8%. Not enough, given the half your age rule! What's the best way to go about contributing more? Should I ask my employer to bump up my contributions to, for example, 8%, and try and negotiate for them to increase theirs to 5%? Or should I just set up a monthly direct debit that comes out of my net pay? I know it's better to do it so it comes out pre-tax but my employer are pretty stingy sadly.

Your employer won’t increase their contributions, as it will likely be company wide amounts that they pay depending on your level. If you got a promotion you might be able to negotiate but it would likely mean you got less of a pay rise ie the net cost to the employer wouldn’t change.

In terms of your contributions I would say it depends how complex you want it to get. The simple way would be to increase your own contributions, which would have some tax/NI benefits.

The other option is to pay into another account (similar to what I do with Charles Stanley direct) from your post tax earnings. This would give you the advantage of choosing the funds to match your risk attitude, or even put it in specific shares.