Auto Enrolment Pension - Is it worth it ?

If you can afford it or able to get a private pension too, or, top up your pension with voluntary contributions if you can.

I'm very lucky as my pension is ridiculously good where I am, one of the few "old" good pensions, the multiplication factor of my 5% contribution is pretty outrageous. Shame I won't be in this company for the rest of my life :(
 
Definitely worth it. With my employer you're not limited with your own contributions, but they'll match upto 6%, so i add 6% making 12% total. Which really adds up over the years.
 
For me 6.5% in, employer contributes 18.5%. Definitely worth it!


mrbell1984 said:
Look at it like this.

You walk into a bank, show the banker you have 80£ they automatically match the 80£ and put the £160 away for you. You also don't get taxed on it. :D

Where I work it's like for like.... For me it's 100% IN.
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Worth remembering you do of course get taxed when you withdraw it though.
 
Here's a slightly related question I have always wondered (and people here seem to be in the know). What happens when you change jobs?
  • Is your pension just tied to your NI number and all the various pensions you may have accumulated over the years added together when you retire?
  • Do they all just pay into a central account for you?
  • Is it my responsibility as the employee to be moving the pension manually?

Any light anyone can shed on this would be appreciated.
 
Josh107 said:
  • Is your pension just tied to your NI number and all the various pensions you may have accumulated over the years added together when you retire?
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  • nope

    [*]Do they all just pay into a central account for you?
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    nope, you should already have details of the company managing the scheme for your current employer

    [*]Is it my responsibility as the employee to be moving the pension manually?
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    yup, it is your pension - if you leave one employer you'll probably get a letter in the post from the company managing that pension
 
If you can, put as much as 12% in yourself. With the effect of compound interest you'll be thanking yourself come retirement and you'l stop noticing the drop in take home salary after a few months.
 
dowie said:
nope

nope, you should already have details of the company managing the scheme for your current employer

yup, it is your pension - if you leave one employer you'll probably get a letter in the post from the company managing that pension
Click to expand...

Thanks for these, I'm only 24 so I've paid a few £ into rubbishy part time job pensions that were too difficult to opt out of (managers literally didn't know how in one case) and have just started a graduate job so this is useful information.
 
It's a good idea, I imagine state pension will will be low to non exististant at the rate things are going, and if that changes you can always look to cashing a policy in.

Currently I pay 5% of salary which is matched by an equal contribution from my employer which I thought was ok until I read this thread! I guess sunbed drives trains on the underground!
 
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I pay in 5% to a pension and my employer puts in 10%. It is a no-brainer.

I also get BOGOF shares up to 5% of my gross monthly salary and also another scheme where I pay in £200.00, get shares at a 20% discount at today's prices to cash in, in three years. I can also pull out at any point and get my money back.

I actually pay in, in total over 25% of my take home pay all in but they are pretty sensible investments.
 
Basically its a big scam designed to fleece you of more money.

The "scheme" is not opt in, it is forced on you
You can only opt out after they have taken the first payment and you have only a month to do it
You can opt out, but they automatically put you back in
You get charged a fee by the company handling the "scheme"
If you fail to pay a debt, the court can order you to relinquish what has been paid in, so you don't get it (although it has been through the courts, the decision is being challenged by big business AGAIN)
If like me you aren't going to live long enough to see retirement, its a big waste of time
If you scrimp and save, eventually the government will declare that your pension is too big and you will lose state pension
You are forced into it, meaning if you already have a pension, this is an extra burden
If you are already on low income, the final outcome will be meaningless anyway
You will lose enhanced or "fixed" protection
Employers will withhold pay rises to pay for this new tax
The last pensions revolution ended up earning an whopping £1000 above what was paid in

However, perhaps the biggest problem with auto-enrolment relates to how it interacts with state benefits. At the moment, for every pound of "excess income" someone receives, they lose 65p of housing benefit. For council tax benefit, the reduction is 20p for every pound.

The fact that this is a state run ponzi scheme doesn't help its credibility either.
 
4/8% here (I think).
Definitely worth it.

Also increasing my bit by another 4% this month too.

Probably die at 60...
 
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Josh107 said:
Thanks for these, I'm only 24 so I've paid a few £ into rubbishy part time job pensions that were too difficult to opt out of (managers literally didn't know how in one case) and have just started a graduate job so this is useful information.
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Do it to the maximum amount the employer matches. Save everything else for a mortgage etc / live bad debt free
 
Definitely worth it, although I would say that as my company contributes 20% which is stupidly good.
 
Can't remember what I pay but it's not much. I think at this rate the age of retirement will be about 90 or something. But having something is better than nothing
 
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