Pensions

PaulStat

PaulStat

PaulStat

Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2003
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Location
Cotham, Bristol
What with all the money threads recently, I thought i'd start another. With my job I get an extra 10% on my salary per year paid into my pension. I don't currently put any extra in.

I am however starting to think about doing so, probably via the route of a salary sacrifice as it has tax benefits. But was wondering what sort of percentage of your salary do you guys pay into your pension per month?
 
I put in £34 a month, the goverment top that up to £40 under some pension scheme thingymajig and my company then put £40 in as well. So all in all it's £80 a month into my pention but I only loose £36 from my wages.
 
PaulStat said:
..... But was wondering what sort of percentage of your salary do you guys pay into your pension per month?
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0%. I haven't done for for decades.

But that isn't necessarily a stance I would recommend to others.
 
You really need to work out what age you are planning to retire, and then do some calculations based on how long you think you might live ... Then calculate how much you would need each year over those years.

By the time you retire, you should have that much money in your bank account.

The first 5 years you contribute can add up to as much as 40-50% of your final pension amount depending on how long you have been saving - due to compound interest.

The shortest, simplest answer I can give you is - Put as much into your pension as you can afford to.
 
Ukadder said:
I put in £34 a month, the goverment top that up to £40 under some pension scheme thingymajig and my company then put £40 in as well. So all in all it's £80 a month into my pention but I only loose £36 from my wages.
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Not having a go here mate but £80 a month is pitiful, even if you are a youngster.
I was paying the maximum allowed 15.75% of gross wage for nearly 30 yrs and retired at age 55 on the huge sum of just over £240 a month.

I hope you do better than I did.
 
3% employer and 4% from me.

Going to put that up to 6% from me this month. Save as much as you can as early as you can. This will be the most benefical in the later years.
 
singist said:
Not having a go here mate but £80 a month is pitiful, even if you are a youngster.
I was paying the maximum allowed 15.75% of gross wage for nearly 30 yrs and retired at age 55 on the huge sum of just over £240 a month.

I hope you do better than I did.
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Thats disgusting you should have more than that!

If finances get tight (and Im not a financial advisor etc) there always the home equity release scheme.

Some people will say you pay a mortgage off to own a house, but ultimately you may well have to sell it again to pay for nursing home fees. The irony is if you had no equity the state will pay the fee's (allbeit in a state run home).

I say enjoy the equity whilst you can.
 
gjc10212 said:
Some people will say you pay a mortgage off to own a house, but ultimately you may well have to sell it again to pay for nursing home fees. The irony is if you had no equity the state will pay the fee's (allbeit in a state run home).

I say enjoy the equity whilst you can.
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I've never been a fan of that backwards system either.
 
singist said:
Not having a go here mate but £80 a month is pitiful, even if you are a youngster.
I was paying the maximum allowed 15.75% of gross wage for nearly 30 yrs and retired at age 55 on the huge sum of just over £240 a month.

I hope you do better than I did.
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I agree £80 a month is pitiful but I'm young and have other things I would rather spend my money on at the moment. Saving for a house or even the deposit for a house is my first priority, I've already come to realise I can't afford a house or flat near where I currently live on my own, sod the pention for a little while for me!
 
I always put in as much as possible (via salary sacrifice, if possible, as that made tax returns easier - although it's important to have this explicitly worded in any contract, as it can casue problems with calculation final value payments).

I would not have done so had I not had a high degree of control over where my money was invested (generally spread between emerging market securites and safe haven equity).

Nowadays, a pension is less tax efficient for me, so I stick with other investment vehicles.
 
I don't pay the maximum amount in that I can.
I started my pension when I was 18, out of college and earning an amazing £12k per year.
There has been a few years of gaps in my payments due to moving to contract work etc.
I've kept the same pension I started when I was 18 - thankfully each company I've worked for so far has said they will make any of the special contributions into my personal pension rather than forcing me into their own.

Currently my contributions are:

£71.50 per month with my employer matching that 100%
So a total of £143 goes in per month.
 
On my current salery I would be entitled to:

Valuable retirement benefits at age 65:

Tax free cash lump sum of £33,806 payable on retirement at age 65

A pension of £939 per month payable from age 65 for the rest of your life with increases every year in line with the cost of living.

That is on my current salary of £24k a year, the LGPS pension scheme, I am only 27 so still got 40 years to go and for the most part I shall be paying a lot more in currently pay £110 a month and my employer pays a sum also.

So as a minium I would get the above amount but it will increase year to year.
 
i think i put in 6% and the employer puts in 6% - only got 8 years worth so far though :(

scratch that - i've just found out i pay 6.35% and the employer pays 14% - sounds a lot better now.
 
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Goberpiles316 said:
On my current salery I would be entitled to:

Valuable retirement benefits at age 65:

Tax free cash lump sum of £33,806 payable on retirement at age 65

A pension of £939 per month payable from age 65 for the rest of your life with increases every year in line with the cost of living.

That is on my current salary of £24k a year, the LGPS pension scheme, I am only 27 so still got 40 years to go and for the most part I shall be paying a lot more in currently pay £110 a month and my employer pays a sum also.

So as a minium I would get the above amount but it will increase year to year.
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that sounds like your just making the 'standard' contributions - which i think is 6% by you and the lg matches it? im a year younger than you, earning about a grand more a year than you and with what you say it makes me a lot more interested in finding out more about the lgps! i've been contributing to it for the last 6 years... but i dont necessarily plan to work in lg for the duration!
 
My dad retired 10 years ago from the civil service and is on an index linked pension of £25K a year. If he dies, my mum will get a widows pension of half that.

God knows how he managed it. I doubt you could get a pension like that these days for love nor money.
 
This is my work pension:

http://www.nhspa.gov.uk/site/Advice/Current/MemberGuides/SchemeGuide_SDGuide/sdguide.pdf

Currently pay about £170-200 per month into it.

Also got a private pension that i pay £100-150 per month into and have done since the age of 20 (now 33). Not sure what i will end up with though with that one.

Also got my mums house to look forward to that is signed over to me and the sister already to avoid inheritance tax, should be somewhere in the region of £750k shared between us by the time the old dear hits the cemetary floor ;) (hopefully not for a good long time yet though!)
 
5%. Final Salary scheme so there is no incentive to paying any more in. I also invest in other ways (mainly just plain old savings accounts but I'm considering unit trusts, FTSE trackers etc next time the market falls).
 
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