Taking a 4k pay cut

20% company pension contribution, holy ****. That means at 6% employee contribution you'll be paying in £100 and getting £433 a month total payed in.

TBH the company sounds great, and if they offer you 20k (if they can't offer any more) then I'd get a pay review in 6 months in writing as part of the offer, then go for it.

One saying I always try and remember: It's only the things you didn't do that you end up regretting. In 5 years time, if you hadn't taken this job, would you have regretted it? I bet the answer would be yes.
 
TallPaul_S said:
20% company pension contribution, holy ****. That means at 6% employee contribution you'll be paying in £100 and getting £433 a month total payed in.

TBH the company sounds great, and if they offer you 20k (if they can't offer any more) then I'd get a pay review in 6 months in writing as part of the offer, then go for it.

One saying I always try and remember: It's only the things you didn't do that you end up regretting. In 5 years time, if you hadn't taken this job, would you have regretted it? I bet the answer would be yes.
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Yeah, it all sounds too good to be true. I hope it isn't. He did say he wasn't 100% on the pension it was around 26 or 27%. Even somewhere near is pretty good but im still eagerly waiting for more information.

I contacted the agency dealing with me this morning and they said word was that it is very very positive they are having discussions at their end. When i asked what was causing the delay, he was reluctant to say but said they were in talks over pay. So i believe the manager who was dealing with me is pushing to up the salary from 20k, hopefully.
 
Well i got offered the job, I've accepted and the best part is they matched my current salary at 24k. Seems like I've really landed a good company to work for here.
 
That’s awesome news, does illustrate that it is almost always worth asking for more money. I mean you’ve basically got a nice pay rise too now with the pension and share scheme and from what you’ve described about how the manager explained he worked etc... and the potential career path etc... it sounds like a decent company to work for. :)
 
Thanks.

Yeah, i probably would not have highlighted it to be fair, and the fact he knew I'd join even at 20k but also on the knowledge I would struggle and has gone out of his way to match my wage says a lot about the person he is. He could well have just signed me up at 20k
 
Jonnybmac said:
Well i got offered the job, I've accepted and the best part is they matched my current salary at 24k. Seems like I've really landed a good company to work for here.
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Bloody hell, I reckon you've got a keeper there! :D

Congrats! The best of both worlds, same pay AND better career progression and prospects :D:cool:
 
TallPaul_S said:
Bloody hell, I reckon you've got a keeper there! :D

Congrats! The best of both worlds, same pay AND better career progression and prospects :D:cool:
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Definitely. Especially when he knew I would have gone at 20k, yet still pulled strings to match my current salary.

Just got my benefits pack through the post.

Pension:
Gold (3% contribution) = 17.5% pensionable pay
Platinum (6% contribution) = 22.5% pensionable pay

Share scheme: buy one get 2 free, limits 1%, 2% or 2.5%

So I worked out for my salary

Pension:
Gold = £4,200 from £720
Platinum = £5,400 from £1,440

Share scheme:
1% = £720 from £240
2% = £1,440 from £480
2.5% = £1,800 from £600

So if I stay on a gold pension with 3% contributions but also use the 2.5% share scheme, I'll save on contributing 0.5% of my wage only contributing £1,320 a year yet I'll have a total of £6,000, which is £600 (£720 if you include the 0.5% saving) more than the platinum and I can withdraw the share scheme one after 5 years tax free. This is obviously providing the shares stay at the same price I bought them at.
 
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Do the platinum pension contribution as well, only takes £60 extra from your net pay each month which presumably you can afford considering you were open to taking a pay cut but adds £160 to the pension pot.
 
HangTime said:
Do the platinum pension contribution as well, only takes £60 extra from your net pay each month which presumably you can afford considering you were open to taking a pay cut but adds £160 to the pension pot.
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The platinum I am not getting as much returns as the gold I believe.

Gold
3% =17.5%
2.5% = 7.5%
Total 5.5% = 25% = 4.5 times contribution

Platinum
6% = 22.5%
2.5% = 7.5%
Total 8.5% = 30% = 3.5 times contribution

So yeah I would get 5% more per year, but I'd be putting in 3% more a year to get it, which really only equates to a 2% extra benefit from the company. They also have an additional ISA savings where they match up to 3% of my savings and put it into my pension pot. I need to ask more about the terms of this but they apparently do it to promote savings or as an alternative they match an additional 3% with 3% into a pension fund so realistically I could well bump the gold to 8.5% = 31%. I'm not sure if you have to be on the platinum membership to benefit from the extra, I'd assume you do because it seems pointless even going onto the platinum unless you want to max out completely.

The only downside to the shares is the pensions the % equals the % where as the shares scheme could well go up or down.
 
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HangTime said:
Do the platinum pension contribution as well, only takes £60 extra from your net pay each month which presumably you can afford considering you were open to taking a pay cut but adds £160 to the pension pot.
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I'm with you. Get it in the pension. Pension is super important to get use to putting as much as you can in early on.
 
Jonnybmac said:
So yeah I would get 5% more per year, but I'd be putting in 3% more a year to get it, which really only equates to a 2% extra benefit from the company.
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Just to be completely clear the 17.5% and 22.5% are the totals including your contribution?

Sure it isn't as much of a return and is a bit odd to taper off the amount the company matches like that but look at it another way, they're still giving you free money... You're still getting an additional £1000 investment that you only needed to contribute £600 towards.

The only downside to the shares is the pensions the % equals the % where as the shares scheme could well go up or down.
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Either of them could go up or down but in either case, thanks to the contributions from your company, you've got a bit of a large buffer before you take any loss relative to if you'd just invested your own funds directly with no matched contribution.
 
dowie said:
Just to be completely clear the 17.5% and 22.5% are the totals including your contribution?

Sure it isn't as much of a return and is a bit odd to taper off the amount the company matches like that but look at it another way, they're still giving you free money... You're still getting an additional £1000 investment that you only needed to contribute £600 towards.



Either of them could go up or down but in either case, thanks to the contributions from your company, you've got a bit of a large buffer before you take any loss relative to if you'd just invested your own funds directly with no matched contribution.
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I'm not sure I understand a lot of the benefits but you can get a bit carried away with savings etc from what i can gathet. If I was to earn over 46k I would be entitled to an investment membership. Is that on top of the credit account also or instead since a larger salary = larger contributions and the investment contribution is lower.
It does say on the other page also that they're added together so not sure if that means past credit with current/future investment if you got promoted above 46k.

Edit
Removed picture of pension leaflet as Im not sure if I'm allowed to share
 
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Jonnybmac said:
The platinum I am not getting as much returns as the gold I believe.

Gold
3% =17.5%
2.5% = 7.5%
Total 5.5% = 25% = 4.5 times contribution

Platinum
6% = 22.5%
2.5% = 7.5%
Total 8.5% = 30% = 3.5 times contribution

So yeah I would get 5% more per year, but I'd be putting in 3% more a year to get it, which really only equates to a 2% extra benefit from the company. They also have an additional ISA savings where they match up to 3% of my savings and put it into my pension pot. I need to ask more about the terms of this but they apparently do it to promote savings or as an alternative they match an additional 3% with 3% into a pension fund so realistically I could well bump the gold to 8.5% = 31%. I'm not sure if you have to be on the platinum membership to benefit from the extra, I'd assume you do because it seems pointless even going onto the platinum unless you want to max out completely.

The only downside to the shares is the pensions the % equals the % where as the shares scheme could well go up or down.
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I think you are looking at this the wrong way. The multiplier of your contribution is not the important factor, what matters is how much free money you are getting. By not going platinum, you are actively refusing an additional £480 tax free money. Even if the pension investment was completely flat over the year, it's still a staggering return on investment just from the employer contributions, you are highly unlikely to find a better investment for your £720 (bearing in mind if you didn't put it in the pension, it would get taxed, so you'd get less money anyway). The question should basically be, which would I rather have at the end of the year:

a) £1200 in my pension pot
b) £576 in my bank account

By going platinum you are literally better than doubling your money on the additional contributions.

As for the final point, depending on how your pension is invested, it could go up or down also.
 
I agree but then if i max put everything I would be looking at 11.5% contributions. Maybe at a later stage when i have more floating money I can do this but that's just top much to put 3k of 24k into a pension. I could stretch to 6% which would be best spent dropping to 5.5% with pension and shares
 
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