Your Pension.

started at 23, 10% of gross salary paid by company, i vary my contribution every few months, but now will be 0 as we are saving to sell the flat and buy a house next year

My longer term view is to supplement retirement income more by owning a few small properties and renting them out. I guess it's a benefit of being on the London property ladder as we will move out one day and then take the residual equity and put into a flat or two initially outside London, in addition to moving out to the country.
 
Defined Benefit/Final Salary schemes are a dying breed as the employer carries nearly all of the liability. I was in one and so will get some pension at age 60, but that scheme is now closed and I'm paying into a defined contribution/money purchase scheme. Get 12% contribution from the company which isn't too bad these days, but of course any future pension is subject to factors beyond my control such as investment returns and annuity rates in the future. State pension seems to be getting further away, so not sure whether I will be able to fully retire before I'm in my seventies. Bit galling as I know quite a few people who have been pensioned off in their fifties with generous redundancy deals in the last few years.
 
been paying into schemes since I was 18, luckily we have a good financial adviser and he makes sure we're on top of our pension pots and others savings. We have regular reviews to make sure the money is in the right schemes.

I'd love to retire at 55 which is what I'm aiming for - or at least be able to give up the 9-5 and do something part time for extra cash and not be totally dependent on a full time salary.

Don't forget when you move addresses to make sure you give you pension schemes new contact details - especially the frozen schemes you may have.
 
I pay 7.75% of my gross, employer adds 5%. For now at 30 this is OK, adding about $12k a year to the pot. I also have a few savings accounts, stock options, shares and a secondary Swiss pension.

Plan is to get the mortgage paid off as soon as possible while also having size able savings accounts in case of future emergencies. Once either my savings or the mortgage is largely paid off I will increase pension contributions or other retirement schemes, likely the former.
Although I should probably increase my pension contribution early and not worry about the mortgage, mortgage rate is 4.25% but I am getting consistent double digit returns on my pension investments which by the time I retire will be quite substantial.
 
noj said:
been paying into schemes since I was 18, luckily we have a good financial adviser and he makes sure we're on top of our pension pots and others savings. We have regular reviews to make sure the money is in the right schemes.

I'd love to retire at 55 which is what I'm aiming for - or at least be able to give up the 9-5 and do something part time for extra cash and not be totally dependent on a full time salary.

Don't forget when you move addresses to make sure you give you pension schemes new contact details - especially the frozen schemes you may have.
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I had long wanted to retire at 50-55 but now I am more thinking I would rather work less now in less Stressful jobs but end up working until I'm 65-67.

Working a 4 day week, enjoying 3 day weekends and getting a few more weeks holiday a year is much more enticing to me than working 60hour weeks until I'm 55.
 
Started it at 21, put in 4% I think which I am going to raise. Its not worth very much at the moment but by the time I retire I hope it will tide me over quite nicely. Once of my aims is to retire by the time Im 50/55, but I doubt somehow that will happen.
 
I started at 29, paid into a final salary until aged 55 which then closed. I started drawing it at 60 about 11k per annum but as I am working full time, I pay 40% tax on that. I am in a 6%/6% contribution scheme at the moment which will mature at age 65 which is when I shall retire fully.
 
I pay 4% and work pays 6%

I'm 34

Just got sent my statement for this year and according to my pension company if I Carry on with payments matching inflation at 2.5% I'll have a taxable income of 3147 a year when I retire. Makes me wonder if its worth paying into a pension at all tbh.
 
If you are in your 20's now any private pension will be worthless by the time you retire, if it survives pilfering by the government. But by then the concept of 'retirement' as we know it probably won't exist.

I plan on spending my lasting days making things out of wood in a shed, whilst living off the state.

/pessimist mode :P
 
Nodiggidy123 said:
I pay 4% and work pays 6%

I'm 34

Just got sent my statement for this year and according to my pension company if I Carry on with payments matching inflation at 2.5% I'll have a taxable income of 3147 a year when I retire. Makes me wonder if its worth paying into a pension at all tbh.
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Well it depends how good you are at saving as an example:

If you retire at 65 and live to 81 (life expectancy of the UK) to match that you'll need to have £50400 in savings if you don't have a separate pension, to get that level you'd need to save (and never touch) £140 per month from now until retirement.

That does not take into account any interest gained from savings nor does it account for any inflationary decrease to the value of money.

Including the state pension you would have an income of around £180 per week to live on out of which your food, energy + other bill must be taken. Does that sound like an amount that would be acceptable to you?

How much do you put in now compared to the above calculation?
 
I put 10% company puts another 10%. I never joined the final salary scheme when i first started as I was concentrating on paying off Uni debts 4 years later they closed and locked the scheme so it turned out to be a good call in the end (more by luck than planning though tbh).

Sometimes when i look at the balance i wish i could just grab it and pay off the house, I'm sure id be better off finacally if could did sometimes.
 
Three years private, ten years with the Civil Service, another 4 years now - all in all, so far it's looking ok assuming I continue to put into my pensions until I retire. My partner has a good pension too - plenty of money being put away. Last I checked it was a substantial lump sum and a decent enough monthly figure too.

I'm happy with what I've put away so far - all thanks to my employers, to be fair. I'd not have done it otherwise!
 
I have a pension in the UK which I started in 2008 when I was 21 (put in a lump sum, just before the financial crisis - great timing!)

I put in £160 a month which then gets topped up by £40 for tax relief, however as of 4 years ago I moved out of the UK and won't be allowed to top up monthly any more apparently after 5 years has passed. I can still make contributions after this but need to send in a letter with each payment to inform them that there's no tax relief to be claimed , bit of a pain.

Anyway I plan to buy an apartment in London sometime soon or 2-3 in cheaper areas of the UK to have as rental income for now/future
 
My previous employer told me they'll contribute a maximum of 1%, regardless of what I contribute, and I'd have to match it as well, so that'd be less than 20 pounds a month combined.

I told them to stuff it.

The worst thing about pensions is the fact that you don't get the "money" as such, you have to either buy an annuity or go into that "drawdown". Unless you live to the projected age, you will lose money. Or pay extra so that your spouse or whatever gets it.

If you have your own ISA/savings, you use your money the way you want, and no-one can touch it even if you die.
 
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