Are you paying into a pension?

nilagin said:
Is that before or after tax?
When I retire there'll be no ni to pay, no mortgage, very little tax, less in travelling costs, I reckon we could easily afford to live more than comfortably on a cut of around £800 to £1k from my current wages. Certainly won't need £3k
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That'll be Net.

I like toys, travel and subsidising our kids. Well, the first two anyway.
 
I'm 52 and currently have about £15000 per annul being paid into a pension (partly me partly my employer). I was in a final salary scheme which was wound up but the benefit from that will be £25000 pa + RPI increases, payable at age 60. I also have a separate pot of £40000 which I hope will double in next 8 years.
I guess I've done alright from pension especially as the £25 k one was non contributory!
 
Daryl said:
Take the money out and put into houses or your business. but don;t think like a one man band. Build it up sell or run through your retirement.
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This.

My dad paid into pensions for years. When he turned 50 he changed his mind. Cashed in his pension and put the money he was paying into it into property. He started small with one house, bought it derelict, done it up and rented it.

He now has 15 properties and rents them all. The rent covers the mortgages and gives him a pay packet.

But the bottom line is that he has over 2 million pounds worth of property now. He'll have a good life when he finally stops doing stuff, 64 now and showing no signs of that though :bonk:
 
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when we retire a loaf of bread may well cost £10
that's if the government haven't increased the retirement age up to 102 lol
When making plans for pensions you will also have to factor in that you may well end up divorced so your pension pot will be reduced by at least half and you will have to find the cash to pay her out out of your pocket
 
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Rebel t3i said:
when we retire a loaf of bread may well cost £10
that's if the government haven't increased the retirement age up to 102 lol
When making plans for pensions you will also have to factor in that you may well end up divorced so your pension pot will be reduced by at least half and you will have to find the cash to pay her out out of your pocket
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Happy little soul aren't you :D :lol:
 
viv1969 said:
Happy little soul aren't you :D :lol:
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:lol::lol:
It's true though and certainly worth factoring in to your life plan as you only get one shot at it
It was a grave mistake I made and a fair few people I know
try restarting your retirement plans at 45
 
Adam_M said:
Daryl is right, buy houses, rent them out. Has worked out really well for my uncle.

This thread just reminds me that I should stop messing with cameras and get my first house!
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It's okay if you have your house paid off (like Daryl has managed to achieve :clap: ) but it's not like going out and buying a new telly. Until you've actually bought your own house, lived in it for a while and maintained it (all while working a day job), then it's not quite as easy as you make it sound...
 
That's a defeatist attitude. You can make it happen if you put your mind to it
 
Have been paying £30 to £40 per month into a private pension scheme since 1988. Still have another 20 years before I can cash it in at 65.

Since I am on income support as a home carer for an elderly mother (I own the house we live in and have four years left on what is a small mortgage) . . . I am now thinking whether it's worth my while freezing that pension scheme (it's with Scottish Widows). Doing tht would certainly trim my month budget that little bit more.

A pity I can't cash it in now and just have the time of my life and worry about getting even older and smellier when I get to it. :lol:
 
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joescrivens said:
That's a defeatist attitude. You can make it happen if you put your mind to it
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No it's not, it's a realist attitude. I agree, if you try hard then owt is possible, but let's not think it's as easy as buying a piece of electrical equipment.

The example you gave is a good one - your Dad was obviously paying into a pension for quite some time, found that the investment return not to his liking (for whatever reason) so invested what was probably a substantial amount into a development project. Now he's successful. But the key thing was the initial cash he had to invest.... without that it's bloody hard and risky.
 
You have a different outlook to me. I will look out ways round the situation rather than concentrate on why it's not easy.
 
No I don't write self help books. If you can't help yourself then screw you pal! :D
 
To those that are recommending people jack in their pensions and start buying properties to rent out, that's the photographic equivalent of answering the question "which lens should I buy?" with "get the canon 300mm 2.8L. I have it, it's a fantastic lens" and not bothering to find out what they shoot, what camera they have or what their budget is.

There is a reason at IFAs do a comprehensive fact find before giving financial advice.
 
2blue4u said:
That'll be Net.

I like toys, travel and subsidising our kids. Well, the first two anyway.
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I like cars, motorsport, weight training (yes I'll continue when I retire) and I also subsidise my two sons, still wouldn't need as much as £3k though. Once I take early retirement I certainly don't plan on taking on a part time job.
 
Ive been paying into pensions for the past 7 years since leaving uni.

The first 4 years was via employer contribution and quite frankly the amount id be getting is laughable (but as it was company contribution I cant complain), saying that the quarterly statements are worth a chuckle so in comedy value alone it is worth it.

Currently on 5eachrrs pension where im working at the mo, I can only afford to pay the minimum and not increase my payments, which is obviously going to come back to bite me later on but cant be helped.

From an article I read a while back it doesnt matter anyway most people of my age dont feel we'll ever be able to retire anyway.... I better hope B&Q is still around when im old enough.....
 
the problem with pensions is that they've changed over the years so much that there's hundreds of variations on a theme. Some you can't get anymore others that are brand new on the market. But at the end of the day, it's a financial product that you contribute to in order to realise an income when you retire. My view on it is that it's the biggest load of tosh ever... what happens if your throw a seven 2 years after retiring after contributing for all those years? The only people who benefit are the buggers you've left behind.

I have a 3 or 4 pension schemes in place, all non-contributing, probably totalling about £150k... my property will be my nest egg. Flog it, downsize when the kids have left home and have £0.5m to spend on women and beer :thumbs:

I'll probably just do a few weddings for a bit of pocket money at the weekends :gag:
 
leftcurl said:
My view on it is that it's the biggest load of tosh ever... what happens if your throw a seven 2 years after retiring after contributing for all those years? The only people who benefit are the buggers you've left behind.
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What's wrong with that?
When I retire I plan on taking the largest lump sum I can and we'll still be more than comfortable living on the monthly payment without even considering whatever the state pension is likely to be. The lump sum can be reinvested for extra income although in all liklehood a major portion will be invested for my two sons for them in later life or whatever. If I die before my wife, she get's half of what my monthly pension income would have been if I hadn't taken a lump sum, which isn't far behind what we'll be getting anyway so she'll be ok. I won't be taking it with me but it certainly won't go to waste.
 
joescrivens said:
This.

My dad paid into pensions for years. When he turned 50 he changed his mind. Cashed in his pension and put the money he was paying into it into property. He started small with one house, bought it derelict, done it up and rented it.

He now has 15 properties and rents them all. The rent covers the mortgages and gives him a pay packet.

But the bottom line is that he has over 2 million pounds worth of property now. He'll have a good life when he finally stops doing stuff, 64 now and showing no signs of that though :bonk:
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To be fair Joe, your Dad started that 14 years ago when loans and money were freely available. It's not so easy to do that now!
 
nilagin said:
What's wrong with that?
When I retire I plan on taking the largest lump sum I can and we'll still be more than comfortable living on the monthly payment without even considering whatever the state pension is likely to be. The lump sum can be reinvested for extra income although in all liklehood a major portion will be invested for my two sons for them in later life or whatever. If I die before my wife, she get's half of what my monthly pension income would have been if I hadn't taken a lump sum, which isn't far behind what we'll be getting anyway so she'll be ok. I won't be taking it with me but it certainly won't go to waste.
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nothing wrong - free choice. I'm just of the opinion that no pension product will ever out perform bricks and mortar or an alternative well performing investment fund, such as an ISA (as i said, with the right investment company of course :thumbs:)
 
admirable said:
To be fair Joe, your Dad started that 14 years ago when loans and money were freely available. It's not so easy to do that now!
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well he's been gradually doing it every year since. Its not like he bought 15 houses in one year, the latest purchase was only a year or so ago.

It might not be AS easy, but it's still a viable option if you plan things correctly
 
I'm 22 and have been paying into a pension since 21.
My total contributions are £240 a month .

Not sure what that adds up to though.
 
Adam_M said:
Daryl is right, buy houses, rent them out. Has worked out really well for my uncle.

This thread just reminds me that I should stop messing with cameras and get my first house!
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We are doing both, just bought our first one :thumbs:

So although I haven't got a pot to **** in we have 2 houses and a church, I have a feeling I may end poor and dead with rich kids......:bonk:
 
I put some away and my employer doubles it. I'm not really looking forward to the older years though, I'm more interested in enjoying life while I'm younger.
 
matty said:
are those figures what YOU pay or combined with your employer? Im on a good salary and have had a pensionplan in place for a long time and dont pay anywhere near that...
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Well I've paid into a pension all my working life and currently pay around £450 a month with my employer paying in around £700 so that's nearly £14k per year but I am clinging onto a final salary scheme at the moment.

Pension contribution rates (for both employee and employer) vary so much from employer to employer it is difficult to directly compare.

I don't mind paying this as I view it as money i never had and i know I have a very good pension as well as providing some life insurance and a spouse / dependents pension.

I'd never have no pension - I know of a few that have no pension or other vehicle for their retirement - one colleague who is 21 said she didn't see the point in it but in 40 years time I wonder what her view will be?
 
Buck said:
Well I've paid into a pension all my working life and currently pay around £450 a month with my employer paying in around £700 so that's nearly £14k per year but I am clinging onto a final salary scheme at the moment.

Pension contribution rates (for both employee and employer) vary so much from employer to employer it is difficult to directly compare.

I don't mind paying this as I view it as money i never had and i know I have a very good pension as well as providing some life insurance and a spouse / dependents pension.

I'd never have no pension - I know of a few that have no pension or other vehicle for their retirement - one colleague who is 21 said she didn't see the point in it but in 40 years time I wonder what her view will be?
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£1250 a month ! No idea how old you are, but based on that you only need what went in to retire on a nice number. If you retired at 50 starting at 20 that would be over half a million.
 
£1250 a month?! Wow, I don't even earn that in the first place, let alone put it into the pension pot!!
I don't make any contributions to a pension, I just can't afford it at the moment and as I'd only be putting in less than £100 a month if I did I'm not sure it'd be worth it in the long run.
 
Studi0488 said:
£1250 a month ! No idea how old you are, but based on that you only need what went in to retire on a nice number. If you retired at 50 starting at 20 that would be over half a million.
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He mentioned it was a final salary scheme so the contributions won't go into his personal pot. He'll get a pension based on his years in the scheme and his salary at retirement. And the employer contributions are more than likely going partly towards the past service deficit that the scheme more than likely has.
 
This thread has got me looking into my company pension scheme now but I have two question. When I go on the aviva website it estimates that I want to have an income of 66% of my current income when I retire.

Is that the most common calculation? I have no idea how much money I am going to need when I want to retire. Also is it best to do the calculation on retiring at 70 instead of 65 as the government are going to change the rules anyway at some point.
 
Karl12347 said:
This thread has got me looking into my company pension scheme now but I have two question. When I go on the aviva website it estimates that I want to have an income of 66% of my current income when I retire.

Is that the most common calculation? I have no idea how much money I am going to need when I want to retire. Also is it best to do the calculation on retiring at 70 instead of 65 as the government are going to change the rules anyway at some point.
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Can you change the % income at retirement? This is probably just the default setting and is an old "rule of thumb" as to how much people are likely to need in retirement. In the old days, company pension schemes would typically provide 1/60th of your final salary for each year of service. If you worked 40 years, you would get two thirds. How much you will need depends entirely on your own circumstances.

The Aviva website may not actually include your basic state pension so you need to check whether this is included.
 
I'm in the NHS scheme. Part of me wants to put the money in elsewhere as I believe it won't exist for when I want it! Oh well!!
 
Daryl said:
New car every few years? If only I had that to worry about.... and the chap selling the 'Big issue'.





lots are reaching 90. Pension will be gone before that time, then what?
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We stand inline at the recycling centre. :'(
 
How much is one of them there 5 bar electric fires? Actually - a 3 bar, I won't be able to run a all bars - too expensive!

I think I am going to invest in that famous dog of Daryl's!

Dav
 
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