Pensions

denislawsbackheel said:
I started work in 1974.
In those days pension schemes were compulsory if your company had one.
Thank god.
My wages were shit. I couldn't afford holidays or a mortgage for years but I was making pension provision.

I just cannot understand theses claims of not being able to afford it.
You cannot afford NOT to have one.
Just work on the basis that you are being paid a percentage less than your real gross.
I wonder how many who make this claim have all the tech bells and whistles - Sky/Virgin subscription, fancy phone contract, flashy car?
It's all about priorities.

I often hear daft claims like "my house is pension".
Let.'s consider that.
I could get about £280K for my 3 bed roomed house. If I sold it I could buy a retirement apartment nearby for about £180K.
So I would trouser £100K.
That won't go far!

One of my kids is in a works pension scheme where they will match £ for £ up to 10%.
She's on slightly more than the working wage but nevertheless I sat down with her and we looked at the figures and she has maxed out her own contributions.
Another kid has a company pension on minimum contributions so he also has a private pension.

Opting out of a works pension scheme is equivalent turning down a pay increase.

If people rely on the state pension only they will live their older years in penury and won't get it until they are fit to drop.

Get started now.
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What were you doing from 1966 ?
 
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M18CTID said:
While I agree that people have so many other things to fork our for, even if a young person in their early twenties started off by putting £20-£30 a month in a private pension and upped their contributions gradually over time, they'd be sat on a decent pot come retirement age. One of my biggest regrets is not doing something like this when I was at that age - instead I just pissed pretty much every spare penny up the wall for years and years. I'm in my mid-40's now and contributing to a private pension but I need to be putting literally hundreds and hundreds away to get a decent pot at retirement and while I'm making significant contributions, I can't stretch to that.
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well at 17 when I was auto enrolled in one I was pretty pissed off at losing some of my beer tokens - at 55 still in a job with a pension I am so glad it happened. Problem is because of the way these thigs are NOT explained in schools retirement is a long way away and a rather abstract concept for a 17 year old now and keep threatening to move the retirement age ever further on is little encouragement. All I know is that for me and anybody else fortunate like me we should be ok when we retire without having to work only for money to put in my pension now - I'm still skint though - fucking kids eh? ha ha
 
One for any IFA's out there

I have three Aviva policies
One is my opted out serps DWP protected - Value £28k. Contributions stopped in this policy in 2002
Then my other two are currently valued at just over 100k
Sounds a lot doesn't it!
I'm 53 and would love to retire at 60
However to achieve a pension of 18k, I need a pot in excess of £400k
How do I get there?
My monthly net contributions are £336 PCM
 
Captain Underpants said:
Only this.... Bricks and mortar is the safest route...... at the moment :)
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Until the next property crash - then you're fucked if that coincides with when you want to cash in and retire - you may have to work on until things improve.

It was like the old money purchase scheme rules where you got your retirement date and the value with which to buy your annuity was then given to you and you had to buy one - problem was if you retired the week after say Black Friday then the annuity values you had been banking on over the up coming months just crashed and some people saw the value of their pensions halved or worse at a stroke. Thankfully new rules give the retiree far more flexibility.
 
dickie davies said:
One for any IFA's out there

I have three Aviva policies
One is my opted out serps DWP protected - Value £28k. Contributions stopped in this policy in 2002
Then my other two are currently valued at just over 100k
Sounds a lot doesn't it!
I'm 53 and would love to retire at 60
However to achieve a pension of 18k, I need a pot in excess of £400k
How do I get there?
My monthly net contributions are £336 PCM
Click to expand...

Meet you outside a Hatton Garden safety deposit store Saturday 3pm??? I'll bring the drills - DON'T you come on the bus for fucks sake ha ha
 
Whilst you are still getting tax relief on your pension contributions, and your employer is contributing as well, it's a no brainer to put what you can into your pension, even more so if you are a 40% (or more) tax payer, unless you have gone through your lifetime allowance and regularly go through your annual allowance
 
Dave Ewing's Back 'eader said:
Shove money into a pension pot, pay off yer student loans, and get a mortgage. Simple arrangement, particularly if yer Dad's an MP! Not so good for the majority. Does this Tory Turd MP think that working folk can stretch a pound into a fiver? They don't live in the world that pays inadequate salaries.
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my original point exactly - what he said was all good advice - except for the fact it displayed a crass lack of understanding of the financial position of probably 99% of his constituents the dick !!
 
bluethrunthru said:
Until the next property crash - then you're fucked if that coincides with when you want to cash in and retire - you may have to work on until things improve.

It was like the old money purchase scheme rules where you got your retirement date and the value with which to buy your annuity was then given to you and you had to buy one - problem was if you retired the week after say Black Friday then the annuity values you had been banking on over the up coming months just crashed and some people saw the value of their pensions halved or worse at a stroke. Thankfully new rules give the retiree far more flexibility.
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Not if you are going to just reap the rental off them, I would hope over a 40 year working life 4 to 5 houses would have paid themselves off. Then the income from the rent is your pension, the world has changed post 2007 most people can't buy so they will end up renting for life it's just not feasible for them to save for a deposit either that or lower their expectations
 
The goverment don't seem to grasp that in order for the young people to put money into a pension they need to have a job, by increasing the retirement age people are having to stay in their job longer and so there are fewer jobs for the kids to take.
As I get older I can't help but feel so sad for the kids today, Things could be so different if the powers that be grew some bollocks and went after the companies and corporations who are avoiding paying tax etc..
The country is fucked and we need an uprising, we need it now.
 
Do you honestly think the government thinks we will collect these pensions? Work until your 70, what digging roads etc people may live longer but what's their quality of life like, you will either work until you die or retire to a care home where your pension will pay for your care, best you enjoy your life before you retire because once you do, what the fuck are you going to be able to do at 70+, apart from shit yourself and dribble. You won't have a state pension because you'll probably be dead and the government will just pocket your contributions knowing they'll never have to pay out.
 
Blue Maverick said:
Whilst I agree with most in here about a pension I've done the right thing since I was 18 and 3 years ago the government tear up the agreement and say I have to work 8 years more, give more and get less, I'd tell my daughter to invest in housing as soon as possible, and hopefully every 10 years buy another. She then controls her money for her retirement, I remember what Maxwell did to his workers pensions and how the government have fucked over the public sector, I trust no one.
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is definitely the right answer.
 
My advice is to diversify your savings plans because your pension pots will be raided and you will now be working until you are 75/80 before the govt will give you a penny...who knows, those under 20 might end up working longer ....
 
dickie davies said:
One for any IFA's out there

I have three Aviva policies
One is my opted out serps DWP protected - Value £28k. Contributions stopped in this policy in 2002
Then my other two are currently valued at just over 100k
Sounds a lot doesn't it!
I'm 53 and would love to retire at 60
However to achieve a pension of 18k, I need a pot in excess of £400k
How do I get there?
My monthly net contributions are £336 PCM
Click to expand...

The key to all of this is what will your State Pension be? I assume based on your age it will be paid from 67. You need to find this out as it is vital to enable you to plan ahead.

Anyone who wants a State Pension forecast can get one by calling 0345 3000 168. It is only really worth doing if you are within 15 years of retirement.

If you contracted out of Serps but contracted back in, your state pension may be higher than you think.

Lets assume you will get £150 per week from the State. That means from the age of 67 you will only need an income of £10,200 per year as the State will pay you £7800.

You haven't said if you are a basic or higher rate tax payer. Assuming basic, the £336 net is £420 gross so £5040 per year. Assuming you do that for another 7 years then you will have a pot of around £165k and that is assuming no growth. With a bit of growth it could be closer to £200k.

At 60, you will need £18,000 per annum. As you wont be working, you will have a full personal allowance to use up, £11,000 per year from April 16.

Under new flexible access rules, you could take your full tax free cash of £50,000 (25%-Based on assumption of £200k fund) and take an income of £11,000 per year (paying no tax on this). You could then top this up with the tax free cash each year to get you to £18,000 net income or £1500 per month. If you don't need that much net then all the better as you will still have some tax free cash left at 67.

This would use up around £127,000 of the fund. The balance will have grown (you hope) so may last around 8-10 years from age 67 (funding the £10,200 mentioned above)

That illustrates the potential shortfall. On current pot size/values and using a lot of assumptions, your £18k retirement would reduce to State Pension only at around 75-77 years old.

Some people would be happy to do that and maybe downsize at that time or use savings if they have any. Others wouldn't.

Alternatives are

1. Pay more in (You probably wont need it to be £400k based on above)
2. Retire a bit later -Retiring at 62 for example would probably stretch the fund to age 80 plus
3. Reduce days at work at 60 and top up income using pension.
4. Take the advice re Hatton Garden

The best guidance I could give is get some financial advice and you may achieve what you want without too much additional effort.
 
big phil said:
Somewhat suspicious that this government (or any government) only encourages the great unwashed to put more in their pensions so that said government can help themselves to it further down the line.
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Nailed it.
 
Blue Maverick said:
Do you honestly think the government thinks we will collect these pensions? Work until your 70, what digging roads etc people may live longer but what's their quality of life like, you will either work until you die or retire to a care home where your pension will pay for your care, best you enjoy your life before you retire because once you do, what the fuck are you going to be able to do at 70+, apart from shit yourself and dribble. You won't have a state pension because you'll probably be dead and the government will just pocket your contributions knowing they'll never have to pay out.
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Your state pension pay for your care?
You are in cloud cuckoo land.!
Last year, before she died, my mother in law was in a care home charging over £1000 a month.
 
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