My work pension scheme.

[gavroche]

We all have different needs and priorities but to me, the best advice I can give to people still working is this: make sure you are mortgage free when you retire and that's worth a pension on its own. On the other hand, if you are not a home owner and paying rent for the rest of your life, then you will need a good pension pot.
We own our own house outright so we don't need lots of money to live on. We both have a state pension , mine a bit higher than normal due to working 44 years and a small private one when I dropped out of SERPS in the 80s. We are not rich by any means, but live comfortably and can afford little luxuries.
I feel sorry for young couples with families these days. Most have no hope to even be able to buy a house, let alone contribute into a pension scheme.

 

[welsh dragon]

I have a very small private pension that I didn't have to pay anything into at all.

It gives me about £3,500 per annum. Not a lot but better than nothing. I have been collecting it since I was 60. I took a lump sum out of it as well about £25,000 altogether and I have that in the bank not that I get any Interest on it.

I have another 2 years to go before I retire officially and can collect my state pension. What with that and Mr WD's pension we will be fine. We won't be rich, but we won't be struggling either.

 

[ColinJ]

I took a lump sum out of it as well about £25,000 altogether and I have that in the bank not that I get any Interest on it.

Buy Premium Bonds with it ASAP!!!! You would probably win about £250-400 p.a. on average. You can cash bonds in online at a few days notice.

 

[welsh dragon]

Buy Premium Bonds with it ASAP!!!! You would probably win about £250-400 p.a. on average. You can cash bonds in online at a few days notice.

I have been thinking investing in PB's to be honest.

 

[marzjennings]

Just as an aside, without wishing to seem nosey, what sort of monthly contributions do you good folks put into your pensions?

I put in 10% of my gross income a year and the company adds in another 14%. This is all into a US 401k program which has been growing on average about 8% a year for the last 17 years. I'm on track for earning just over 75% of my final wage when I retire in about 15 years.

 

[Ridgeway]

Here i pay the legal minimum which is about £22k p/a, ideally i should increase that to around £35k p/a but not this year...

Pension levels are high here as we retire with mortgages or rentals still to pay and of course nice monthly health insurance costs.....

Some how i think we'll be moving before that day comes

France is beckoning

 

[potsy]

Buy Premium Bonds with it ASAP!!!! You would probably win about £250-400 p.a. on average. You can cash bonds in online at a few days notice.

Inspired by your post I have just bought my first ever PBs, if I win big I will send you some commission

Getting back to pensions, I paid into a final salary scheme at my previous job for 14 years before they stopped it and changed to a different scheme for my last couple of years there.

Current employer I pay the max I can (6%) and they put in 9% (I think) so will hopefully have 2 small pensions to go with my state pension if they are still going.

 

[vickster]

I have been thinking investing in PB's to be honest.

There’s no risk in doing so and it’s very easy. Invest now, you’ll probably get into the August draw (maybe September)

 

[Drago]

We all have different needs and priorities but to me, the best advice I can give to people still working is this: make sure you are mortgage free when you retire and that's worth a pension on its own. On the other hand, if you are not a home owner and paying rent for the rest of your life, then you will need a good pension pot.
We own our own house outright so we don't need lots of money to live on. We both have a state pension , mine a bit higher than normal due to working 44 years and a small private one when I dropped out of SERPS in the 80s. We are not rich by any means, but live comfortably and can afford little luxuries.
I feel sorry for young couples with families these days. Most have no hope to even be able to buy a house, let alone contribute into a pension scheme.

My Mum was the one who hammered a constant chinese water torture drip drip drip of financial advice, but my Dad did manage one snippet:

"Son, when you own your own house you answer to no man."

And he was profoundly correct. I've applied for a couple of jobs along the way and been unsuccessful, but it doesn't matter simply because I don't have a mortgage. That gives a freedom of action - or inaction - which becomes uniquely valuable when you retire/are made redundant/simply can't be bothered any more and your income greatly reduces.

The only financial planning advice I'd add to that is avoid loans for holidays and cars, PCP plans, etc. Without them you have hundreds of pounds a month more you can use to to get that mortgage paid off early (8 years in my case - I started again at 35 when I divorced and didn't want to be paying a mortgage until I was 60, so bit the frugal bullet), and if you do suddenly find yourself out of work at any age you're not having to service debts you could do without.

 

[potsy]

There’s no risk in doing so and it’s very easy. Invest now, you’ll probably get into the August draw (maybe September)

I invested last night and am in the August draw.

 

[johnblack]

My Mum was the one who hammered a constant chinese water torture drip drip drip of financial advice, but my Dad did manage one snippet:

"Son, when you own your own house you answer to no man."

And he was profoundly correct. I've applied for a couple of jobs along the way and been unsuccessful, but it doesn't matter simply because I don't have a mortgage. That gives a freedom of action - or inaction - which becomes uniquely valuable when you retire/are made redundant/simply can't be bothered any more and your income greatly reduces.

The only financial planning advice I'd add to that is avoid loans for holidays and cars, PCP plans, etc. Without them you have hundreds of pounds a month more you can use to to get that mortgage paid off early (8 years in my case - I started again at 35 when I divorced and didn't want to be paying a mortgage until I was 60, so bit the frugal bullet), and if you do suddenly find yourself out of work at any age you're not having to service debts you could do without.

Paying off the mortgage early absolutely felt the best thing to do for us, we did ours in 15 years by the time we were 45, it gaves us the ability to really invest in the future. I appreciate this is not practicle or possible for everyone but we did have to do without a lot of things to do get here. I dump everything I can on finance, as long as it's 0% or at least a lower rate than the return on investments I'd have to use to pay for things.

 

[dodgy]

Owning your own home is a great feeling and also a tremendous privilege in this day and age. But, don't prioritise paying off your mortgage over saving into your pension.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Never been a big fan of pensions tbh. They're inherently biased towards the pension provider being the winner.

Much preferred the zeroing debt and save like crazy whilst enjoying yourself along the way approach.

Only private pension I have is a big corporate no-option-no-contribution-so-why-not one. Provides a reasonable amount of income, will be bolstered by 2 x State pensions but in essence we can live off of our various investments ad-infinitum - if only life were that long.

 

[dodgy]

Never been a big fan of pensions tbh. They're inherently biased towards the pension provider being the winner.

You've lost me there!

 

[SpokeyDokey]

You've lost me there!

Take any given size 'pot' and the provider will usually make more from it than they pay out to you.