Thanks folks - lots of useful info to consider
As an aside, I can understand not trusting the Government(s).
In fact it can be scary when something like COVID or a war hits and pension funds plummet. And isn't it just great that they can lose a fortune in a short time, but then take an age to get back up to what they were!! Typical.
Thanks - appreciate you both acknowledging this as all too often daring to question the approved / accepted establishment narrative provokes a backlash..
What government pension scheme do you mean? The State pension?
I think
@wafter means Nest, the government pension scheme a lot of employers use.
Tbh I'm not sure as I've never really consistently earned enough to warrant paying much attention.
Am I correct in thinking there are two; the state pension (predicated on NI contributions) and whatever other scheme the governement are pushing (I get occasional correspondence from "The People's Pension"..?
Another limit to contributing to a workplace scheme - you cannot salary sacrifice beyond the limit that would put you at the minimum wage. In other words, if you deduct your pension contribution from your salary, the remainder must be at or above minimum wage.
Thanks - a very salient point I wasn't aware of. I "earn" minimum wage so that presumably rules out any further tax relief on any contributions I might choose to make..?
Another aspect to consider is how close to retirement you are.
When I've spoken to my private pension companies about the investments (mainstream ones used to company private pension schemes) many of their investment funds change depending on the individual's age. When contributor is young the investments can take a long term view recognising there will be ups and downs but long term trend is up. But getting closer to retirement and sudden downs can badly damage the fund as there isn't time before retirement to wait for a corresponding up. This my (mainstrean) companies adjust the balance of their investments using higher return/higher risk (with long term view) when still a long time until retirement but migrating to lower return but more stable investments as one gets closer to retirement.
Thus OPs 12% might correspond to a brief "up". Some of my non-pension investments over 2025 returned more than that rate (growth not income) but in the first two months of 2026 declined in value (pre-wars, etc.).
Thanks - that's a good point about the risk. While my old dear is well into retirement, might this be a reason why her financial advisor has pushed her towards low yield (and correspondingly low risk) investments...?
You may be right about my latest statement; again it's really the first time I've paid attention and will go through all the historic statements I have to see how it's performed in past years.
The gov website, once you have your username and password, makes it simple to see when you can get your UK sate pension; how much of theoretical maximum you are currently entitled to; how many more complete National Insurance contribution years you need to get the full amount and any gap years from recent years you could fill with voluntary contributions etc.
This thread made me check my situation for the first time in a while and enlightened me to something I didn't realise.
https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record
Thanks - that's something I've been meaning to look into for ages, as I suspect with my potted employment history my NI records are pretty dire and the job of checking always gets pushed to the back of my mind in preference for whatever other crisis happens to be unfolding at the time...
