virgin stakeholder v b&ce stakeholder

Virgin stakeholder is a rubbish pension so thats an easy choice for you to make.

I suggest you look at your monthly contributions whilst you are at it. You are a bit on the low side but you still have time to do something about it. Ideally, you should be getting into the £30k range by your early to mid 30s. You are just over £13k.

Your contribution is on the light side for someone a bit behind (although there are many that havent even started by 30). Not by a massive amount but you could start drifting if you are not careful.

If you kept your current level of contribution increasing each year by inflation then you would end up with a pension of around £10-£12k p.a. at age 68 (your state retirement age).

Make a relatively small increase to your contributions now could make a very big difference. £50pm increase now with annual increases with inflation could increase your pension by over £4000 a year at age 68.

having to have around 30k invested does seem a lot considering a few years back earning around 18k in the building trade was pretty normal .

30k is not really. If you start paying at 18 then the gross premium to achieve that £35k at age 35 is £100pm. Thats £80 direct debit and in the B&CE scheme you are getting £13. So, the net contribution would have been £67pm. Very affordable and reasonable.

If you dont start early or you dont pay enough then you either end up short in retirement or it will cost you more later if you dont want to end up short.

In your case, 5 years of £143 pm (current contribution) would bump your fund by £10k. Your current fund would have grown to around £17,500. So, thats £27,500 by age 35. You are not that far off. Increasing your monthly amount to £200 (inc B&CE) would bring you to £31,500 by 35.

Dont forget to look at your retirement planning jointly. If all the planning is in one name or top heavy to one partner then you are probably planning badly. (sometimes it cannot be helped)