Are you also saving for retirement?

Conrad

Pensions die with you once you pass retirment age. I have frozen mine, and prefer other methods, which, can be left in tact for my children.

Really2

I will worry about this once I have bought my house!

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

Here's an article that discusses which is best, payin off the mortgage or paying into a pension: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/retirement/article.html?in_article_id=442608&in_page_id=6

"Under present conditions it may make sense to invest rather than pay off mortgage debt, but if interest rates rise significantly in the future then you will lose the benefit. Depending on the interest rate you are paying on your mortgage there is a certain investment return your pension must make to beat it, dubbed a 'hurdle rate'."

Thanks i am thinking when we start to show a bit of growth I may jump back on board but for the moment I Cant see A pension doing much.
So overpaying in my offset (because of the low rates) I am trying to stop future rate increases and maximise my future savings.

chewmylegoff

Yep, I have a Company/Personal Pension and/or ISA savings

currently 8% employers pension contributions (no contribution from me - saving cash instead). 3 years of civil service pension kicking about, soon to be transferred out into my old stakeholder from my first job which is sitting around with not much in it.

mitchaa

40/60th FSP, pay in 8% gross. I will have 41yrs service on my 65th birthday so i'll get the whole 66.6%

I also have an index linked FSP from my last job that will pay £4k from my 65th birthday, not much, but better than nothing and obviously the state pension at 68. (If its still around)

Additional to that, mortgage will be paid by the time i'm 40, which allows me a further 25yrs to invest the money i would have been paying for my mortgage elsewhere.

Should be okay in my older days i would imagine.

chewmylegoff

Yep, I have a Company/Personal Pension and/or ISA savings

MrDT wrote: »

Bit worried that my grandfather, who earned £3 a month from a private pension was apparently denied any form of financial help in his retired years, whereas those with no personal pension get the full state pension. Not sure how much truth is in this or if it's a chinese whisper as relayed through family members. Guess I need to gen-up at some point.

there are two levels of state pension, one which everyone gets, and a top-up to this which used to be called SERPS and is now called the second state pension. this is funded by the "contracted in" element of your national insurance contributions. the amount you get is related to your earnings, and how many years of NI contributions you made.

your grandfather will still have received the basic state pension, everyone does on reaching retirement age. it sounds like he may have received poor "contracting out" advice at some point, and may have suffered as a result, although if his occupational pension was so small it is possible that even had he "contracted in" his earnings above the NI lower earnings limit may not have been significant enough to command a full second state pension.

wymondham

Yep, I have a Company/Personal Pension and/or ISA savings

Now saving for retirement, but there was no way I could do this whilst I had a mortgage - it was one or the other as the payments are a similar level in order to get a decent pension...

Dithering_Dad

Yep, I have a Company/Personal Pension and/or ISA savings

Conrad wrote: »

Pensions die with you once you pass retirment age. I have frozen mine, and prefer other methods, which, can be left in tact for my children.

I think this is fine if the alternative method you choose gives a similar return as a pension. In my case, as a 40% tax payer, I would find it very difficult to find an investment where my initial deposit grew instantly by 40%. To be honest, even as a basic rate tax payer I'd find it difficult to find an investment that would instantly increase by 20%.

If you invest in an alternative method that doesn't give you a similar return as a traditional pension, then all you are doing is making yourself poorer in retirement in order to further 'feather the nest' of your (hopefully) middle aged 'children'.

hethmar

Yep, I have a Company/Personal Pension and/or ISA savings

OH has a few pensions, occupational ones which he left frozen and which, in one case, has far outperformed any other provisions we have made privately. I have only a very small private pension and have in the last few years been making up my NI contributions for a full pension.

My 26 year old son thought I was daft telling him to pay into his occupational contributory pension until I showed him how much his employer would be putting up against his payments. On top of that it has been very handy for his mortgage as he has interest only at the mo but will be swopping over to repayment.

chewmylegoff

Yep, I have a Company/Personal Pension and/or ISA savings

mitchaa wrote: »

I also have an index linked FSP from my last job that will pay £4k from my 65th birthday, not much, but better than nothing and obviously the state pension at 68. (If its still around)

since you're saying 68, i'm going to assume you're not retiring until at least 2045.

if there is still a state pension for all by then i will eat kirsty allsop's hat.

i assume it will be means tested by then, probably the only way it will continue to be affordable is to stop paying it to people who can afford to do without it (regardless of whether they feel it is owed to them via the tax and NI they have paid).

chucky

Yep, I have a Company/Personal Pension and/or ISA savings

Conrad wrote: »

Pensions die with you once you pass retirment age. I have frozen mine, and prefer other methods, which, can be left in tact for my children.

very true - what else would you suggest?