Pension Review! Please help!!!

jnielow

Dear All,

I have been working now since 1987, I am 34 year old. I have had an array of jobs and my my pension plans have been abit hit and miss!. I have been a member of site alittle while, have bought money diet book etc.(Safe to say I have done my homework on Mortgage home Insurance etc. I now wish to tackle this one.

At the moment I have in place 4 policies they are

1/ Policy with Aviva.com a contracted out final staff salary scheme, this had a transfer value at @ Jan 05 of 14K.

2/ 2 Provident Financial final salary schemes.

The above 2 are preserved benefits as I have left both employers respectfully.

3/ L & G Group Pension Stakeholder scheme, it was a scheme I took out with an employer they made contributions for a few months, then I left. But I have continued to pay into it each month.I pay £20 per month ( I know it is not much but I just want it to tick over. It was a net for support as I started a new job in Dec 04 and was not sure If I would stay. I am still there today.
The money is invested in the UK Equity index fund.

4/ I have taken out a policy with my current employer where I contribute 3% of my gross monthly salary and my employer does the same. This is with Zurich and the funds are invested 50/50 in Managed EP/Equity managed EP.

I have tried to sort this out myself and get an angle on things, I have spoken to some financial advisors!.It seems that to a lay-person somewhat! that I cannot see the wood through the trees on this matter. I know it is a bit of a mess the provisions I have made, but its all about attitude to saving for when you are older I know!. But it is nice to live now!

I really need some kind of reassurance that things are not that bad!, at least there is some sort of provision!. Could I do anything else? I know I need to pay in as much as possible, but I want to live now and later! cake and eat it and all that!. I have come to find that the people in this forum are great and somewhat trust the feedback that I have had in the past.

Well enough woffle!!!!!!! you are probably asleep by now!. Any help would be welcomed. I know the details on my plans are somewhat sketchy!

Thanks

Jason Nielow

EdInvestor

Hi Jason

I think you might need a bit more information.

For a start, may I suggest you get a forecast for your state pension( which should include some entitlement to SERPS/S2P).

Apply here

Secondly, do you know how much pension you will be in line for from the Prov when you retire? I suggest you write to them and ask.

I suggest you also find out a transfer value for the L&G pension.

Also, if you contribute more to the present company scheme, can you get a higher matching contribution from the employer?Or is 3% the max?

Last query: are you still contracted out?If so, which pension are the Government rebates going into - the Aviva one, the L&G one or the Zurich one?

No-one said it was simple

But armed with this info you could probably get a better idea about what action ( if any) you should take.