New job & pension scheme

jem16

freakyogre wrote: »

Hmm, doesn't sound great then. I doubt i'll bother as you can never guarantee how long a job will last anymore.

I've heard many say that and still be there 20 years later!

freakyogre

jem16 wrote: »

I've heard many say that and still be there 20 years later!

For jobs/careers such as police/nurses I can believe that, but not the kind of work I do (admin).

Like I said, i've been made redundant twice already (and only ever had those 2 jobs from college; one lasted 18 months, the other 4 years and neither of them ended through my choice) so i'm not going to get my hopes up in this sort of job.

adrian_bond

OP, i would say start the pension. you will get it all back if you are made redundant (even if it is when youre 55 (earlies you can get it back)). In the meantime its a very efficient saving method for your retirement, plus the longer you are there, the larger your pot will grow, especailly with the employer contributions. as others have said, you can move the pot around if you do get made redundant so no worries there either. i only wish my company did the same as yours. mine doesnt contribute squat except excuses.

good luck

cyclonebri1

Without being offensive, take a more mature and longterm view of life and join the pension now.

The option is being back on here in 20 years time with a post; "I'm a 44 year old, just been made redundant, no pension, no....etc etc"



As said, no offence intended

Dithering_Dad

I work in I.T. and I've been a bit of a gypsy as far as jobs are concerned. Over the 16 years since I left University, the longest I have stayed in a job is 4 years, the shortest was 18 months.

In all of these jobs I have taken the company pension option and when I left I either transferred the pension to my next company or transferred it into a Stakeholder pension (which is a piece of cake to organise and free to do).

My current pension pot now stands at £87k, most of which is comprised of employer contributions, tax rebate and capital gains. I have put hardly any of that money in there.

Just fill in the pension form, send it off and then forget about it. If you're made redundant then they will ask what you want to do with your pension - simply open a stakeholder online (can be done in about 10 mins, with paperwork taking about a week), give your employer you stakeholder pension account number and they will do the rest - your money will be transferred without any hassles to you.

It's free money from your employer, the tax man and from gains on the stock market. Don't throw it away.

ScoobyStew

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

I work in I.T. and I've been a bit of a gypsy as far as jobs are concerned. Over the 16 years since I left University, the longest I have stayed in a job is 4 years, the shortest was 18 months.

In all of these jobs I have taken the company pension option and when I left I either transferred the pension to my next company or transferred it into a Stakeholder pension (which is a piece of cake to organise and free to do).

My current pension pot now stands at £87k, most of which is comprised of employer contributions, tax rebate and capital gains. I have put hardly any of that money in there.

Just fill in the pension form, send it off and then forget about it. If you're made redundant then they will ask what you want to do with your pension - simply open a stakeholder online (can be done in about 10 mins, with paperwork taking about a week), give your employer you stakeholder pension account number and they will do the rest - your money will be transferred without any hassles to you.

It's free money from your employer, the tax man and from gains on the stock market. Don't throw it away.

:shocked: good work mate :money::money::money:

freakyogre

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Without being offensive, take a more mature and longterm view of life and join the pension now.

The option is being back on here in 20 years time with a post; "I'm a 44 year old, just been made redundant, no pension, no....etc etc"



As said, no offence intended

Just out of interest (and no offence back to you) but if they're such a good idea, why doesn't everyone (where possible) do it? I've heard good and bad things about them so not sure.


Well i've asked for more information today as the form I was given literally asked are you interested or not and the amount you wanted to put in. I explained that I didn't really understand it so wanted more info before agreeing which they do anyway, so I will wait for that.

PS. I'd prefer to think of myself as realistic rather than immature

Oldernotwiser

You may also find that there's life assurance included.

Andy_L

freakyogre wrote: »

Just out of interest (and no offence back to you) but if they're such a good idea, why doesn't everyone (where possible) do it? I've heard good and bad things about them so not sure.

because until recently most people were financially ignorant about pensions and didn't realise the value of what they were giving up for an extra 5% or so in their hand

cyclonebri1

freakyogre wrote: »

Just out of interest (and no offence back to you) but if they're such a good idea, why doesn't everyone (where possible) do it? I've heard good and bad things about them so not sure.


Well i've asked for more information today as the form I was given literally asked are you interested or not and the amount you wanted to put in. I explained that I didn't really understand it so wanted more info before agreeing which they do anyway, so I will wait for that.

PS. I'd prefer to think of myself as realistic rather than immature

Because, and in line with Andy's thinking, at typically your age, everything is more important than a pension, were'll going to work and live forever and old age will never come. Sound familiar?
Yes living will get in the way, nice house, flash car, good hols etc, But it's so easy to loose the 20 years I spoke of and then realise what the future holds. I don't need to spell out the benefits of the scheme available to you others can do and have done that better.

The First years of a pension are the most valuable in my view and heaven forbid if you find yourself in the same position as me, not starting a pension untill later and having to take early retirement at 55 due to a serious accident.

I was lucky, I'd started at 30 which I now wish had been earlier of course, hence my post.

At 24 we all feel/felt invinsible;););)

Good luck.

Edited to add; Opting out of serps/2nd state pension proved invaluable in my case too.