When should I start saving for a pension

EdInvestor

In addition to being your home, a house is a tax free geared investment with a safety net beneath it. Everyone should have one at some point IMHO

But there are some people of course who really don't want what they perceive to be the hassle of home ownership and enjoy what they perceive to be the freedom of renting.Such people often make excellent long term tenants, and are now getting a lot better treated because of the BTL boom than ever before, which is all to the good.

As for the OP's dilemma, may I suggest she skedaddles over to the Debt board and asks for some help in devising a plan to deal with that?

It may be that they can point out ways where she could make savings in costs which would enable her to make better use of all the advantages available, including the extra free money from the pension.

It seems this pension is potentially a major part of her total salary and benefits package in this case, possibly making it competitive, providing she can contribute to the pension. So worth sending a bit of time seeing if that can be made possible.

ti1980

I think that the best thing at the moment for me to do is to leave the pension thing for now and concentrate on my credit card debts.
Sometime next month I will be getting a 'reward statement' which should have the details of the pension that work are providing for me and when I get that I can post in more detail about it and hopefully get help on what salary I need to get in another job to put me on at least on par with what I get now.

Thanks for all the help, it is much appreciated and gives me a lot to ponder on.

Chrismaths

Not making an argument for or against renting. Just saying that money on rent is not wasted, as you have somewhere to live, and you get a service. I'd much prefer to own my own property, but I see little point in forking out £180k for a house (or a flat!) that I don't particularly like. Much rather save my pennies and wait till I can afford a nice one, or wait until the housing market comes back to reality - bit of unemployment, and the prices will come back to me. As for an investment, a house is a liability (it costs you money month on month) and the only ways you can realise money from it is a) selling it and trading down, b) equity release (see my post on the power of compounding for what I think of that). Not exactly liquid. And gearing works two ways - anyone remember negative equity? How about the Japanese property market which had fallen for the past 10 years? Not a one way bet.

Paul_Herring

Chrismaths wrote:

As for an investment, a house is a liability (it costs you money month on month) and the only ways you can realise money from it is a) selling it and trading down, b) equity release

c) Sell it and then rent.

But this brings us full circle....