Taking out pension at 55

daveneil

Hi Dave here, i am 54 and just about to start a new job .
Is it worth joining the company pension scheme if like the last one i was in the company put in an amount up to five per cent of your wage.
I am currently drawing my standard life pension monthly . Or is there anything i can do with the pension i have currently.

dunstonh

Is it worth joining the company pension scheme if like the last one i was in the company put in an amount up to five per cent of your wage.

Free money. Do you want to turn that down?

daveneil

Thats what i thought , Thanks

DiggerUK

dunstonh wrote: »

Free money. Do you want to turn that down?

Daveneil,
Lets see if I have this right.
You meet somebody who offers you free money. Do you:-

a. Call the police.
b. Run a mile.
c. Say to yourself, if it seems to good to be true, it is.

There is no such thing as free money, wise up.
There are plenty of safer ways to put money away for retirement, don't be had.

jem16

DiggerUK wrote: »

There are plenty of safer ways to put money away for retirement, don't be had.

So which ways do you suggest?

dunstonh

There is no such thing as free money, wise up.
There are plenty of safer ways to put money away for retirement, don't be had.

No there isnt. In fact you cant get much safer than a personal pension (group/individual) due to the FSCS protections that are in place.

If you dont take the employer money you get zero. Digger's favourites are premium bonds and physical gold. Put that zero into either of those and you have zero.

Put the free money in the pension and you get whatever the investments will grow to. Follow Diggers advice and you get zero.

DiggerUK

dunstonh wrote: »

Digger's favourites are premium bonds and physical gold.
Follow Diggers advice and you get zero.

daveneil,
dunstonh is correct in claiming that I am a fan of gold. You will never hold worthless gold.
I am on the record for that.

Premium Bonds are for rainy day, short term savings and a bit of fun. Not a serious part of a savings plan.
I am on the record for that.

I am also on the record as being a big fan of NSI Index Linked, you could not do bad with their inflation protection and 100% guarantee.

Dunstonh is a tad deceitful with his claims about me.
He claims to be an IFA. Hope you are on your guard if you go seeking financial advice from such quarters.

Best of fortune.

bendix

Digger, you once again fail to deal with the relevant parts of posts.

Please enlighten us with your explanation as to why taking extra money from the employer is not advantageous or 'free money'.

DiggerUK

bendix wrote: »

Digger, you once again fail to deal with the relevant parts of posts. Please enlighten us with your explanation as to why taking extra money from the employer is not advantageous or 'free money'.

daveneil,
The reputation of pensions is based on past provision, until recently most were final salary or defined benefit schemes.
These schemes are almost dead in the private sector, and under attack in the public sector.

The alternative pushed today asking people to lock away monies until they reach 50/55 is high risk. These economic foul ups happen regular as clockwork, there could be little of value in the "pension wrapper" when you come to collect a pension.
What is the value of the employers free money then?

The other great sales pitch from the IFA industry is the income tax advantage. What benefit will that be if income tax rises, as we all suspect it must do.
Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not free money. Never has been.

purch

Please enlighten us with your explanation as to why taking extra money from the employer is not advantageous or 'free money'

As usual, he has conveniently ignored that part of the question in order to have a pathetic rant against the 'industry'

Apparantly not accepting the contribution from your employer, and putting your own money into an alternative Investment is a better option :rolleyes:

dunstonh

He claims to be an IFA. Hope you are on your guard if you go seeking financial advice from such quarters.

Lets see, what I am suggesting gives free money from the employer. What you are suggesting gives nothing.

The alternative pushed today asking people to lock away monies until they reach 50/55 is high risk.

The OP is 55. Its really high risk for him to be locking it up for potentially 24 hours. God help anyone taking out a 1,2 3 or 5 year fixed term deposit as they must be really high risk based on your analysis.

What is the value of the employers free money then?

So, something that has cost you nothing but cannot get until an age later in your life is high risk whereas not taking the free money and doing nothing with it is nil risk.

What would you prefer something later in life or nothing later in life?

The other great sales pitch from the IFA industry is the income tax advantage. What benefit will that be if income tax rises, as we all suspect it must do.

It wont make any difference as tax relief goes up to offset it. However, there is no tax relief on employer contributions. So, again, misinformation on your part.