I havent got a pension or life insurance. Where do i start?

Not_The_Momma_2

Hi

I havent got a pension or life insurance. Where do i start? I am not very clued up at all so need advice.

I have a wife and 2 children so would like to get myself covered and organised. I am 36 years old and have a good stable job with income of £30,000 a year before taxes. My wife does not work.

We do not own our home but are thinking of buying our council house next year once have cleared off a couple of debts.

I have not got a clue where to start or anything. I did have a company pension from a few years ago which i paid into for approx 3 - 4 years but i have left the company 9 years ago and do get intrim statements yearly but it is only at £4,000 approx.

My company i work for now and have been for almost 5 years do run a pension and i can see me being here in my job for a long long time but is it better to buy a private pension or through my company?

Any advice would be great.

Oscar_The_Grouch

Just one question first: If she's angry with you, does your wife use your middle name?!! (ok, so I'm a 90's TV geek too).

Some employers have a local independent financial advisor on their books. Have you spoken to your HR department to see if they offer this kind of service? Someone recommended by your employer will usually know the ins and outs of their pension scheme, so be able to advise you on that as well as other products.

dunstonh

I am 36 years old and have a good stable job with income of £30,000 a year before taxes. My wife does not work.

We cant say too much here as we cant drift into advice in regulated areas and dont know much about you.

However, there are some things that can be "assumed" or have rough guides applied to them from your statement above.

Your wife does not work so that possibly means she wont get full state pension entitlement. You will end up with around £8000 a year basic state pension.

A rough guide is that you should have £35k of pension fund value by age 35. You are 36 and have what you think is around £4k. So, you have catching up to do and you need to be prepared to pay a lot more in than you would need to if you had started 10 or 15 years ago.

My company i work for now and have been for almost 5 years do run a pension and i can see me being here in my job for a long long time but is it better to buy a private pension or through my company?

Does the employer pay into the pension? i.e. free money?

Not_The_Momma_2

dunstonh wrote: »

We cant say too much here as we cant drift into advice in regulated areas and dont know much about you.

However, there are some things that can be "assumed" or have rough guides applied to them from your statement above.

Your wife does not work so that possibly means she wont get full state pension entitlement. You will end up with around £8000 a year basic state pension.

A rough guide is that you should have £35k of pension fund value by age 35. You are 36 and have what you think is around £4k. So, you have catching up to do and you need to be prepared to pay a lot more in than you would need to if you had started 10 or 15 years ago.



Does the employer pay into the pension? i.e. free money?

Yes my employer pension (i dont know all the details i am awaiting them still) is 6% of my wages and they match that. I know i am way behind I just do not know where to start its all so confusing and daunting when you dont know what your doing :eek:

My wife is intending to go back to work in about 2 yrs time when our youngest is at school and hopefully will be working 30 hours a week.

Thanks for any help

dunstonh

Yes my employer pension (i dont know all the details i am awaiting them still) is 6% of my wages and they match that. I know i am way behind I just do not know where to start its all so confusing and daunting when you dont know what your doing :eek:

Nothing will beat that and you should consider yourself slapped for not joining that nearly 5 years ago. Just look at all that free money you have thrown away. !!!

Get in that as soon as you can. Also, remember that your 6% contribution will not mean your payslip goes down 6%. You get tax relief on that. At basic rate that means 4.8%.

On £30k that means £120pm is your cost but £300 is going into the pension. Nothing else can turn £120 into £300 overnight.

Not_The_Momma_2

dunstonh wrote: »

Nothing will beat that and you should consider yourself slapped for not joining that nearly 5 years ago. Just look at all that free money you have thrown away. !!!

Get in that as soon as you can. Also, remember that your 6% contribution will not mean your payslip goes down 6%. You get tax relief on that. At basic rate that means 4.8%.

On £30k that means £120pm is your cost but £300 is going into the pension. Nothing else can turn £120 into £300 overnight.

Brilliant thank you for the advise much appreciated :beer:

Now off to research life insurance...... :rolleyes:

Now