Pensions - Ideas, suggestions and what to check ?

bigjohn

OK, so my partner is a teacher, but teaches in the private sector (a nursery, as she's an early years teacher).

She'll be 33 next birthday, and although we've sort of mulled over the idea of getting started, we've never actually got round to it yet.

There was a "pensions bloke" at her work place (HSBC if my memory serves me correctly), who was there so her employer was complying with legislation to provide pension arrangements to staff.

We're sceptical of whether it would be a good deal, because we're sceptical of the employer - who, we suspect would just "wheel out" someone from their corporate banker to offer such a service.

So, what's the score with this, does "it" have to be with the specified company? to qualify as a "company" pension that the employer contributes to?

Because we notice that there are pension services that can also be arranged via her Union (the NUT), which we considerably more faith in (the NUT that is), and suspect that this kind of service has a higher likelyhood of being a good setup (Union oversight and all that), but have no way/knowledge of how to check.

So, what should we be looking for? What kind of questions should we be asking?

Any advice or suggestions are much appreciated.

regards

John

p.s. Does Martins main site have anything i.e. guidance etc on pensions because I couldn't find any articles etc about it when I looked?

dunstonh

So, what's the score with this, does "it" have to be with the specified company? to qualify as a "company" pension that the employer contributes to?

It will not be classed as a company pension if it is just a group personal/stakeholder pension which the company may or may not make contributions to.

Because we notice that there are pension services that can also be arranged via her Union (the NUT), which we considerably more faith in (the NUT that is), and suspect that this kind of service has a higher likelyhood of being a good setup (Union oversight and all that), but have no way/knowledge of how to check.

I would not say that. Having seen some of the products that get peddled by unions on "behalf of their members", I wouldn't say they are any better. The main difference is that the union get a cut of the commission. Without knowing what they offer though, I cannot say.

There are only a limited number of stakeholder pension providers in the marketplace. They are much the same across the board. A few have advantages that the others do not but the differences are minor.

Mostly it comes down to fund selection (ie do they have a decent range of funds across all sectors and allow free switching between them), any addons you want, any automatic risk reduction as you get closer to retirement, tiered reduction in charges etc.

Many predict the end of the stakeholder pension as a mainstream product after April this year so you ought to consider some personal pensions and if you intend to make larger contributions, you could consider a SIPP. However, that needs a bit more knowledge of investment options.