Not adding up

elsiepac

Hi there!

Others have already helped a lot but I was curious about the pension scheme - that seems aheck of a lot per month!!! Have you checked your payslips to see if this is the true amount per month?! To me it looks like 10% of salary - from my (admittedly limited) experience that is fairly unusual. For example, mine is 1% so I pay about £21.50 a month, which I'm happy to do as I don't miss that, plus we have a very good scheme where the company pays 4x what I do

Good luck with the budgeting!

LC

fifi35

Thank you. I actually pay 11% of my salary and that amount is correct. I have ten more years to pay into it!
Hopefully it will be worth it in the end.

somethingcorporate

elsiepac wrote: »

Hi there!

Others have already helped a lot but I was curious about the pension scheme - that seems aheck of a lot per month!!! Have you checked your payslips to see if this is the true amount per month?! To me it looks like 10% of salary - from my (admittedly limited) experience that is fairly unusual. For example, mine is 1% so I pay about £21.50 a month, which I'm happy to do as I don't miss that, plus we have a very good scheme where the company pays 4x what I do

Good luck with the budgeting!

LC

£100 a month into a pension is not very much, and if the company are putting in 4 times what you are you could be missing out on a hell of a lot.

If I need to cut back saving for retirement should be the last thing to go. I'd rather struggle now whilst relatively young and healthy than have to struggle in old age when the money really will make a difference.

fifi35

My pension is an occupational pension and it is a final salary scheme.
I am told it is a very good pension scheme although think the government is trying to tinker with it at present.
Even if I wanted to I couldn't pay any more or less than 11%.

I agree if your company is putting in 4 x what you put in then you should put the maximum in.

I have just started to go through my credit card and bank statements and its a real eye opener!

Fifi

Learning2Budget

is your tv license right? Mines £12.37 per month DD over 12 months. I know it's only 2 quid, but it's little bits here and there that add up. https://www.spendingdiary.com is a useful aid too.x

fifi35

I shall amend it, don't know where I got that figure from.
Thanks for the link.

Fifi

foxgloves

Could you reduce your mobile phone contract? You can get a contract for a as little as £15 a month. Also, if you work for local government or are a teacher, etc, you can get a 20% reduction off an Orange contract. My partner went into Orange a couple of weeks ago to upgrade his broken phone & reduce his contract to the £15 a month one & was asked if he worked for the public sector. When he said yes, he was told to take in his latest payslip & he'd receive a 20% discount. I was sceptical that this would apply to monthly payments....I thought it'd just be on price of new expensive phones & accessories, but it appears I was wrong & he seems to have come away with his monthly payment reduced to £11 something. Only a little thing, I know, but every 2 or 3 quid adds up.

DrEmma

Are you a member of a golf club? My boyfriend used to play on an ad-hoc basis until he realised he would actually save money by becoming a member. Now he can play as often as he likes without extra charge.

fifi35

Foxgloves, thank you for the tip re Orange, my mobile phone contract is up for renewal next month so will certainly look into that.

Dr Emma, I am a member of a society and we play all over the place. I used to be a member at a golf club and it is much cheaper but being in the society is much more fun. We do get discounts etc.
I am still going through my credit card and bank statements and its scary what I have wasted money on!
This is very enlightening!
Thank you.

Fifi

foxgloves

Actually, Fifi, I mentioned to partner that I'd flagged up the discounted Orange contracts on here, & he said it isn't 20% discount, it's 25%, so a little bit better still!