starting a pension HELP

twoplus2=?

Hi all.
Ive recently been thinking about starting a pension and i need some advice on which one is right for me.

After a few google serches ive come up with nothing so heres what im looking for....

Im 25 in full time employment as a joiner, ill probably be working till im 67.

Im thinking of maybe putting £50 a month into a pension certainly no more at the moment i dont want to end up being 'hard up' due to paying far to much into a pension so early. My employer wont be contributing towards it.

I was hoping of maybe finding one i can easily manage almost like a online savings account, by which i mean:
-I control how much goes in.
-The option of freezing the pension if need be, etc.

Also is it even a good time to start with stock market so low?

Id be greatfull for any advice or any names of companys people would recomend.

bigfreddiel

twoplus2=? wrote: »

Hi all.
Ive recently been thinking about starting a pension and i need some advice on which one is right for me.

After a few google serches ive come up with nothing so heres what im looking for....

Im 25 in full time employment as a joiner, ill probably be working till im 67.

as a guideline you should aim for half your age as a percentage of your salary to pay into your pension fund so for you thats 12.5%

Im thinking of maybe putting £50 a month into a pension certainly no more at the moment i dont want to end up being 'hard up' due to paying far to much into a pension so early. My employer wont be contributing towards it.

not too bad but it sounds a bit low to me £100 would be better

I was hoping of maybe finding one i can easily manage almost like a online savings account, by which i mean:
-I control how much goes in.
-The option of freezing the pension if need be, etc.

get a sipp - google will bring back loads or search mse

Also is it even a good time to start with stock market so low?

best time of all - its going to have 42 years to recover in your case - just think of getting a huge discount right now - stocks have dropped 10% recently so thats a 10% discount - pile in twie or three times your monthly investment now - just think how often do you give customers a 10% discount - not often i guess

Id be greatfull for any advice or any names of companys people would recomend.

hope the above helps - bytw what o you earn? and also how many people in your company - it maybe that your company will have to offer you a pension very soon - new legislation - happy days

dunstonh

Your contribution is small and you are not an experienced investor. You also want payment flexibility. So, you can rule out a personal pension and a SIPP. Most logical option is a stakeholder pension.

Also is it even a good time to start with stock market so low?

Stockmarkets go up and down. The stockmarket is not low at the moment. It is what it is (your investments from 12 months ago, if you had them would be higher now than they were last year). You are likely to go through around 10-15 major stockmarket crashes and double that in corrections during your working life. Volatility like that is great for regular contributions and not a bad thing.

atush

Stakeholder, and now is a good time to invest, after a crash or 'correction' as many like to say.

Put in as much as you can afford (as long as you are saving monthly outside of a pension too- for emergencies, then replacements of cars, tools, and holidays etc. you don't want to save one place and go into debt buying these things elsewhere.

dasherman

twoplus2=? wrote: »

Im 25 in full time employment as a joiner, ill probably be working till im 67.

Your state pension age is currently 68, and it could increase further over the next 40 years.

Im thinking of maybe putting £50 a month into a pension certainly no more at the moment

£50 p/m month is still quite low for a 25 year old.

i dont want to end up being 'hard up' due to paying far to much into a pension so early.

Would you rather be hard up in retirement instead?

atush

AS long as the OP saves outside a pension into ISAs alongside of ny pension provision, that should be OK. Savings of 6 months cash for emergencies, then outside savings for things like houses, cars etc are also impt.

twoplus2=?

Thanks for the much needed advice people.
£50 per month may sound a bit low, but at the moment im still living with parents....which means a mortgage and bills will be just round the corner, so will need cash for that.
I do put quite a large amount of my wage into a ISA each month, it adds up for a while then like mentioned gets spent on replacing a worn out car(far to easy to get hold of the money).
My employer did mention that he would set me a pension up but is there any point in going with the same company as them, if there not going to pay anything into it?

greenmoneysaver_2

I always wondered, is it net or gross salary for the %?

dunstonh

greenmoneysaver wrote: »

I always wondered, is it net or gross salary for the %?

What percentage are you referring to?

Are on on about the actual contribution, then that is always gross. If you are on about the half age inaccurate guide figure then it doesnt matter as you are not looking at it accurately enough to care.

atush

My employer did mention that he would set me a pension up but is there any point in going with the same company as them, if there not going to pay anything into it?

it could still be worth it, but are you completely sure they don't contribute at all (as many do).

bigfreddiel

greenmoneysaver wrote: »

I always wondered, is it net or gross salary for the %?

the % is of your net salary

fj