Pension Advice Appreciated: USS

BaconandEggs

Hi all,

I would be grateful for any advice on my pension.

I have a USS pension
http://www.uss.co.uk/Pages/default.aspx
and joined just before the scheme changed from being final salary.

I've paid into the scheme for nearly 2 years. At the 2 year mark, I will no longer have the option of taking out my contributions.

I understand it is a fairly good scheme. However, I want to make sure I am doing the right thing by continuing with it.

Here are some details:

Age=31.
No other pensions (bad I know at this age).
Savings = small (10k).
Other financial responsibilities = mortgage.
No other debt.
I do not fill ISA allowance each year.
I may not be in this job (and therefore able to pay into scheme) in a couple of years.

So taking all this into account, although the pension is a good one - and it makes sense to have a pension as early as possible, plus a pension benefits from employer contributions and contributions are not taxed, is it still worth having?

Would it be better to put it in an ISA, or to overpay the mortgage?

My main concern is that I may not be able to continue with the pension in future, which would mean transfering to another scheme - does this mean losing alot of money?

Cheers,

BnE

snowcat53

It would almost certainly be very foolish for you not to continue with the pension. Your employer (a University?) will be contributing a large % - ie 'free money'. If you leave or decided to opt out in the future your pension is preserved (the number of years you contrinbuted) and index linked until you retire. With a final salary pension this is extremely valuable. You would not have to transfer it to another pension scheme.