Pension Mess - Not sure What to do

nearlyrich

cosmicDolphin wrote: »

I have mentioned a pension to my Director. He's a bit of an Eccentric to be fair and just laughed it off, and said I'd be better paying down my mortgage. He gives us lots of fringe benefits like interest free loans, use of the corporate seats at the football, use of his cottage in the Lake District and his villa in Puerto banus.

I bet he has provided for his own retirement and the perks now won't pay the bills when you are old and poor...do something for yourself ASAP;)

xylophone

Well, you can live in hope that disaster doesn't strike or that if it does, that the eccentric employer will provide....
You're living close to the edge but I suspect you know that.

I don't think that the employer will be able to laugh off the law of the land - it looks as though he'll have to be doing something by 2014?

He gives us lots of fringe benefits like interest free loans, use of the corporate seats at the football, use of his cottage in the Lake District and his villa in Puerto banus.

Taxable? http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/tax_e/tax_what_is_taxable_income_e/benefits_in_kind.htm

cosmicDolphin

nearlyrich - I doubt he's even needed to think about it, his family are pretty wealthy.

Xylophone - Yes we knew it would be a stretch moving here at first but I think it should become easier as we complete the jobs that need tackling, and my commission should increase steadily at work. My wife has started a Wedding Photography Business which she can do around the children but it takes a couple of years to build your reputation .

So should I just wait until 2014 to do anything about a pension ?

nearlyrich

cosmicDolphin wrote: »

nearlyrich - I doubt he's even needed to think about it, his family are pretty wealthy.

Xylophone - Yes we knew it would be a stretch moving here at first but I think it should become easier as we complete the jobs that need tackling, and my commission should increase steadily at work. My wife has started a Wedding Photography Business which she can do around the children but it takes a couple of years to build your reputation .

So should I just wait until 2014 to do anything about a pension ?

NO do something ASAP please even a couple of years contributions can add up later, too many people even on here, getting to 50's and realising they have nothing but the state pension to rely on.

cosmicDolphin

nearlyrich wrote: »

NO do something ASAP please even a couple of years contributions can add up later, too many people even on here, getting to 50's and realising they have nothing but the state pension to rely on.

Okay but what ??

xylophone

You could see an IFA experienced in pensions.
or you could try "doing it yourself" e.g. http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/pensions/

I really do think that you should be discussing pension provision with your employer - time is growing short for him and he needs to get a move on.

It might even be possible for some form of salary sacrifice scheme to be set up.http://www.usdaw.org.uk/adviceresources/resources/pensions/smartpensionsandsalarysacr.aspx

And have you checked out the tax situation regarding the "fringe benefits"?


Is your wife happy about your relaxed attitude to insurance?

It might be worth your while checking with EL what happens in the event of your death before taking benefits - similarly DRESS.

jamiefly

The first thing I did before switching from capital repayment to interest only was to take out £120,000 of life insurance which mirrored the principal outstanding. The policy expires in fifteen years on my youngest child's sixteenth birthday and only costs £7.80 a month.

Is the gamble of an impoverished widow really worth saving yourself this?

cosmicDolphin

Jamiefly - Thanks but I'm just not a believer in insurance, unless it's a legal requirement. Maybe it will come back and bite me but I'm comfortable with my 'risk'

Xylophone - Thanks I have spoken to my MD again, and he said he's willing to sort something out and pay some extra in for me. We'll see if he follows up on his word before he's legally obliged to.

sleepless_saver

cosmicDolphin wrote: »

Jamiefly - Thanks but I'm just not a believer in insurance, unless it's a legal requirement. Maybe it will come back and bite me but I'm comfortable with my 'risk'

It would be more likely to bite your wife and children. Is she comfortable with the risk of losing her home and most of the family income as well as her husband?

Sorry if this sounds brutal, but there are plenty of sad threads on here by bereaved parents whose late spouses thought it would never happen.

atush

cosmicDolphin wrote: »

Hi Atush

Having jumped a couple of the rungs up the property ladder 12 months ago we are pretty close to our the top end of our 'facility' on the One Account so there's currently little or no breathing space to withdraw any cash.

I cashed in all the other savings we had when we switched to the One Account as the interest saved by paying down the mortgage outweighed any benefits from savings. I haven't done the sums lately but I think it still holds true.

We don't plan on sending our youngest to school at 4yrs old. The older two were home educated by my wife until 7 & 10 for a variety of reasons but it worked well for us.

I can only say Yikes!!!!!!

You seem to have spent every penny you have, and are a family man with mtg and a non working spouse and you have no emergency cash/

You must address this immediately without delay.

I understand you want to save on interest, but you won't save much if you were made redundant and lost the house.

Same with home schooling. You pay for school with your taxes. If you have emergency cash- go for it. But as you don't, I'd put home schooling away for a year until you build some up.