Is this rare now?

polska1979

So, I've not paid into a pension for the last 5 years - childcare costs etc have taken a precedent.

However, I have now been offered a new job with a benefit of a pension in which i contribute 4% and the employer contributes 8%

I'm still in two minds about taking the job, so this is absolutely one of the potential tipping factors.

So I was wondering to those in the know if this is a rarity in this day and age?

withabix

That is quite a high employer contribution.

somethingcorporate

For a large employer not really - for a small company I guess it is increasingly rare.

My company (big corporate) match up to 9% and my wife (small company) gets nothing.

atush

That is a pretty decent employer's contrib- the thing is, with 5 years out (ie what other pensions did you pay into before) is 12% pension payments enough to fund your retirement? Should you pay more? Does your spouse have one? Do you have other savings? Debt?

polska1979

yes, I did have a pension prior to the break, with a couple of old employers. However this is nothing to write home about.

This new role has a high OTE and base so my plan will be to snowball my debts, which are relatively high - unsecured (about £600 per month, 2 years remaining)really quickly and then start putting some serious long term plans down for the future.

the mrs has a pension through her employer, DWP. and has contributed since 20 - so about 11 years.

Its opened my eyes to the pension/planning for retirement issue. Sorry state of affairs really! But I would imagine I'm not the only one!

kidmugsy

You could even try your luck and ask the employer whether it is considering offering salary sacrifice: that's a wonderful stunt which some government must surely put a stop to some day, so it's best to use it while it's available.

polska1979

What do you mean by salary sacrifice?

gadgetmind

kidmugsy wrote: »

that's a wonderful stunt which some government must surely put a stop to some day, so it's best to use it while it's available.

The government actually encourage people to do it at the moment!

It would also be hard to prevent as it's covered by employment law and not pension regulations.

atush

Salary sacrifice is that you make your pension payments out of your pay Before tax and NI. So you not only get tax relief, but NI relief too.

And some employers will put their NI saved into the pension too.