Newbie looking for basic info/advice

ani*fan

Hi everyone

I'm a newbie and currently lurking round the debtfree wannabe boards...with a debt free date of September 2008.

I'm trying to think long term about my finances and pensions just confuse the life out of me. I've read some threads on this board but don't really seem to understand...

At the moment I have no investment for my future and, at 34, it's about time I did. My work offers something called a stakeholder pension but I don't even know what that is except I'm pretty sure they don't contribute anything. (It's a charity and they're more skint than me!:D )

I have a pension from a job I did years ago that is going to provide me with about £5 a month :rotfl:

I'd like to ask a few things here...

-where can I go for basic information?
-if I buy a private pension will I still get a state pension?
-how do I know what a good investments looks like?

I feel really vulnerable just now and therefore at risk of being sold any old rubbish.

I know this thread sounds really vague but I thank you in advance for any advice or info you can offer. I'm really just looking for a starting block in finding out about this.

:A

dunstonh

-where can I go for basic information?

Internet probably is best.

-if I buy a private pension will I still get a state pension?

yes

-how do I know what a good investments looks like?

Knowledge, learning and years of experience.

I feel really vulnerable just now and therefore at risk of being sold any old rubbish.

Avoid the banks and avoid direct to provider products like Virgin, Tesco etc

ani*fan

Thanks dunstonh. Guess there are no shortcuts and I need to spend the time educating myself!
Cheers :beer:

EdInvestor

First you should go to this link and find out what you're forecast to get from the two state pensions:


http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/atoz/atozdetailed/rpforecast.asp


Things may be better than you think:)