Pension plan?

jimjames

I would check exactly what you are paying. If it was setup for you there may be some quite high charges that eat into such relatively small payments into the fund. If so it may be worth looking at alternative providers but realistically to have a reasonable income in retirement larger sums could be needed although if you don't have the income I realise that could be hard.

atush

jig1, I am sure this belongs ont he oension forum.

But, as a teacher, music or not- can't you get employed as a teacher? or thru LGPS?

Your employment seems a bit low paid and precarious. Could you not get a job part time all year that allows for music teaching in the months allowed?

jlg1

atush wrote: »

jig1, I am sure this belongs ont he oension forum.

But, as a teacher, music or not- can't you get employed as a teacher? or thru LGPS?

Your employment seems a bit low paid and precarious. Could you not get a job part time all year that allows for music teaching in the months allowed?

Hi again,

Im a self-employed guitar teacher.

So I teach int he schools during the day and run late afternoon night lessons at home. Generally, locally the music teachers work for the local music board and to be honest there is a certain freedom in being self employed but it has its down sides ie the summer months and not getting holidays paid for.

If I split the difference between both school/home lessons - I guess I could pay into the pension probably every month BUT its the summer months that kill me as I said as the school work dries up over the summer meaning the evening/afternoon work isn't enough to get by (even with tight budgeting which I already do) on those 2 months of July and August - remember that students also take holidays those months and I don't get paid while they have 2 weeks off....and I need a break too.

So when you sit down and work it out the summer is a bit of a disaster all round for me - daytime lessons are hard to come by even with good promotion/advertising in early May/June - unless I ran a group lesson setup - which isn't the best for lessons in general as I feel one to ones work best.

This job is a bit of a one off - if I was a freelance web designer for example I could work all year round so the summer wouldn't really be a big deal....

I'm gonna have a good think and decide whats the best way forward and as jimjames just mentioned there may be a chunk of the pension disappearing in charges etc.. so I'd need to check that as well.

Just dont like the way I've been told different things by Scottish Life it leaves me with little faith in them to be honest - yet at the time this pension was "sold" as top of the list - yeah maybe for the guys (FA) comission that is...no offence to any F Advisors out there...:)

James

R_P_W

Whether you pay less in every month or more only some months it won't make any real difference. The problem seems to be your job doesn't provide enough income to provide for a comfortable retirement.

Sounds like you love the job, which is great but you either need to supplement your income with something else or accept a very minimal pension when you retire.

dunstonh

Just dont like the way I've been told different things by Scottish Life it leaves me with little faith in them to be honest

Scot Life are a very good provider. Their plan is well priced and has a good range of funds. They are not geared to provide direct to public support. They cannot provide advice, opinion or comment. However, that goes for virtually all providers nowadays.

I'm gonna have a good think and decide whats the best way forward and as jimjames just mentioned there may be a chunk of the pension disappearing in charges etc.. so I'd need to check that as well.

The 2006 version of the Scot Life PPP was one of the lowest charge pensions available on the market. It doesnt hold top position now but its still up there at the right end. Problem will be, if you are looking at alternatives, is that your contribution is small and below the minimum of most of the best priced plans available today.

yet at the time this pension was "sold" as top of the list - yeah maybe for the guys (FA) comission that is...no offence to any F Advisors out there...

It is a shame that you have that view as in 2006 it would have been lowest cost. You are also mistaken on commission. The contract is non-commission paying. It was set up on agreed remuneration/fee basis. That is one of the main reasons it was at the top on lowest charges. Hard not to take offence when your opinion is not based on facts.

jlg1

dunstonh wrote: »

Scot Life are a very good provider. Their plan is well priced and has a good range of funds. They are not geared to provide direct to public support. They cannot provide advice, opinion or comment. However, that goes for virtually all providers nowadays.

Well thats good to know - that it is a good pan..because I was a bit worried about that to be honest....

The 2006 version of the Scot Life PPP was one of the lowest charge pensions available on the market. It doesnt hold top position now but its still up there at the right end. Problem will be, if you are looking at alternatives, is that your contribution is small and below the minimum of most of the best priced plans available today.

So its look like I was advised well in this case?

It is a shame that you have that view as in 2006 it would have been lowest cost. You are also mistaken on commission. The contract is non-commission paying. It was set up on agreed remuneration/fee basis. That is one of the main reasons it was at the top on lowest charges. Hard not to take offence when your opinion is not based on facts.

Well I didnt mean to cause any offence - you know how it is most things these days are comission based so maybe I generalized a bit there. It was never explained that clearly at the time i.e, how the FA was to be paid just that he would be paid for recommending Scottish Life to me - it is a long time ago now....

I know the fee to the FA was around £400 as Scottish Life advised of that a while in a phone call about 6 months or ago. So that's was average at that time?


One thing though if they are not "geared" towards public support then who can I contact about that actual pension when its with them?

Surely any further advice from My "then" FA (I still have their contact info) would now cost even more money?

Thanks for your help with this by the way.....:):T