I want to help my son with his Pension

Pugliese

BristolBob wrote: »

Why not keep it at 300 pcm and put the excess somewhere safe for him and give him a nice surprise when he moves out?

Thought of that but we really should be educating him as well as putting it into something tax efficient

pivotalgubbins

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

Is he your only child? If he is going to inherit your house one day he doesn't need to bother saving for his own, he just needs to hang around and wait.

Terrible advice (IMO!) - you can't predict the future and who knows what will happen. If his parents go into care they could quickly see their funds diminish over time. What if there is a falling out or something similar?

You should always strive to be independent and self-sufficient - help along the way or at the start is great but anything else should be a pure bonus.

lawriejones1

If he's 25 and living at home, he probably needs a kick up the !!!! in my opinion! However, there's a lot to be said for prudent financial planning and a strong matriarchal support figure can certainly help.

The need to create short, medium and long-term goals is the key here. It's also important to get some excitement around 'saving' - an alien concept for some I know, but I'll often sit down with a smile when I receive my pension statements, knowing that I'll have at least something when I'm older.

It's also about balance - a short term, easy access savings account for holidays, emergencies etc. A medium term savings account (ISA perhaps) that you could save for a house or whatever. Long-term, some sort of pension plan (SIPP maybe).

Set it up with direct debits so the money comes in and goes out without you noticing.

Having said all this, it took me a long time to get here (certainly beyond 25). To be 25 again...

pivotalgubbins

lawriejones1 wrote: »

If he's 25 and living at home, he probably needs a kick up the !!!! in my opinion!

Ridiculously unfair given the costs of housing - have a look at the average age people are remaining at home nowadays (it is much higher than 25)!

If his parents are happy for him to stay, why shouldn't he be able to take advantage of the savings without criticism?

lawriejones1

Calm down - it was a flippant remark.

If the son reads this comment: I am sorry!

I left home at 18, and haven't been back since (apart from visits). The cost of renting a single room in a shared house room to me was pretty much the same price then as well, and I was earning £10,500 per year.

Without risking the ire of unhappy keyboard bashers, in my personal opinion, regardless of where I lived, I wouldn't want or expect my children to be living at home at 25.

We talk about children understanding the value of money and making plans for the future, in my opinion this is pretty hard to do with the warm safety blanket of the parental home.

Reue

pivotalgubbins wrote: »

Ridiculously unfair given the costs of housing - have a look at the average age people are remaining at home nowadays (it is much higher than 25)!

Just turned 26 myself; The huge majority of my friends have moved out and started renting/buying. And i live in the expensive south-east.

Same again for my sister and her friends (2 years younger) and my brother as well (4 years younger).

Prehaps in this town people just hate living with their parents?

Pugliese

Hi LJ - If my son read it he would probably agree!

I think you make sense with your advice in having 3 tiers of saving - short term long term etc and also about creating excitement around saving. Just received my own pension statement which has now just tipped over a seven figure value, so it could be a good idea to show him that.

Going back to practical advice - how good are SIPP's and how best to choose a provider?

pivotalgubbins

Reue wrote: »

Just turned 26 myself; The huge majority of my friends have moved out and started renting/buying. And i live in the expensive south-east.

Same again for my sister and her friends (2 years younger) and my brother as well (4 years younger).

Prehaps in this town people just hate living with their parents?

Don't get me wrong, I moved out at 25 too, I just don't think that people should be criticised for taking an opportunity to save on rent, build a bigger deposit and get onto the property ladder. Nor should parents for giving their children their advantage.

Of course, if the kids are just taking the p*** out of their folks and spending every last penny on cars, booze and women they deserve their butt kicked down the road!

atush

I would help him open a PP until his employer has a scheme. Look at the Sipps on Cavendishonline and HL. but choice of one will largely depend on how much will go in/mon and what assets you will be buying just funds, you have a wide choice. Single shares, or lifestyling funds like Vanguard, you choose by costs.

lawriejones1

Pugliese wrote: »

Going back to practical advice - how good are SIPP's and how best to choose a provider?

Seven figure pension, nice one! If it were me, I wouldn't necessarily want to see it - I'd wonder how my £400 a month would ever grow to that.

I'm no expert when it comes to these things. I have my NHS pension which I contribute to (and hope won't get taken away from me) and have used Hargreaves Lansdown for a SIPP and Stocks and Shares ISA pretty much for the sole reason that they are based in Bristol and own Bristol City football club and rugby club. They also have a really snazzy iPhone app which I use too when I'm bored.

There are probably better ones out there though, hopefully a real expert will come along and help out.