Can I stop my pension for a year?

MrsWinters

At the moment, my teacher's pension comes out at nearly £250 a month. I can't retire until I'm 68 to make it worth my while.
There is an option for me to stop it for a year, to save up and help towards a house deposit in my case, but is it really worth it in the long run?

Also, are there any other pension schemes that are better than the teacher's pension scheme? I don't have to pay into it, it just happened automatically.

JoeCrystal

Better? Not really. It is one of the best in the country and what if you never got around to opting back in? After getting a home, you will have another reason for the money and so on.

Just stay in it and be thankful about it.

I can only think of few other pension schemes that is better straight away. The Bank of Engand's pension is non-contributory and the Judges' pension scheme which does not require contribution either but does toward cost of spouses', civil partners' and childern's pensions and they only have to pay 1.8% of their salaries.

Cheers,
Joe

ViolaLass

MrsWinters wrote: »

At the moment, my teacher's pension comes out at nearly £250 a month. I can't retire until I'm 68 to make it worth my while.
There is an option for me to stop it for a year, to save up and help towards a house deposit in my case, but is it really worth it in the long run?

bear in mind that pension contributions are taken before tax and NI so stopping them would not gain you the full £250-ish a month.

sleepless_saver

Only slightly flippant suggestion - you could try living for a year on the level of the state pension plus work expenses like travel to work and pension contribution. This would both let you save money towards your deposit and give you an idea of what you would have to live on in retirement if you did not have the teachers' pension.

jamesd

If a year would be enough, consider getting a credit card with a 0% for purchases deal that lasts longer than a year. Then spend on the card and put the same amount as you spend into a savings account. Then when it comes to time to get a mortgage you will have the savings account for the extra deposit money. The credit card balance will reduce your affordability, limiting the amount you can borrow a bit. But that can be a good trade off if you are not also pushing the limits on affordability and mortgage amount.

Buying a smaller house or a flat is another alternative approach. Starting with a flat has been the standard opening position for a long time.

opinions4u

Do not mess negatively with a teacher's pension.

atush

I would say, given you would pay tax and NI on that 250 that you should stay in the scheme.

Then, think about ways of raising funds (extra jobs in summer, selling unwanted items on Ebay,) or lowering outgoings (start a spending diary writing down every penny you spend incl cash on coffess/parking etc, go to the Debt free board post an SOA and ask for help cutting your outgoings, move back in with parents, or take in a lodger to help lower accomodation costs etc)