£24k/yr, types of pension?

audigex

Hi

I'm starting a pension and have a choice of being auto-enrolled into a pension organised by the company (I believe a stakeholder pension?), or starting a pension of my own (eg with a bank/building society/other pension provider)

I'm currently on roughly £24k/yr, with pension contributions of 2 or 3% (I can't recall which) from my company which I've been receiving in lieu (to pay off high interest debts)

1 )Is there any significant difference to me, on this salary, between a stakeholder and "normal" pension from the likes of Virgin or whoever?

2) The plan is basically to pay in about 3-5% of my salary now (+that 2-3% employer contribution), and increase that by a proportion of any pay rise/salary increases over the next 40 years. I'm assuming that if my circumstances change, I can change providers to a scheme more suited to my circumstances?

Thanks

somethingcorporate

How old are you?

Rough rule of thumb is that the age you start at, divide it by 2 and that % should be what you contribute to your retirement plans (in this case a pension).

If you're looking to contribute only 8% or so then you may miss your retirement goals considerably.

Play around with the calculator here https://www.hl.co.uk/pensions/interactive-calculators/pension-calculator to get an idea of what kind of sums you need to contribute for your desired outcome.

jamesd

You can do both. Use the employer scheme to get at least the amount that they will match. For any extra, a personal pension of your own is likely to provide a broader range of investment choices that you might want to use if you are willing to learn about investing.

You can in general move money around between pension pots with minimal restrictions and minimal cost. A few have restrictions but not the types that you're discussing.