Pension help needed

oldtractor

Hello all, for the first time in our married lives we will have an income which exceeds expenditure.
Husband is 52 and is a lorry driver working on temporary work via an agency. I am a stay at home wife.
There will be about £300 a month extra for the next 5 months . We dont know what his wages will be after that.
Should husband take out a pension? and if so who with?
We have no mortgage or loans and have personal savings of £1200.
We will both get the state pension at 66 and 67.

kidmugsy

oldtractor wrote: »

Hello all, for the first time in our married lives we will have an income which exceeds expenditure.
Husband is 52 and is a lorry driver working on temporary work via an agency. I am a stay at home wife.
There will be about £300 a month extra for the next 5 months . We dont know what his wages will be after that.
Should husband take out a pension? and if so who with?
We have no mortgage or loans and have personal savings of £1200.
We will both get the state pension at 66 and 67.

No; add it to your personal savings in case you need it in an emergency. To get the best interest on it consider opening interest-bearing current accounts e.g. at TSB.

If you build up an emergency fund of, say, six months of outgoings, and still find yourselves with surplus income, then consider contributing to a pension.

Meantime, what are the two of you going to do about funding your old age? Could you get a job yourself? How big a state pension can you expect to get? Have you asked for a forecast?

jamesd

Your savings appear too low for pension investing to be prudent. Until you have at least three months of spending in savings accounts you should increase those. Better six months or a year. Pension contributions can be a very good deal but you need to take care of the short term risks first.

Your_Hero

Not ideal to pay into pension when you are just keeping head above water. Keep it in a high interest savings account in your name only preferably so that it is tax-free (assuming you are a non-tax payer of course as a housewife).

kangoora

Your_Hero wrote: »

Not ideal to pay into pension when you are just keeping head above water. Keep it in a high interest savings account in your name only preferably so that it is tax-free (assuming you are a non-tax payer of course as a housewife).

You'll need to ask the bank for an R85 form to fill out so they can set up the account so you don't pay any tax on the interest.

xylophone

Does your husband have any pension provision from past employment?

Regarding state pension, see

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/your-new-state-pension-explained

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-statement for you and your spouse.