I am 56 so is it worth opting in to my company pension or shall I stick it ......

JethroUK

I am 56 so is it worth opting in to my company pension or shall I stick it in my is a?

PeacefulWaters

How much do they add to your contributions?

Why wouldn't you want this free money?

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

JethroUK wrote: »

I am 56 so is it worth opting in to my company pension or shall I stick it in my is a?

• What contribution would your employer make to the company scheme?
• What contribution would your employer make to your ISA?

ermine

JethroUK wrote: »

I am 56 so is it worth opting in to my company pension or shall I stick it in my is a?

and in the event your employer doesn't contribute then why not use a SIPP and get the very minimum of 25% of the tax you paid while earning the money back, even if the only thing you do with it is stick it in an ISA if you don't need the cash?

dunstonh

Your ISA will never beat the pension as the ISA does not get tax relief and it does not get the employer contribution. Pension is a no brainer.

atush

No brainer, pension. Because you can have the same investments as your ISA, with both tax relief and employers contribution added.

Say you put 100 onto your ISA. You have 100.

Say you put 100 into your pension. the govt adds 25, the employer adds 100. You now have 225 in your pension. For the same cost to you of 100.

jamesd

Join the pension. You're 55 or over so if it's a defined contribution pension you can probably get the money out quickly, while gaining from the pension tax relief. Joining pension schemes becomes an even better deal over 55 and closer to state pension age than they are at younger ages, because you don't have the no access to the money disadvantage that affects those who are younger. There might be some restrictions on the company scheme but if it's defined contribution you can probably transfer out or just wait until you retire.

If it's a defined benefit scheme like final or average salary you'd have more restrictions but it'd still be a good deal.

Almost anyone who's 55 and knows about the new pension freedoms that start from 6 April 2015 should be thinking "pensions first", not "ISA first". You get more investment options and access to the money with a basic rate pure tax gain of 6.25% via the tax free lump sum.

JethroUK

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

How much do they add to your contributions?

Why wouldn't you want this free money?

Employer: Me = 2:1

Is that good?

JethroUK

atush wrote: »

No brainer, pension. Because you can have the same investments as your ISA, with both tax relief and employers contribution added.

Say you put 100 onto your ISA. You have 100.

Say you put 100 into your pension. the govt adds 25, the employer adds 100. You now have 225 in your pension. For the same cost to you of 100.

Not exactly because you get interest on savings x 10 years

JethroUK

Thanks very much to everyone I'll stick with the pension scheme
My employer contributes to my pension 2:1 which is a bit of a gift horse I shouldn't look in the mouth I guess

greenglide

JethroUK wrote: »

Not exactly because you get interest on savings x 10 years

But the products that savings can kept in can be used for pensions as well.

You would normally invest the pension savings in funds to earn a significant return.

Use of the terms "savings" and "interest" sounds as if you are talking about cash ISAs which are decidedly risky over 10 years because of the inflation risk.