Pension advice

lisa701

I'm looking for some advice for my husband who is 45.


He took out a pension plan with Prudential when he was 18 and paid into it the recommended amount. He also opted out of SERPS at the same time as recommended by Prudential. When he was made redundant at 25 and couldn't keep up with the minimum amount and they refused to allow him to pay in anything less.


Since then he has been in and out of work, and when he has been working his pay has been so low its not been enough to make those recommended amounts into his pension plan.


I had a plan with Virgin Money which allowed me to pay in £1 if that's all I could afford, but Prudential have always been insistent that he pays in what they want, which is now in the region of £250 a month - money we just don't have.


My employers offer a decent scheme which I pay into, but his employers offer nothing and as there are only 10 staff auto enrolment will be a long way off.


I'd like to start putting something away each month, even if it were only £20 - something is better than nothing - but Prudential won't entertain anything less than their minimum recommended payment which we cannot afford. So how to we move forward with this?

dunstonh

I had a plan with Virgin Money which allowed me to pay in £1 if that's all I could afford, but Prudential have always been insistent that he pays in what they want, which is now in the region of £250 a month - money we just don't have.

Virgin money stakeholder pensions are expensive (relative to other stakeholder pensions) but they do allow £1 plus. Perhaps that is why they are expensive. Pru is not a stakeholder pension. So, it will have its own minimum premiums and personal pensions tend to be in the region of £100pm plus.

My employers offer a decent scheme which I pay into, but his employers offer nothing and as there are only 10 staff auto enrolment will be a long way off.

He is only a few years away now.

I'd like to start putting something away each month, even if it were only £20 - something is better than nothing - but Prudential won't entertain anything less than their minimum recommended payment which we cannot afford. So how to we move forward with this?

At £20pm you are not going to have a lot of choice. It will effectively be stakeholder pensions only. You could consider putting the £20pm to one side and then let him add it as a single amount when the workplace scheme exists.

xylophone

Transfer the Pru pension to a stakeholder?

http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/employers/about-stakeholder-pensions.aspx

https://www.gov.uk/personal-pensions-your-rights/stakeholder-pensions

http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/pensions/stakeholder-and-personal-pensions/

lisa701

dunstonh wrote: »

At £20pm you are not going to have a lot of choice. It will effectively be stakeholder pensions only. You could consider putting the £20pm to one side and then let him add it as a single amount when the workplace scheme exists.

That might be the best idea for him for now. At least that means something is being put away and then once he gets something sorted whether it be a stakeholder pension or something through his employers there will be lump sum to pay in.

jamesd

Please say more about this Prudential pension. It's name, how the money is invested would be helpful. Also helpful would be knowing if it has a "guaranteed annuity rate" and what that rate is. Would also be good to know its current value.

At 45 he still has quite a bit of time before state pension age so it's not necessarily a bad idea to wait until his employer will help with the pension contributions.