Work pensions scheme.

kingrulzuk

I don’t work in finance nor do I know anything about it.

But at work we get ask to join the work pensions scheme which we all know that we pay some and the employer pays in too.

It all sounds good and for most of them its good coz that’s what the government wants us to believe in it.

I remember when I was a kid in 1997 my father was talking about the Labour F*****G the pensions up. My father said he lost money coz of it.

I don’t know how and why as I was a kid back then. But it was something he and his mates is to talk about every day for so many months.

Now everyone is saving for pension which is good. But what if the government changes something or charge tax or anything can happen in 5 or 10 or even 20 years’ time.

What guarantee there is that ur money is safe??

atush

Well I dont know what your father was complaing abt as we dont knwo where he worked,

But pensions today are safer than back then. The money in work pensions is no longer in the control of the company (or the company owner like Robert Maxwell). It is under the control of trustees who have to safeguard it by law.

and pensions invested with pension companies like say, Aviva, SW etc are ring fenced ie the pots are invested in funds and cannot be poached by aviva ETC.

Final salary pensions are now covered by the pension protection fund (ie non public service ones).

So they are safer now than they were.

But you are right, there is legislative risk. But there is nothing you can do about that except vote against whoever you feel would do your pension harm. Also, being too drastic with pensions esp private ones, is pretty much electoral suicide. With more and more people being auto enrolled, if someone came along and said, no mroe 25% Tax free etc, they would not be voted back in, and the next govt would probably reverse any unpopular changes.

AlanP_2

They were probably talking about the change Labour made to the tax treatment of money paid out to shareholders to make it broadly the same whether you were investing through a pension scheme or not.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/legacy/thereporters/evandavis/2007/04/that_pensions_raid.htmlting

kidmugsy

Pensions are inflexible until you reach the age when you can withdraw money (currently 55). All the time you are inflexibly invested your money is at risk to government interference. For investing in pensions to make sense you need compensation for that risk. The employer contribution and the tax relief are pretty good compensation, so most people invest in pensions. It's a gamble, but so is most of life. For many people who pay income tax at 20% it's probably a good idea to contribute enough to pensions to get the maximum contribution your employer will pay. After that it might be better to contribute to an ISA instead. There's one exception: if your employer offers "salary sacrifice" it might be worth contributing extra to your pension because you also avoid having National Insurance contributions deducted from that part of your pay.

mgdavid

why start another thread?
why not carry on with the first one?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5193028

atush

Because he didn't like the answers lol?