With little chance of retiring, should I bother with a pension?

dunstonh

kingrulzuk wrote: »

You want to retire before u r 45 and u r saying to OP don't stop paying into a pension. do you realise that u cant take it out till u r 55 and it can change in the later future.

Whilst the pension cant start paying the income until 55, it can thereafter. So, you have a solution to cover the bit from 45 to 55 and then the pension kicks in at 55.

bigadaj

Fundamentally pensions should be about smoothing income, so at ages where you can afford to save some money then do so, ideally with the benefit of employer contributions and tax relief, meaning the net cost of contributions is fairly low.

Restrictions exist on access as a corollary to the benefits above, so pensions need to be complemented by easy access savings, savings into isas, potentially property and other asset classes.

uk1

dunstonh wrote: »

Whilst the pension cant start paying the income until 55, it can thereafter. So, you have a solution to cover the bit from 45 to 55 and then the pension kicks in at 55.

Many people have already taken pensions in their 50's as it was possible under earlier rules to do so.

But even now younger people can take the risk and duck out of corporate life and start their own businesses. Even relatively small businesses can change your life. The bit of "income" that matters is the amount you get above meeting all the current monthly expenditure ie disposable income. If all you are left with now is £100 monthly but you start your own business early enough and make and £1000 monthly then you have enough to start making early retirement a possiblity but with even greater options when you reach retirement. It is possible if you are clever and lucky enough to do considerably better than that. You might even lump in those who have simply bought a few buy to lets at the right time.

Not everyone is "cut out" to give up safety for the uncertainty of starting a business, but I believe more could do so than currently do.

Jeff

thedalmeny

9% by employer is fantastic, especially when you don't need to match!

I get 6% employer contribution but i need to match it with 6%.

I'm 32 and been putting money into my pension for quite a while. Initially when i started working after University i didn't bother, it's hard to envision retirement when you're in your early 20s.

One thing that really played a part was a previous company i worked for, one of the employees i worked with was 6 years away from retirement. She was plowing money into her retirement fund like crazy, really ridiculous amounts. She hadn't invested in it like she should have so now was trying to pump it up.

My sister and her husband are the same, high earners in their early 30s and haven't invested a drop. Also don't intend to in short term, I find it mad.

Suzanna22

I found this thread extremely useful as well! I am currently 40 have been paying into a public sector pension for around 10+ with a break when I changed companies for 18 months. I was thinking about pausing my pension contributions for a few months because I am really struggling financially right now.


Aside from finding a part time job and searching for a better paid full time job I feel like I've exhausted all possibilities to reduce my monthly outgoings (I guess this discussion is for another thread). I just want to say, thanks for the advice, it has been really useful. I guess I will have to find another way of making money or reducing my outgoings.

atush

If you have fully MSE'd, have you done a spending diary? I have never seen someone do one, and not find waste.

Do you have too much 'stuff'? Have you tried to ebay it?