Opted out of work place pension

atush

OPs quite often never return, even if everything (incl very silly ideas) are sugar coated and not pointed out.

The point is, to answer the Q's (which was done) while also trying to help the OP to understand the mistake made, and to help them see the light and change a bad decision.

Of course, we could all be super polite and see the situation in one of the above posts where someone used a pension liberator, was charged 20% for doing so, and is now facing a huge bill from HMRC- despite being told it was a bad thing to do.

sometimes you can be a little too kind when someone is doing something foolish.

edinburgher

• If one person makes a contradictory point to what I believe loudly and/or rudely, I'll assume they're an !!!!
• If half a dozen people do it, I'll consider that I've made a real mistake and will reconsider what I'm doing

Never ask the internet for advice if you don't want opinions.

Malthusian

nicknameless wrote: »

Now that is quite arguably the case, but unsurprisingly when put in that manner it's unlikely that the recipient will (a) appreciate and (b) take on board the underlying message.

On any thread like this the responses to the OP will cover the whole range of the tact spectrum, from "I don't think you should be doing this, and here are the considered and carefully-explained reasons why" to "you stupid git" and all points in between. The OP can therefore choose to take on board the message in whatever way he likes. If he ignores all of the responses regardless of whether they're tactful, rational or forceful, then there's nothing more we could have done and it's his own problem.

t0rt0ise

Of course there is the possibility that not all people can afford to pay into a pension. Free money from the employer is grand but only if you can afford your side of it.

dunstonh

t0rt0ise wrote: »

Of course there is the possibility that not all people can afford to pay into a pension. Free money from the employer is grand but only if you can afford your side of it.

If they cant afford to pay into the pension then they need to address their spending habits and live within their means.

atush

Can you afford not to? otherwise you cant afford to ever retire?

In any case, that wasnt the problem here, the OP has turned down the employers money and wants to put his money (taxed) elsewhere. Which was in essence what we are saying is an foolish course of action.

Tammykitty

My old workplace had a pension scheme with matched contributions - I didn't join it when I started as contributions were 3% and I wanted to get a house and was paying £500 rent.


As an example:


Pay £2000 a month, net cost of pension is £50 a month (£48 to be exact)


House Price - £100,000


Deposit Needed - £10,000


Monthly house savings (exc Pension) - £200


Months to save deposit -50 (4 years 2 months)


Monthy house savings (including pension contribution_ - £250
Months to save deposit - 40 (3 years 4 months)


10 months wasted rent saved - £5000!


There can be reasons for not contributing and turning down free money. above is a simple example

dunstonh

Tammykitty wrote: »

My old workplace had a pension scheme with matched contributions - I didn't join it when I started as contributions were 3% and I wanted to get a house and was paying £500 rent.


As an example:


Pay £2000 a month, net cost of pension is £50 a month (£48 to be exact)


House Price - £100,000

Deposit Needed - £10,000

Monthly house savings (exc Pension) - £200

Months to save deposit -50 (4 years 2 months)

Monthy house savings (including pension contribution_ - £250
Months to save deposit - 40 (3 years 4 months)


10 months wasted rent saved - £5000!


There can be reasons for not contributing and turning down free money. above is a simple example

I read your post as an example of why you should have paid into the pension. Not whyyou shouldnt.

10 months wasted rent saved - £5000!
But you would have been paying a mortgage instead and over 25/30 years, that isnt an issue. You missed out on £2400 of employer contributions which over 30 years would turn into a figure closer to £20,000

And if you couldnt afford to save for the house deposit and pay into the pension then that is a worrying sign when interest rates eventually return to normal long term averages.

Thrugelmir

t0rt0ise wrote: »

Of course there is the possibility that not all people can afford to pay into a pension. Free money from the employer is grand but only if you can afford your side of it.

Better value than owning a mobile phone.

edinburgher

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Better value than owning a mobile phone.

Nobody has mentioned mobile phones, so I can only assume that you're spouting the usual 'millennials don't bother saving because they're buying shiny !!!!' line?

Approximately 70% of people in the UK have a smartphone. They start from approximately £12/month for a reasonable phone with sufficient data for day-to-day use.

That said, the ONS did declare the average monthly bill last year to be in the region of £27-28, so quite a few people are spending a lot more. I couldn't find any data that showed whether millenials were better or worse (or average) re. total spend, did you?

Maybe I'm reading too much into your comment, but it did seem a bit of a random one to drop into this thread.