My view on Pensions

fairleads

Not a troll enabler, just a guy who retired 16 yrs ago without the benefit of a taxrelief funded 'pension'. That is my experience and is a fact.
If you or any other self appointed 'expert' dosn't believe that, that's your choice.
Just because bloggers/commentors disagree with the op's statements / facts/opinions does not make her statements / facts/opinions wrong.

atush

Great- glad you are happy.

But you'd have had more money if you had used a pension for at least some of it. Period.


AS it is just at tax wrapper, and pretty much anything you can put in an ISa (or in most cases unwrapped acct) can be put in a pension.

Go and and join in with the Op and do the La La La thing.

chucknorris

fairleads wrote: »

Not a troll enabler, just a guy who retired 16 yrs ago without the benefit of a taxrelief funded 'pension'. That is my experience and is a fact.

Why didn't you take advantage of the tax relief?

I used to think that I wasn't benefiting as much as others (but still worthwhile) because my thinking was that I am getting 40% relief, but I will be also paying 40% tax as a pensioner too. Obviously I know about the 25% TFLS and the fact that the dividend income is also compounding tax free. But what I was overlooking was that I was also getting some 60% tax relief too.

Keep_pedalling

fairleads wrote: »

Not a troll enabler, just a guy who retired 16 yrs ago without the benefit of a taxrelief funded 'pension'. That is my experience and is a fact.
If you or any other self appointed 'expert' dosn't believe that, that's your choice.
Just because bloggers/commentors disagree with the op's statements / facts/opinions does not make her statements / facts/opinions wrong.

Facts and opinions are not the same thing, although following the lead of the Trump administration you can now have alternative facts, so we must all be right now.

fairleads

chucknorris wrote: »

Why didn't you take advantage of the tax relief?

Because financial independence was more value to me than 20% taxrelief.

davieg11

For any doubters reading this thread, I'm sure there isn't but if it helps even 1 person decide to start a pension, this is a statement from 1 company I worked for 8 years.
Member's normal contributions (including member's contractual contributions transferred to scheme) £7,482.76
Total Transfer Value of benefits including AVCs. £67,099.00

Bootsox

fairleads wrote: »

Because financial independence was more value to me than 20% taxrelief.

For many though, this philosophy would also mean turning their back on any employer's contributions (or relief on NI contributions via salary sacrifice).

chucknorris

fairleads wrote: »

Because financial independence was more value to me than 20% taxrelief.

Me too, and I also achieved it, I now only work now one day a week for lifestyle reasons, I like my job, and I originally retired at 42 and only went back to work part time at 52 years old by choice (not necessity). But that doesn't mean that I wasn't also going to take advantage of the tax relief on pensions, in fact, if I had not, I would have not escaped the 60% tax band.

EDIT: I didn't focus on pensions until I was in my 50's, if I had been more open minded towards pensions earlier in my life, I would have even more than I do now, when I was younger I dismissed pensions and focused entirely on investment property. I'm not complaining about what I've got, I'm happy with my financial position, but I would be lying if I didn't admit that I could have done things better by investing in a pension earlier. Ditto PEP's and TESSA's (although with those at least I did start reasonably early). Mistakes are forgivable (almost inevitable) but if you don't learn by your mistakes, you limit your ability to turn things around.

RickyB2000

fairleads wrote: »

Because financial independence was more value to me than 20% taxrelief.

I don't think anyone has said you can't retire early without pensions. However it is likely it would not be the most efficient or effective route for most people. They are a tool in your overall planning that shouldn't be ignored.
The average man on the street (which the OP comments seem aimed at) is unlikely to become financially independent pre-retirement age, and those that do I would bet in most cases is because they have a pension they have been accumulating into for years.

green_man

RickyB2000 wrote: »

I don't think anyone has said you can't retire early without pensions. However it is likely it would not be the most efficient or effective route for most people. They are a tool in your overall planning that shouldn't be ignored.
The average man on the street (which the OP comments seem aimed at) is unlikely to become financially independent pre-retirement age, and those that do I would bet in most cases is because they have a pension they have been accumulating into for years.

+1

No one in this thread said it was impossible to fund your retirement without using a pension, they generally made the point though that almost everyone would be better off doing so. In fact several posters suggested a combination of Pensions and other investment tools.

I myself retired last year at 49. For 6 years I will use various ISAs and other investments. At 55 I will start drawing down my DC pension, taking approx £15k per year thus paying zero tax. This pot was built from 40% tax relief, 12% employer contribution and salary sacrifice NI relief which all added to approx 3 times the amount I was actually losing from my Take home pay.

The additional flexibility of ISAs and other investments are certainly valuable, but to ignore the pension wrapper seems extreamly short sighted.