People in their 30's - future financial plans?

SamSam17

stoozie1 wrote: »

With 20% tax relief and employer contributions, surely it outperforms any other method of saving for your retirement?

It is (and I plan to continue making the minimum contribution). My initial point was just that retirement isn't my main goal at the moment and would rather focus on getting on the property ladder first.

wacky75

I'm 42 and I've always paid into pensions but only now am I starting to look at what I'm paying and what they could be worth in the end.I'm interested in what 'total pot' figure people use as a guide - i.e. my personal pension projection at a low - middle and higher rate of performance are currently 297k, 555k, 1M+.
Do you use the middle or the lower figure when calculating if you need to increase current payments ?
I pay HR tax so I've found out that you can recover 20% of pension contribution tax, which is a start.
OH works part-time earning less than 11k so she doesn't pay tax.
I have a property worth 500k and 320k equity.
My old fashioned idea of keeping lifestyle to a minimum in order to pay the mortgage as quickly as possible are now potentially changing to switching to an interest-only mortgage with a view to paying it off (or the bulk of it at least), with the 25% tax-free lump sum at 55.
I have a child who has just started school and any additional disposable income would be nice to have in order to fund her school life/trips, give us a holiday or two and pay more into the pension.

Reue

Turned 30 this year, wife is 29.

We have £140k of mortgage left on a ~£300k house.

I have £41k in pension, 16k in ISA and £34k in cash (Waiting for 2018 to make a large mortgage overpayment).

Plan is to pay off the mortgage ASAP through the max (10% of remaining) overpayments while continuing to invest in pensions/ISA.

LittleP

I’m 38 years old, single and mortgage free and am on £20,700 (with a potential annual bonus between £1,500 and £2,500.)


I have about £34,000 in my work pension pot and have just signed which both myself and my employer contribute 5% of my wage. I have a second pension that has been frozen about ten years with £9,000 in, but having spoken with a IFA I have decided to transfer this and contribute another £150 into this a month.


Further to this I have invested £10,000 into a Stocks and Shares ISA via the Financial Advisor with a further £150 per month going into this. Finally I have about £12,500 in savings accounts gaining interest between 1.5% and 5%.


[FONT=&quot]I have no idea if I am ahead of where I should be or if I still have work to do but where I feel I am failing is getting the balance right. I am saving as much as possible to release the horror that is work life but I concede I am lacking in the treat area. It’s this way of life that enabled me to pay the mortgage off in three years but it is sometimes a little miserable!![/FONT]

justme111

yes I suppose not much point to provide for a ewlaxed living from 60 onwards if previous 25 years are miserable

rachlikeswinter

I've just turned 30. I've got <£3000 in 3 workplace pensions (should probably roll them into one, no?) And I'm currently saving (hard) for my first house deposit. I started seriously saving about 18 months ago, have about £5000 saved and am under no illusions that it will take me at least 5 years to get anywhere near what I need for a 10% deposit. I'm single and I doubt I can afford to buy alone (I live / work in London). I earn around £30k but I'm a freelance graphic designer so this goes up and down.

So.. retirement situation is looking pretty dire right now! Mildly worried doesn't really cover it...

londonwayfarer

Have been a lurker on the forum for 5 years, first post today. Found this thread very interesting and so fitting to my current state of mind. So here we go.

I am 34 (making 85K) and OH is 29 making 22K per annum. Net assets:

90K equity in house (currently valued @440K)
55K in pension pot (contribute £400 per month and similar employer contributions)
50K in an offshore property
22K in S&S isa
40K cash (will go into isa this FY)
40K in metals (gold)

We save around 3K cash per month and are planning to use the ISA allowance every year, Hoping to retire outside UK by 40, not exactly retire but being financially independent and working to keep ourselves busy.

snowqueen555

You are all doing amazing. I have no house (low salary, live in the south), and a very small pension pot.

I have some small investments, and my plan is to move 4k a year from my investment account into my LISA.

thatoldchestnut

Must say I don't know what to make of the idea that £30k is not a lot of money! I am 35, live in the north west working in local government, and am on about £20k. I have about eight years of membership in the LGPS and, added to an amount of extra pension I bought a few years ago, have so far built up an income in retirement of just over £5k in today's money, plus the state pension.

I guess this 5k I have built up is worth about £100k (or is it worth more, given that it's index-linked?), and given my relatively low income, it's something I feel very lucky to have. Hoping to stay in the pension as long as I can... every year I work there means an extra £400pa or so in retirement if I start to claim it when I reach SPA.

My partner is 31 and has had quite a few different jobs but generally works in the NHS these days and is on around £17k. Not sure how much pension she has built up. We both may inherit from parents, but that's a bit of an unknown at this point and is hopefully a good while away yet.

We rent and are trying to save a deposit for a house: we aren't going to have kids and if we get married it'll be as cheaply as possible, so it may be easier for us than for other people, as having children is expensive and with it being just the two of us we'll only need a small terraced house at most. I do feel we are starting quite late compared to others though. It was a few months ago that we decided to start saving for a deposit and at this point I have £3,000 saved towards it in a LISA (which I've managed to put together from existing savings plus turning the spending taps off!). We're hoping to have some help from our parents towards the deposit too.

Alexland

Your LGPS pension is a winner. I estimate your £5k per annum is worth around £150k.