Pension confusion

FrugalWeirdo83

I pay into a work based ben pal pension and put in 50 quid a month of additional voluntary contributions which I was thinking of increasing but can also see that you can make regular contributions based on a percentage of your 'benefit salary'. Im pretty hopeless at understanding all the jargon but wondered if anyone could tell me if there is a difference and if one is better than the other

Kynthia

FrugalWeirdo83 wrote: »

I pay into a work based ben pal pension and put in 50 quid a month of additional voluntary contributions which I was thinking of increasing but can also see that you can make regular contributions based on a percentage of your 'benefit salary'. Im pretty hopeless at understanding all the jargon but wondered if anyone could tell me if there is a difference and if one is better than the other

I might be wrong but signing up to put a percentage of your salary means the amount going into your pension increases automatically when your benefit salary (possibly your salary excluding things like bonuses and certain allowances but you'd need to get the definition from work) increases. So you wouldnt need to change the amount as regularly as you would for a fixed figure.

FrugalWeirdo83

Ah that makes sense Thank you

worried_jim

I would recommend paying in as much as you can, especially if your employer increases their contributions, after all it's free money!

enthusiasticsaver

When I overpaid into my pension I used a percentage basis so every time I had a pay rise the pension contribution also increased

worried_jim

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

When I overpaid into my pension I used a percentage basis so every time I had a pay rise the pension contribution also increased

I'd something very similar, I'm already at maximum employer contributions so I put mine into the share save and share match schemes.