Pensions...what do I look for in one..??

keeperlit

Ok guys I'm a total newbie here and understand very little of this...in fact the more I read up on it the more questions I have!!! It seems unnecessarily complicated and it's no wonder we are looming towards a pension problem when it's as clear as mud to most folk. Anyways rant over..my point was treat me like a child here with your explanations

So....I'm 39 and want to retire when I'm 59. I currently pay into a work pension and have a fund of about 35k at the moment
Currently i pay in £810 a month to my company pension (including work contribution)
I'm going to up this shortly by another £552 per month into the above work pension or possibly a separate pension- something a little more high risk. I realize as I write this that I have no idea how risky my work pension is.
I have a house which I'm paying a mortgage on and I plan to have this paid off of within 15 years
I also plan to purchase a btl property in the next year as another source of income later on. This property would be on a 20 yr mortgage.


I guess my question is with the pensions...how do I know if they are good value or not?? What questions should I be asking my workplace pension people to get information outta them? I'm guessing nobody can predict actual returns but should they give me an expected growth? (Say like 7% annual growth expected) ot a break down of what affects the growth of it and my expected yearly pension. What should they provide me with or what should I ask them for?

I also wanted to look at a new pension for my £552 monthly contribution...I figured I could be a little riskier with this one. Any opinions on what sort of pension I should be looking for here?? I have no idea.

Does the above seem like a decent plan for retirement at 59 or do I need to put more away??

Clearly I should speak to an IFA but I'd like to have a little bit more knowledge in the subject before I do so...here I am

Thanks in advance everyone

si2winit

Ok

Your work pension -I’m assuming it’s defined contribution?

Do you know if it’s a stakeholder or SIPP?

And for now, do you know who the pension holder is and the fund or funds it’s invested in?

keeperlit

Yes to defined contribution.

I've no idea on the pension holder or of it's stakeholder.

So it appears it's stakeholder...as far as the funds...it seems to be some generic funds specific to the provider...is there something in particular I should be looking for?