Pension and financial advice

Polaris302

Hello,
Not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, but here goes:
I'm 29 years old, I've been in full time work for 3 years, and was auto-enrolled in the company pension scheme with NEST recently. 3% of my wages isn't enough for a decent retirement, and I want to pay in more but there's a problem: I don't like my employer, I don't trust my employer and I want to get out ASAP.

Questions:

1. If I decided to pay more into the pension scheme, would my employer be made aware of it?
2. If my employer did become aware, would they have any influence over what I pay in, i.e. be able to stop me from paying in as much as I choose, whenever they feel like it?
3. If no-one can answer questions 1 and 2, are can you recommend any affordable, trustworthy, financial advisers who could provide answers? If not, is there a resource I could use to identify advisers that I could trust?

dunstonh

If I decided to pay more into the pension scheme, would my employer be made aware of it?

if you did it via payroll, yes. If you did it with a standalone direct debit, no.

If my employer did become aware, would they have any influence over what I pay in, i.e. be able to stop me from paying in as much as I choose, whenever they feel like it?

no

If no-one can answer questions 1 and 2, are can you recommend any affordable, trustworthy, financial advisers who could provide answers? If not, is there a resource I could use to identify advisers that I could trust?

You dont need an adviser. However, if you ever did search one out in the future, make sures its an IFA and not an FA. I = independent.

xylophone

https://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/memberhelpcentre/contributions/make-additional-contributions.html

Albermarle

You should be clear that if you leave your current employer , the funds left in the NEST pension will be under your control and the employer will be out of the picture.So do not let your dislike of your employer affect your decisions about pensions/contributions.

tacpot12

You are correct 3% of your salary won't be enough to provide for your retirement. You can stop your direct debit the moment you need to, so I don't see any reason not to get this setup asap.

LHW99

There is one reason it may not be too bad if the employer knows - sometimes if you put in more, the terms of the scheme say the employer will also pay more. Worth checking.