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Am I paying enough? (Self employed)

2

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  • AlanP_2
    AlanP_2 Posts: 3,539 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Becj53 wrote: »
    Well like I said, I feel like I'm completely out of my depth and clearly I was right!
    There's definitely no previous work pensions, so this needs to be right.
    If I'm being honest, the fact that my mum died at 61 made me feel like I'd rather enjoy my money now as I may never see the benefits of a pension.
    I'll look into seeing a financial advisor, are they expensive?
    Becky

    With the amount you earn and the amount you will be saving an IFA wouldn't be cost effective.

    A basic pension, and NEST may not be the best option as discussed, will do what you need it to.

    What is your State Pension situation as you need to prioritise maximising that as opposed to a personal pension in my view?

    What's your overall family finance situation? Is there a partner with a pension? Mortgage or Rent?
  • Up to date with NI contributions, mortgage will be paid off before retirement (currently overpaying each month) husband has several 'frozen' pensions (whatever that means)
    as he's moved around a bit with different jobs
  • AlanP_2
    AlanP_2 Posts: 3,539 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Becj53 wrote: »
    Up to date with NI contributions, mortgage will be paid off before retirement (currently overpaying each month) husband has several 'frozen' pensions (whatever that means)
    as he's moved around a bit with different jobs

    Well I would look at in the context of the overall family situation then.

    You need to carry on building your pension as he does.

    Get all the details together for all the pensions, work out what level of income you need and want in retirement and see how it looks overall.
  • justme111
    justme111 Posts: 3,531 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    So if you manage to live on 15 k paying mortgage now chances are you may be ok on state pwnsuin alone so no need to get necessarily alarmist.
    The word "dilemma" comes from Greek where "di" means two and "lemma" means premise. Refers usually to difficult choice between two undesirable options.
    Often people seem to use this word mistakenly where "quandary" would fit better.
  • justme111 wrote: »
    So if you manage to live on 15 k paying mortgage now chances are you may be ok on state pwnsuin alone so no need to get necessarily alarmist.
    Except when the first person dies - no survivor benefits on SP. (apart from some small amounts in some special cases)
  • Brynsam
    Brynsam Posts: 3,643 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    dunstonh wrote: »
    Nest is not a government scheme.

    So you keep saying - but as NEST itself says, it is 'set up by government'. It is also backed by the government, aka the kindly taxpayer, as the huge loans made to it demonstrate.
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 120,179 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Brynsam wrote: »
    So you keep saying - but as NEST itself says, it is 'set up by government'. It is also backed by the government, aka the kindly taxpayer, as the huge loans made to it demonstrate.

    Being set up through legislation and leeching off the taxpayer does not make it a Government pension.

    Personally, I find it disgraceful that the taxpayer is footing the bill for something that the marketplace could have done. Yes, NEST does focus on the bottom end of the market that most of the major providers are not interested in. However, there are players in that area who are and there was no need for it to exist.

    Nest is inefficient as a pension provider as we have seen from many threads. They use out-of-date methods for transfers. They lose a fortune to a fraud due to their inexperience and its unlikely the tax payer will ever get its money back.

    At least 7 of the staff earn more than £150,402 a year. It is estimated it will be borrowing £1.2bn by around 2026. Taxpayers money should be better spent.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • Terron
    Terron Posts: 846 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Rather than overpaying the mortgage eacj month you might be better off paying that money into your pension. Since mortgage rates are so low currently you would likely make more from the money in the pension especially with tax relief, and later on might be able to use the tax free lump sum from the pension to pay off the mortgage.


    Still I understandthe comfort of paying down the mortgage, I largely did that though when interest rates were higher,.
  • You admitted yourself that at 41 you have started late. On the bright side, in 10 years time you will be able to say with at least some satisfaction that it's a good job you started at the age of 41, than having to start one now at 51.


    If you can increase the monthly contributions to what you feel comfortable with, it won't do any harm in the long term. If you are able to pay in £120, it's still better than £100. If you push it to say $135 even better. It's what you can afford.


    Your husband's frozen pensions? Find out exactly what they are.
  • atush
    atush Posts: 18,731 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Pun wrote: »
    'Should' is all very well - but affordability comes into it. A point you and the previous post seem to have overlooked quite cheerfully. Only the first answer seems to have paid any heed to that little part of the equation.

    OP, save what you can and increase it if you can - but don't tie up so much in a pension that you can't pay your living costs now. If you are single and trying to pay your own way on £15,000 a year you are doing well to pay £100 a month into a pension.


    What a cheek.

    WE didnt consider this 'cheerfully'. Instead you cheerfully disregardd the OPs not joinging a pension until their 40's.

    Instead of cheerful i am concerned for the OP. With good reason as we didnt have pensions until late 30's early 40s as we were working abroad. And had to pay in a whole lot more than 100 a month 20 years ago?
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