54 no pension

Zoe.nash

My husband is self employed and has no pension, we have just got a lump sum of £80000 from a house sale, is it worth paying some into a pension or is he to old?

tigerspill

Zoe.nash said:

My husband is self employed and has no pension, we have just got a lump sum of £80000 from a house sale, is it worth paying some into a pension or is he to old?

I think it would be worth looking into it if he can take advantage of the tax rebates on pension contributions.

Albermarle

You can contribute to a pension up to age 75 and you can start taking money from a pension ( if you have one)  age 55
However he needs to look at the situation in order of priorities:
1) Pay off any debt, especially any with a high interest rate . A low interest mortgage could be an exception.
2) Have some emergency cash savings . Minimum 3 months living expenses , ideally more than one year.
3) Check his ( and your) state pension forecast , in case there are NI years missing ( or will be when you retire)
4) Maybe spend some of it on a nice holiday , new car etc 
5) After all that you can look at investing the remainder for your retirement . Usually via a pension to get the tax relief is the best way , but he needs to be earning to be able to get significant tax relief. Also the money could be used to top up any pension arrangements you have ( again if you are earning it is better) 

xylophone

Age 54 is not too old.  Up to age 75 he can benefit from tax relief on his pension contributions up to    100% of his pre tax profits or £40,000, whichever is the lower.

He would make a net contribution to the pension scheme and the provider would claim the tax relief.
Thus, if the profit was £30,000 and he wanted to make a contribution of £30,000,  he would pay in  £24,000 and the pension provider would claim £ 6000 from HMRC and add it to his pension.

Example https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/what-we-offer/personal-pension/personal-pension-account

Has he ( and have you) obtained  a State Pension Forecast?
https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

 

Marcon

Zoe.nash said:

My husband is self employed and has no pension, we have just got a lump sum of £80000 from a house sale, is it worth paying some into a pension or is he to old?

What's he planning to live on in retirement? And you - do you have any pension provision?

Zoe.nash

We have no debt, £100000 left on our mortgage, house value approx £500000. I have a workplace pension that I have been paying for about 20 years. We are tied into our mortgage for another 2 years. 

Marcon

Zoe.nash said:

We have no debt, £100000 left on our mortgage, house value approx £500000. I have a workplace pension that I have been paying for about 20 years. We are tied into our mortgage for another 2 years. 

In that case it would considerable sense for him to pay into a pension - and perhaps for you to increase your contributions to your workplace pension?