What advice would you give to the younger you?

tiring33

I'd tell myself to ensure I had a good balance of taxable (pension) and non-taxable (ISA/LISA) sources of income in retirement, that way you can drawdown up to the basic rate from your pension and top-up (if required) from ISA/LISA savings without paying 40% tax. Putting everything into your pension risks exceeding the LTA and the chance that you'll be withdrawing some of your pension income from the 40% band. If I was starting again now I'd put slightly less into my pension and build another retirement pot in a stocks & shares LISA.

daz378

The one good decision I made.  Was signing up to my DB pension 21 years ago   but at the same time was paying off 350 pound a month of loans  holidays latest TVs  drinking up town on weekends  ...though last 10 years been reasonably sensible  all debts paid and accumulating  savings...but the points well made. .enjoy yourself now and again

2nd_time_buyer

I have been paying into my DB pension since 21, at the time I thought I would only be in the job a couple of years. It is now 23 years later.

Contrary to others, I am glad I paid the minimum in my pension to get the full employer contribution but no more. At the time, in my 20s, I didn't have a huge amount of money but got so much enjoyment and fun out of it, I don't regret spending/flittering a single penny.

In my 30s, I was earning a bit more but then we had children and that sucked a huge wedge out of our earnings. Mainly through childcare and my wife working part-time. Again, we didn't save anything beyond the minimum to get the full employer's contribution.      

Now in my 40's we are both earning more than we ever have, we no longer pay childcare, and my wife is working full time. I am now in a position where I can put the equivalent of 80% of my salary in to my pension. So we are making hay whilst the sun shines. The amount of money we are putting in at the moment, would mean anything extra we could have afforded to put in when we were younger (even with compound interest) would have be negligible.

So my advice would be not to go too mental on pension or stress about it when you are young. Enjoy your money when you are young (but don't get in to debt). You won't get so much fun for your £ in later life. 

I appreciate, I am speaking from a position of privilege (apologies).

Thrugelmir

Ibrahim5 said:

Keep away from financial advisers. Research it yourself. It's easy these days with the internet.

Many people end up losing money by doing so. 

Ibrahim5

And many people gain by doing so.

cfw1994

Ibrahim5 said:

And many people gain by doing so.

Frankly, almost all would have no idea whether they will gain or lose either way 🤷‍♂️

The important thing, to me, is to take an active interest, & to understand what the impact of any costs in your choices can have.
The access to information needed to forecast/plan/chose has never been greater.   Perhaps that is the problem: people concerned they won't be able to chose the "best" for them!

gtat

Thanks all! Some really interesting thoughts in here. Definitely a few comments which resonate with me and have made me think about what may be best to do for our own situation.

Good to see that most people are happy with the decisions they made and the journey they have taken! A careful balance needs to be found to ensure you can enjoy life now, yet also ensure you are provided for in future. Saving / investing salary increases and/or earnings over £50k appears to be sound advice in helping achieve this balance.

jim8888

Don't wish away life waiting for retirement - it'll come soon enough! And the more hobbies, pastimes and friends you can develop pre-retirement, the more you'll have post-retirement too. 

jimjames

Take out every DB pension scheme I had the opportunity to join rather than opting out and taking a personal pension instead Fortunately I learnt early enough for it not to have too much impact!

Albermarle

gtat said:

Thanks all! Some really interesting thoughts in here. Definitely a few comments which resonate with me and have made me think about what may be best to do for our own situation.

Good to see that most people are happy with the decisions they made and the journey they have taken! A careful balance needs to be found to ensure you can enjoy life now, yet also ensure you are provided for in future. Saving / investing salary increases and/or earnings over £50k appears to be sound advice in helping achieve this balance.

Maybe stating the obvious , but make sure you hang on to your job,  as all the rest of the comments become less relevant if you become unemployed / lower salary role.