Where To put my money

ImDoingItForMe

Hi all.
I have 8 years left until retirement 
I have a closed DB pension with the company I work for now and a DC pension which was opened in 2015 after the DB pension was closed . I'm invested in the generic lifestyle option for drawdown as I don't feel confident picking another option.
I contribute a percentage of 31.5% and my company only adds 7.5% (that's their maximum)
I buy company shares as well and have enough savings for rainyday, unemployment etc 
What I'd like to know is would it be best to reduce the % I pay into my pension and start another one elsewhere. And if so where would a novice go to decide on what to do. Bearing in mind I only have 8 years left until retirement
Thank you 

MallyGirl

how do you contribute - salary sacrifice is hard to beat as a method but that would only be possible into your current country pension.
Why do you think you would do better with a second pension? A pension is just a wrapper so you would need to make choices on the investments in a new pension and so you might as well do that with the current pension unless you have a good reason not to (few choices, high fees?)

Albermarle

Most likely you will be better off looking carefully at the investments in your current pension. These lifestyle funds are not usually the best. The critical point to look out for is what type of lifestyle fund it is.
Is it one designed for someone who wants to buy an annuity, or for someone who is planning to drawdown their pension?
If it is the former, are you actually planning to buy an annuity? 

ImDoingItForMe

Hi. Yes it was just an idea and if anyone had done it.
I do salary sacrifice.
Maybe yes I am better off leaving it all as it is 

ImDoingItForMe

It was originally in a cash option, but I changed it to the drawdown option 3years ago.

MallyGirl

ImDoingItForMe said:

Hi. Yes it was just an idea and if anyone had done it.
I do salary sacrifice.
Maybe yes I am better off leaving it all as it is 

If sal sac then you are benefitting from not paying 20% tax and not paying 12% NI if you are a basic rate tax payer.
I suggest looking at what investment options there are in your current pension. Don't forget that you hope to live a long life so unless you are planning to buy an annuity with it all on retirement day then you are looking for long term investments at a level of risk you are comfortable with. Cash would have been losing against inflation so that was certainly not the best choice

QrizB

ImDoingItForMe said:

I'm invested in the generic lifestyle option for drawdown as I don't feel confident picking another option.
...
What I'd like to know is would it be best to reduce the % I pay into my pension and start another one elsewhere. And if so where would a novice go to decide on what to do.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but if you're not yet confident enough to pick specific options within your employer's pension you probably aren't going to be confident picking funds within a personal pension either.

Considering the tax advantages that salary sacrifice offers, you are probably best off learning more about the options available within your employer's scheme. At least for now!

Can you tell us the name of the provider that supplies your employer's pension?

ImDoingItForMe

Legal & General .
I could buy an annuity with part of the money and use the rest for drawdown?
I actually think I will leave things as they are and pay the31%. Rather than start another one  I agree I'm not clued up in picking funds from anywhere.

Nimb

Having read the details in your very first post I think we both work for the same company - does it begin with ‘T’. 

The reason I ask is that I upped my contributions from 7.5% a while back and I ended being removed from SAL SAC due to minimum wage regulations. I ended up cutting back to 7.5% and investing elsewhere after seeking advice on this forum. 

Apologies if I am barking up the wrong tree - I can go into more details for you if we do work for the same company

Nimb

Being removed from SAL SAC can be affected by numerous things. As holiday pay is not considered as part of the calculation taking 1 week off in your 4 week pay period (depending on how much you earn) could  cause you to be temporarily removed - the same would could occur if you were off sick for more than a day or two in any given period.

If you were to do BAYE or Cycle To Work scheme these will also diminish the salary calculation which could cause you to be temporarily removed from SAL SAC (SAYE does not affect the calculation).

There are also tax implications for BAYE if you cash them in early. 

Hope this helps