55 and no pension

lchad

Hello,
First time posting and don't know all the pension jargon, so please bear with me.
My OH (55 years) has been self employed all his life, and has no pension whatsoever. (never the right time, kids, mortgage, recessions etc)
I (53) have 3 small pots from part time jobs over the years, projected to approx £4000 pa.
We are both up to date with the state pension forecasts, and should both receive the full amount of this.
Our mortgage will be paid off in 2 years time, maybe earlier as I keep overpaying as much as I can.
We currently have £15k in an ISA.
So, we will have approx 10 years mortgage free before reaching 67 - should OH get a pension for these 10 years, or are we better off carrying on saving in our ISA or other savings account?
Any advice greatly appreciated
Thank you

MallyGirl

pensions gain him tax relief - only 75% will be taxable on the way back out and the first £12570 pa of that would be 0% tax. That will beat an ISA.

lchad

Hi,

Thanks for the reply - I hadn't even thought about the tax relief, that sounds like a better option then.
Trouble is, it's getting him to do something about it - will keep gently reminding!

QrizB

It doesn't have to be only your OH, you can also pay into a pension.

If you're unwaged, you can pay up to £2880 a year and gain up to £720 tax relief even if you haven't actually paid any income for yourself.

LHW99

lchad said:

Hi,

Thanks for the reply - I hadn't even thought about the tax relief, that sounds like a better option then.
Trouble is, it's getting him to do something about it - will keep gently reminding!

As long as he opens it, you can send payments from joint (online if the "designated account"), or your own current account as a third party contribution - even by cheque!

Albermarle

lchad said:

Hi,

Thanks for the reply - I hadn't even thought about the tax relief, that sounds like a better option then.
Trouble is, it's getting him to do something about it - will keep gently reminding!

Just be aware he has to have a taxable income, to claim tax relief on more contributions than £2880. So if he stopped work, he would be in the same position as you.
I would suggest you have a look at the websites of a few SIPP/pension providers, most of them have some clear explanations of how they work.

Pensions: Everything you need to know for retirement - MSE

A lot of the points are for employed people, but you can skip to Point 14 and onwards.