Salary above 100k. How best to reduce?

Noneforit999

HedgehogRulez said:

why dont you start putting £60k into your pension each year?

1. I don’t want to put that much in. 

2. We can’t afford to put that much in 

My wife’s parents were ones to overpay their pension massively, her mum then died suddenly at 57. 

Her dad is now on his own with so much money he doesn’t know what to do with it but doesn’t spend a penny.

Totally onboard with saving a little extra for retirement but on the other side, you may not live that long so I would rather enjoy my life now knowing I have a comfortable pension but not a rich one 

Nomunnofun1

Noneforit999 said:

HedgehogRulez said:

why dont you start putting £60k into your pension each year?

1. I don’t want to put that much in. 

2. We can’t afford to put that much in 

My wife’s parents were ones to overpay their pension massively, her mum then died suddenly at 57. 

Her dad is now on his own with so much money he doesn’t know what to do with it but doesn’t spend a penny.

Totally onboard with saving a little extra for retirement but on the other side, you may not live that long so I would rather enjoy my life now knowing I have a comfortable pension but not a rich one 

Mr Hedgehog made a similar comment on this thread. Not sure he got the point. 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81467500#Comment_81467500

Albermarle

Noneforit999 said:

HedgehogRulez said:

why dont you start putting £60k into your pension each year?

1. I don’t want to put that much in. 

2. We can’t afford to put that much in 

My wife’s parents were ones to overpay their pension massively, her mum then died suddenly at 57. 

Her dad is now on his own with so much money he doesn’t know what to do with it but doesn’t spend a penny.

Totally onboard with saving a little extra for retirement but on the other side, you may not live that long so I would rather enjoy my life now knowing I have a comfortable pension but not a rich one 

Of course everybody has a different view on these things.

We all know someone who died 'before their time' and it tends to skew our view of our potential longevity. However it is quite rare for someone to die in their 50's or even 60's/
Statistically you will on average live to your mid 80's. If you have no really bad habits, are well educated and have money, then the chances are that you will be part of the 50% who live longer than that  and in fact there is a 25% chance you will live into your Nineties.
Presuming you will not want to work until you drop, then if you retire at 60 , you could easily have a 30 year retirement to fund. As you are used to being a high earner, then this could be expensive.

The two most common mistakes people make when planning their retirement funds is :

Underestimating how much money they need to build up.+ Underestimating how long they will live. 

Food for thought at least.

DorkingChicken

Noneforit999 said:

How would I know if my pension is salary sacrifice?

It shows as a minus figure on in the pre tax column my payslip for what I contribute. What my employer contributes shows in the post tax figure 

I’m considering doing both so upping my contribution to 4-5% so it would be 17-18% total and then getting an EV via SS.

Thanks

Salary sacrifice scheme requires you to have an agreement with your employer to reduce your salary and directly contribute into your pension. If it's on a payslip this is not salary sacrifice.

That being said, either way these contributions have the effect of reducing taxable salary. 

The yearly allowance of pension contributions is £60k and is a really easy way to avoid the higher rates of tax.

KidJo

I found this site super easy to use for 2025-26 self assessment planning - includes salary, BIK, salary sacrifice, net pay or RaS pension contributions https://taxgrid.co.uk