Workplace pension

Marcon

LHW99 said:

Bear in mind also, that contributions are limited to your gross salary (or £60k if that is less) pa

Unless you can make contributions by salary sacrifice*, in which case the annual limit is £60K regardless of your earnings, provided that any personal contributions, including tax relief, don't exceed your earnings in the tax year.

*Contributions made as a result of salary sacrifice are technically employer contributions.

Audrey1969 said:

Hello, advice wanted.
Is it worth restarting my workplace pension at 56? I haven't had 1 for many years, there is about £3000 in it now. If it is worth it, what would I need to add monthly? Thank you.

I'm always baffled by this question. Surely any savings are better than (next to) none, especially as you'll get tax relief on your contributions and the benefit of an employer contribution.   If you only have £3K in pension savings, can you really survive on just the state pension? Even if you can, a top up from a private pension can add a bit of icing on the cake, as you are now in a better position to afford to contribute. 

Brie

Oh - thanks for the reminder!!  I need to check my Nest pension!!!

If you're only 56 you're still a puppy really.  I had a new part time job at the age of 64&3/4 and they offered the Nest pension plan.  It was really only very p/t (10 hours a week initially) and at a low wage so it was never going to be much.  But looking just now I can see that I contributed about £360 in the last 3 years and my employer has added about £1350.  And there's about £90 in tax relief.  Turns out the total value is now nearly £2k. 

So the total isn't huge but is well worth me having joined.   I wish other investments/savings had done so well over the last few years.  It's not an essential part of my retirement plan but it should pay for a few things that need doing around the house (must get new blinds for the upstairs windows!!!)

Mr_Benn

Im not sure why some comments above are assuming his company will match his contributions. (as many only pay 3% to an employees 5%).  Or have I missed something ? 

Exodi

Mr_Benn said:

Im not sure why some comments above are assuming his company will match his contributions. (as many only pay 3% to an employees 5%).  Or have I missed something ? 

Because if you don't make assumptions, very few threads could be answered as OP's rarely provide every single piece of info required to provide a complete answer.

You're free to jig the numbers up and down if you feel a different assumption is better. Or of course you can inform the OP that you can't confirm the net impact of pension contributions vs take home until they provide you their employment contract, tax code, estimated annual income, bonuses, benefit in kind, savings and interest received during the tax year, marriage allowance status, etc, etc.

Marcon

Exodi said:

Mr_Benn said:

Im not sure why some comments above are assuming his company will match his contributions. (as many only pay 3% to an employees 5%).  Or have I missed something ? 

Because if you don't make assumptions, very few threads could be answered as OP's rarely provide every single piece of info required to provide a complete answer.

Probably more realistic/useful to make the assumption that the employer will pay minimum contributions and flag they might pay more, especially if the employee pays more. Suggesting that the employer will match is misleading.