Increase pension or Stocks and shares ISA?

tracyk23

I'm 58 and don't have much of a pension tbh - maybe 12 years worth of company pension at say, £130 (ers and ees) premium a month. So it's there but the bare minimum.
I have disposable cash due to a new job and would like to save a regular amount for maybe, 5 years.
Would I be better opening a low risk stocks and shares isa or topping up my pension contributions to either company NEST or a seperate personal pension?
Will have say - £300 a month to put away.
Or at that level is it all much of a muchness?
Thanks in advance guys.

Hoenir

Save whatever you can afford into a pension plan. Every little bit helps as the saying goes. 

El_Torro

Based on the little information you have provided it probably makes sense to save in a pension rather than a Stocks & Shares ISA. Pensions are more tax efficient than ISAs. 

The main downside of a pension is that you can't access it until you are 55. Since you are older than 55 this isn't an issue for you. 

dunstonh

Pension beats ISA by 6.25% if you are a basic rate taxpayer  pre-retirement and post retirement due to pensions being more tax efficient.

tracyk23

dunstonh said:

Pension beats ISA by 6.25% if you are a basic rate taxpayer  pre-retirement and post retirement due to pensions being more tax efficient.

Am I allowed to open a 2nd pension pot - a personal one rather than my work's Nest pension? Would that return better returns?

dunstonh

tracyk23 said:

dunstonh said:

Pension beats ISA by 6.25% if you are a basic rate taxpayer  pre-retirement and post retirement due to pensions being more tax efficient.

Am I allowed to open a 2nd pension pot - a personal one rather than my work's Nest pension? Would that return better returns?

You can have as many pensions as you like.
As for returns, it depends on what you put in the pension.  There are over 30,000 investment options and a near infinite combination.
Whole of market pensions share the same investment options as whole of market ISAs.   So, whatever you were going to put in the ISA you can us in the pension.

Albermarle

tracyk23 said:

dunstonh said:

Pension beats ISA by 6.25% if you are a basic rate taxpayer  pre-retirement and post retirement due to pensions being more tax efficient.

Am I allowed to open a 2nd pension pot - a personal one rather than my work's Nest pension? Would that return better returns?

You can open multiple pensions if you wish.

The pension provider themselves have no impact on returns, it depends on what investments you hold in the pension.

For example here is a description and performance comparison for the main five Nest funds.
Compare fund performance | Nest Pensions

So just with a Nest pension you can very different returns depending on which fund you are invested in.
However always be aware that the past performance of a fund, does not in any way guarantee it will continue in the same way in future.