Advice please!!

kats53

HI
I have been reading through this forum to see if there were any posts that might help but I couldn't find one so I hope maybe some one can help.
My husband was a civil servant for 25 years but then took his vol redundancy and started to work for himself as a hackney cab driver. The problem is he has not paid into a pension since he left which was 12 years ago.
We keep looking at different things to save into but with all the bad publicity pensions have had my dh is very reluctant to put any money into one.
However I worry about the future and want him to do something now before it is too late, he is now 54 yrs old.
We didn't know if paying off the mortgage first would be a good idea?
Any advice would be great!!

EdInvestor

Save into the maxi ISA (7,200 a year each.) The civil service pension will be taxable, like the state pension, but the ISA is not, so they are complemenatry.

Do it through a discount broker that rebates charges, such as https://www.h-l.co.uk

Choose a mix of funds to invest in suiting your risk profile.

dunstonh

We keep looking at different things to save into but with all the bad publicity pensions have had my dh is very reluctant to put any money into one.

What bad publicity do personal pensions have?

This is the problem if you rely on the media or dont read anything but the headline. There is no problem with person pensions. There are issues with a small number of final salary schemes and funding but that doesnt apply to your husband.

However I worry about the future and want him to do something now before it is too late, he is now 54 yrs old.

It should be worrying. As he is self employed, he doesnt qualify for the full state pensions either. He is on for just the basic state pension (£4500p.a.) and the amount built up in the old works scheme.

We didn't know if paying off the mortgage first would be a good idea?

Possibly. It will give you a property you can sell or do equity release on when you get to retirement to make up for the lack of retirement provision.

I dont want to sound harsh here but you really need to get your husband to look at what his retirement provision is currently. Its probably going to be under £10,000 a year including state pension.

Save into the maxi ISA (7,200 a year each.) The civil service pension will be taxable, like the state pension, but the ISA is not, so they are complemenatry.

However, the pension gets tax relief which offsets the tax and from an income point of view only, provides more than an ISA does.

Do it through a discount broker that rebates charges, such as www.h-l.co.uk

There is no indication that the OP has the knowledge and ability to go DIY

kats53

Thanks for your replies. It would be nice to invest £7200 each a year into isa's, however I only earn £12000 gross a year so that isn't possible. Neither of us earn a great deal but we get by, thats why the choices we make now are important as we stil lneed some kind of life now as well as in the future.