Change of career

S&J's_mum

I used to work for Barclays Bank (sorry!!) and have a deferred non contributary pension plan of 13 years with a final salary of £16400.(even though I worked for them for 16 years). I am now a teacher (sorry about the strike!!) and contribute to a pension plan. My salary has more than doubled over seven years. I will have to work until I am 62 (I am 42 now)to get my full pension (maternity leave, part time, university, etc). Are AVCs my best option or is there something better. My mortgage finishes in 15 years.

EdInvestor

It would be worth checking out your state pension forecast and making sure you will have enough years (30 now required) to get the full pension when you retire.

How much annual income are you expecting at retirement from the two company pensions combined? (The Barclays one will be revalued up by inflation or 5% to retirement).

Getting the forecasts together first might be a good idea as it could be more beneficial in tax terms to put additional savings into the investment ISA(stocks and shares) or overpaying the mortgage rather than further pension- related products.AVCs are not usually advised these days except in certain circumstances (if they can be used to get the tax free cash from the scheme itself).

ISAs use the same investment funds, just more flexible and the income is tax free (pensions are taxed).On the other hand, it can be profitable to buy added years in some Government schemes.