Defined contribution: How much to pay in (Percentages)

dunstonh

Thats 5% before tax relief on your part so the actual cost will be closer to 4% for you.

linuxpenguins

I see! that's not too bad then really is it! I wish I could put £100 a month in! shame I cannot ! nor can I put a lump sum in and they match! hehe

Dithering_Dad

Company pensions usually have a pretty limited fund range, but it's always worthwhile having a look at your fund options and their performance over the last 3/5/10 years.

It is counter-productive to increase the payments into a pension and then to invest them in a poorly performing fund (or inappropriate one - 100% in Cash when you're 25 or 100% in Stocks when you're 60).

Review your pension each year when you receive the projected pension figures from your provider. As time goes by, you may feel that it's not performing well enough (or you're not investing enough) to fund the style of retirement that you'd like. You then have to make the decision on whether to invest more in the company pension, start a personal pension or to invest in ISAs.

Dick_here

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

Company pensions usually have a pretty limited fund range, but it's always worthwhile having a look at your fund options and their performance over the last 3/5/10 years.

Do you mean that a company pension should provide investment options ? Mine doesn't, as far as I know.

Review your pension each year when you receive the projected pension figures from your provider. As time goes by, you may feel that it's not performing well enough (or you're not investing enough) to fund the style of retirement that you'd like. You then have to make the decision on whether to invest more in the company pension, start a personal pension or to invest in ISAs.

And at the same time, if your endowment is under-performing, take out another one to boost it up. Some people call that throwing good money after bad of course, but what the heck.

Dithering_Dad

!!!!!!_here wrote: »

Do you mean that a company pension should provide investment options ? Mine doesn't, as far as I know.

They sometimes have a limited fund range. All of my previous employers had these options (like 70:30 UK/World or 50:50 UK/World). People usually just leave them in the "Lifestyle" offering and leave it at that.

!!!!!!_here wrote: »

And at the same time, if your endowment is under-performing, take out another one to boost it up. Some people call that throwing good money after bad of course, but what the heck.

Depends on the reason why the pension is not performing. The company pension may be giving good returns, but if you only put £20 per month into it, you're not going to retire rich. The option here is to invest more money. If the company pension is invested in mediocre funds, then continue with it (to get the employer contribs) but invest extra money in either a personal pension and an S&S ISA where you can select better funds. Your endowment analogy doesn't work against what I advised I'm afraid. :rolleyes:

linuxpenguins

Legal and General: Cash Fund
Legal and General Over 15 Years Gilts Index Fund
Legal and General: Over 5 Years Index Linked Gilt Fund
Fidelity UK Corporate Bond Pensions Fund
Fidelity JPM Life UK Specialist Equity Fund
Fidelity Newton International Growth Fund
Legal and General: Global Equity Fixed Weights (60:40) Fund

Dithering_Dad

linuxpenguins wrote: »

Legal and General: Cash Fund
Legal and General Over 15 Years Gilts Index Fund
Legal and General: Over 5 Years Index Linked Gilt Fund
Fidelity UK Corporate Bond Pensions Fund
Fidelity JPM Life UK Specialist Equity Fund
Fidelity Newton International Growth Fund
Legal and General: Global Equity Fixed Weights (60:40) Fund

Are these the funds you're considering or that you have actually invested into?

At your age, I'd stay away from Gilts and Cash. I have an L&G Stakeholder and may have access to the same funds as you. I decided on the following funds for me (Age 39):

L&G European Equity Index Fund - 8%
L&G Index Linked Gilt Fund - 12%
L&G UK Smaller Companies Fund - 6%
Newton Income - 26%
L&G UK Recovery Fund - 6%
L&G Far Eastern Fund - 4%
Aberdeen Life Glob (ex UK) Eq - 30%
Allianz RCM Global Equity- 6%

linuxpenguins

which funds do you reccommend? or do you think i should go for the easy option of lifestyle?

Dithering_Dad

Are those funds you listed the only ones available?

linuxpenguins

yea it is;/