Do you have a pension plan? (v.2)

Do you have a pension plan for your retirement?

  • Yes

    Votes: 80 59.3%
  • No

    Votes: 41 30.4%
  • I'm investing in other things for my future (e.g. property, etc.)

    Votes: 14 10.4%

  • Total voters
    135
Yes i have a pension(1yr 1/2) and im 26. only another 39 years to retirement! woohoo!
 
Yes, two of them. One is an ex Armed Forces pension and the other is a final salary scheme I managed to join before it was closed.
 
Final salary scheme here, and a rather generous one (at the moment) I put in 6% and my employer puts in 23% :eek:

Coincidentally, we had a meeting today that suggests that the employees contribution may have to go up to 9% if we want maintain the 'half final salary' deal that it currently is.

Anybody else going through this at the moment?
 
I dont have one, i'm only 19 though. Tbh i can see myself investing in property rather than pension schemes.

I've already started considering buy to lets and will probably do that before i buy my own house, probably sometime in the next 3 years, possibly as a joint venture with family.
 
Final salary scheme here, and a rather generous one (at the moment) I put in 6% and my employer puts in 23% :eek:


:eek::eek::eek:

Staggering.

Company I work for is talking about it when funds allow but even then it'll be along the lines of 3% employee/3-6% employer.
 
I opted out of my nhs pension and took a lump sum was short of cash at the time so cashed it in.
Kind of regret doing this at the time but when house prices started going bonkers I thought I would use my house as a pension fund, didnt go mad and didnt borrow any cash apart from recently for my wedding.
Finish my course rent out the house im in at the mo, re join the nhs pension scheme where i can put more cash into it.
All nice and bonny in theory but nothing ever works out the way i plan it:D
 
Been paying into a company money purchase pension for about 10 years and its currently value is about the same as the total contributions paid in - happy days. So much for average 7% growth each year.

We now have the option of moving our own funds out of stocks and into bonds or cash. I'm sure if I move into the cash fund the market will recover:rolleyes:
 
I have one, Only started it last September though. The joys of being 21 :)
And here was me thinking I was the only 21 year old that has a pension plan. Yeah I have one, with the NHS Pension scheme. Man, I feel old :D
 
Final salary scheme with current employer (9% employee, 6% employer contributions). 20 years final salary scheme with previous employer, indexed at 5%.

Current employer is talking about closing the scheme.
 
I work as a Financial Planning Manager and the general lack of retirement planning and apathy towards income in retirement is staggering.

I would say the statistic that 50% of people do not have a pension is fairly accurate, however since the introduction of Pensions Simplification the options to plan for your retirement are better than ever before.

The availability of tax relief on your contributions, the choice of investment funds, the huge benefit of the reduction in pension policy charges and the wide choice of how to take your pension has made this way of saving for your retirement much more appealing.

From my experience, people who do not have a pension have some misconceptions about them and having taken some time to hear the facts, usually feel more confident about their options before deciding on how much contribution is required to give them the retirement they desire.
 
I would say the statistic that 50% of people do not have a pension is fairly accurate,.....

Well, I used to have a pension plan. Now what's left is a pretty sick joke. So as for drawing a pension at retirement, I think I will just carry on working 'til I drop.
 
I work as a Financial Planning Manager and the general lack of retirement planning and apathy towards income in retirement is staggering.

I think that's a bit insulting, to be honest.
I think most people are very aware of the need for a pension, they just aren't in a financial position to do anything about it.
That's not apathy.:nono:
 
Mine is in bricks and mortar.

I dont trust these pension plans. It also makes me laugh when I see pay X amount a month and get £100,000.00 in 35 years. What will £100,000.00 be worth in 35 years time?
 
Don't have a pension but I am currently building a house here and we have several in the US. Sell the lot when I retire and live off the proceeds. I shall pick a housing boom to sell in. That's if there is one again.....:rolleyes:
 
I think that's a bit insulting, to be honest.
I think most people are very aware of the need for a pension, they just aren't in a financial position to do anything about it.
That's not apathy.:nono:

I must admit that I tend to agree with Abbeygoo. Many people have a "spend now save later" attitude to all sorts of financial situations and it's my experience that retrirement planning comes waay down a very long list of peoples priorities. Even Gadgets and Alcohol are higher in the list go many.;)

My company pays into a pension plan for me and I also have a private pension that I've had since I was 18.
 
I think that's a bit insulting, to be honest.
I think most people are very aware of the need for a pension, they just aren't in a financial position to do anything about it.
That's not apathy.:nono:

Maybe you misunderstood as it wasn't meant to be insulting. I was speaking from experience of seeing hundreds of clients per year who certainly have the financial means to do something for their retirement but are not thinking that far forward. I would certainly put it down to apathy. Whether it be saving in a pension / ISA / property or whatever vehicle you choose, a lot of people simply do nothing and again, that is speaking from professional experience.

I take your point about people who can't afford to make a provision due to their financial position but that wasn't the group of people I was referring to.
 
Mine is in bricks and mortar.

I dont trust these pension plans. It also makes me laugh when I see pay X amount a month and get £100,000.00 in 35 years. What will £100,000.00 be worth in 35 years time?

I do tend to agree with you Razor.....I have a couple of pension plans and still think about investing in Property more and more.
 
I think that's a bit insulting, to be honest.
I think most people are very aware of the need for a pension, they just aren't in a financial position to do anything about it.
That's not apathy.:nono:


I don't think it's insulting at all. Many people just don't think about it until they're in their 30's. I didn't start mine until I was 26, so I'm unlikely to get the full benefit, unless I pay extra into the scheme to make up for the lost years. I'm kind of relying on getting a full enhancement so I can leave at 60. :rolleyes:

I have to admit, seeing your colleagues retiring at 60, with a £28k a year pension and a lump sum of c£80k does to tend to focus the mind a little :)
 
Coincidentally, we had a meeting today that suggests that the employees contribution may have to go up to 9% if we want maintain the 'half final salary' deal that it currently is.

Anybody else going through this at the moment?

Final salary here to. Mine has gone through a number of changes to address the poor performance, longer life and all the pension holidays the company took in the 90s!!!!

Started off as 5% contribution (employee and employer). Retirement age of 60, early retirement permissible at 55 without penalty.

Then they increased the retirement age of the scheme to 65.

Then they increased contributions to 12% (employee and employer).

Then they increased early retirment age to 60.

Then they increased early retirement age to 62.

Then they introduced a 'long life' penalty, which means that an amount is removed from the final salary before the pension is calculated.

Feel like I'm chasing a moving target, and under no illusion that the scheme won't be degraded further before I reach it.

But having said that, it is still a good scheme but a double-edged sword because it is like having golden-handcuffs.

When you are lucky enough to be in a final salary scheme you have to think very carefully about leaving the company (especially when you are older and have a number of years racked up) because you know that you won't get anything as good elsewhere.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
I work as a Financial Planning Manager and the general lack of retirement planning and apathy towards income in retirement is staggering.

I would say the statistic that 50% of people do not have a pension is fairly accurate, however since the introduction of Pensions Simplification the options to plan for your retirement are better than ever before.

The availability of tax relief on your contributions, the choice of investment funds, the huge benefit of the reduction in pension policy charges and the wide choice of how to take your pension has made this way of saving for your retirement much more appealing.

From my experience, people who do not have a pension have some misconceptions about them and having taken some time to hear the facts, usually feel more confident about their options before deciding on how much contribution is required to give them the retirement they desire.

i would agree with you Abbeygoo. I would go on to post more information/thoughts but as most financial/pension/investment threads tend to end up as a IFA bashing thread i will desist at this time!:rolleyes:
 
You are wasting your money putting in a pension plan,this is the thrid time they have gone pear shaped,1st 1 was misselling 2nd time gorden brown taxed the hell out of them so there was a short fall 3rd time is now,they now expect to loose up to 40% in the next 12months, mine's already lost 30% and it's on a low risk investments.
 

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