General Chat

At 24, thank goodness. I had to contribute 5% of my salary, later rising to 6.5%. My pension is now double my salary on retirement. Have been retired 16 years. len

hiya dan,(i am 58) when i left school at 15 paid full stamp till i was 43, give or take a few breaks were i was not working(lets say i lost a year), i have a forcast and when i am 60, i will ger £62. if i want to make up the missing stamps my pension would be £81, i am not bothering cos. tomorrow is promised to no one x

I'm 33 and haven't started yet but I think that's pretty stupid and I'm going for the keeping my fingers crossed method of planning for the future.

Things have changed now and you can have a company pension scheme and pay into another arrangement. It's all changing again from next April. Jan

There are many comments here which seem to imply don't invest in pensions yet, but something else, such as property. All I would say that if you pay into an approved scheme no tax is due on your contributions or investment growth. when you get to retirement you can take a lump sum tax free and any pension is taxable in the usual way. If you die before the pension is payable your dependants will normally receive a lump sum (tax free) and/or a pension (which would be liable for tax). If, for example you invested in propery currently, you will being taxed on your income in the normal way before paying the mortgage. Any income from rental will be taxable and when you come to sell it is likely you'd be liable for capital gains tax. If you die, the property would be sold and your rellies would probably be liable for Inheritance tax on it! Needless to say, I have a good pension. Jan

Pensions!!! huh. Hubby paid into two for years one of them went bust two years ago. Would personally not recommend anyone to take out a pension but to squirrel away into a good account a set amount each month. xxhugxx

I started one 12 years ago, but it isn't worth anything If I'd have put the money into a building society account I would have been better off. Money down the drain. Put your money into houses and make it a self adminstered pension, much better bet. You don't pay the greedy bankers fees either! Anna I'm not authorised or regulated by the Financial Services Authority!!

Worked in local government all my life and paying into the pension scheme was compulsory from when you hit 18, so I paid in from then. Contribution was 6% of your salary. Was never on brilliant wages so even after 40+ years contributions my pension is poxy

pension funds aare a con-just another way of providing a bank of money for banks and other companies to play on the stock market-they are very quick to tell you that the funds will be low because the ftse is falling but slow to remind you when its rising. youre safer putting it away in a 90 day notice building society account ,getting 4-5% interest,that way you cant get your hands on it straight away just as safe-shares in tesco-everyone needs to eat.

Forties - far too old! When I started work (at 16), we paid into a superannuation fund but this was refunded to you when you left the job - needless to say, it was spent immediately! Oh well, it's too late now... Lily

Daniel, your far too young, put it into another form of savings plan, think about pensions later, my hubby was in finance all his life, so ive learnt rather alot!!

46. When I was divorced had to start work. Civil Service. It was compulsory but I'm semi retired now and the pension is quite (very) good in fact. Mind you I paid AVCs to ensure that. Jan x

Daniel,Its far better to invest your money in Property,' If possible',The Government can,t take it off you,and the rental you get after taxes etc.far outweigh the meagre pensions offered,when you read daily of the reductions people are getting and the false expectations Which were Sold to some people. Plus Gordon Brown takes about 6 billion yearly from private pension funds. Hal.

Because I worked for Civil service I was lucky, i didn't have to make a decision. But I had time off when the children were young - didn't work from 1961 -1976 so lost those years. however I have a small company pension, Tony has a company pension and we have the OA pension and we don't do too badly. As long as we don't go too mad. Ann glos

I never earned enough to be able to continuously pay into a pension fund. I have lost count of the number of times I have started an endowment policy, then a change of circumstances would mean that I would no longer be able to afford it, so lost all the money I had paid in for the past several months. And at today's prices? Don't make me laugh! Whatever happened to the days when a pound was REAL money.

I wish I had started early cashed mine in early as it wouldn't be worth much and got a jobs done on the house. My son started his at 21, 34 now hoped to retire early if his legs didn't hold out. But not sure how much it will be worth now. My daughter started her early 20's too. Get some good advice first Daniel. Germaine x

Little nudge

I started mine too late....I encouraged my daughters to start almost as soon as they started work, which they both did. So now seems like a good time Daniel! Jacquie xxxx

Dont worry dan you wont need a pension when i catch you sweetie XX

Daniel...your mammys calling you.You are in sooooo much trouble.I think you will be grounded,humphhh Hop-a-long