How much £ do you save each month?

Lots, and also live for the moment aswell, but in the building game your not sure where the meal is coming from.

I generally have a problem with the schools not teaching anything about finance etc, surely that is what home economics should be for, but they teach you to bake a cake wtf, it tasted of sh1te anyway.

Originally Posted by Dicky Ticker

Carty---I am refering to private pensions/savings plans which boost your state pension bring your income back into the tax brackets.

Ah ok, thanks - that makes more sense now!

Originally Posted by gerbrox

it tasted of sh1te anyway.

You didn't make it right

Miss's always tastd the best though

[Sir Trev]

For those of you thinking their company pension will be all the savings they need, think again. There is no guarantee that you'll get anything like as much as you thought you would and things do go wrong with pension pots. Basically you should not put all your eggs into one basket. Make use of an ISA or other tax-efficient device if you can so you have a second income source/nest egg. With an aging population more and more pension funds are likely to hit problems in the next twenty/thirty years and a lot of poeple could get stung.

Having said that, considering I'm a risk averse thirty-ten year old accountant, I don't practice what I preach that well. I don't put nearly as much into my ISA as I'd like to, especially as my job could be on the line and my pay may be cut. I've got a couple of months of mortgage payments put by just in case but after the extension we put on the house two years ago, and the resulting hike in the morgage, we only just get by.

Originally Posted by Sir Trev

For those of you thinking their company pension will be all the savings they need, think again. There is no guarantee that you'll get anything like as much as you thought you would and things do go wrong with pension pots. Basically you should not put all your eggs into one basket. Make use of an ISA or other tax-efficient device if you can so you have a second income source/nest egg. With an aging population more and more pension funds are likely to hit problems in the next twenty/thirty years and a lot of poeple could get stung.

Good point, luckily I work for a bank and they give me a summary of their investments. Most people here (as expected) are knowledgeable enough to understand what it all means, which is probably a mite different to many other jobs.
I will make a point to check into the details next time they send a statement, though!

Originally Posted by Sir Trev

For those of you thinking their company pension will be all the savings they need, think again. There is no guarantee that you'll get anything like as much as you thought you would and things do go wrong with pension pots. Basically you should not put all your eggs into one basket. Make use of an ISA or other tax-efficient device if you can so you have a second income source/nest egg. With an aging population more and more pension funds are likely to hit problems in the next twenty/thirty years and a lot of poeple could get stung.

Having said that, considering I'm a risk averse thirty-ten year old accountant, I don't practice what I preach that well. I don't put nearly as much into my ISA as I'd like to, especially as my job could be on the line and my pay may be cut. I've got a couple of months of mortgage payments put by just in case but after the extension we put on the house two years ago, and the resulting hike in the morgage, we only just get by.

The way my pension system works is it is effectively my own bank account which is run by a pension management firm which invest it on my behalf. Good thing is they can't withdraw funds from it, all they can do is move it from investment to investment untill I retire. I also get quarterly updates on how it is progressing (the last 4 summary updates were not good!).

So basically it's not like the big pension "pot" like most companies used to have where there would sometimes be a defecit etc!

I've been paying 4% of salary into my works pension for nearly 10 years and my employer doubles that, but I don't bother looking at the statements as it is depressing. The amount on top of the 4% i'd have to pay in to get even a semi-liveable pension in retirement is stupid. Still I suppose it is something.

Originally Posted by TazDaz

The way my pension system works is it is effectively my own bank account which is run by a pension management firm which invest it on my behalf. Good thing is they can't withdraw funds from it, all they can do is move it from investment to investment untill I retire. I also get quarterly updates on how it is progressing (the last 4 summary updates were not good!).

So basically it's not like the big pension "pot" like most companies used to have where there would sometimes be a defecit etc!

If I'm reading that right, that's a money purchase pension? In which case - it's actually the "worse" kind of pension - the company saves up and invests money for you, then gives you the money when you retire. It's then up to you to buy a pension with that money - thus, the risk is on you (you might not get a good pension at the time, or your investments may not have borne fruit).

The one where the company can get a pension deficit is a final salary pension - you pay an amount per month (this can vary - they can raise it/lower it - as far as I am aware that is standard on a final salary) and each year will count towards a % of your final salary. Usually 1% per year and 1.5% per year over a certain age. The legal maximum (if it is still the same) is 66% of final salary.
In this type of pension, when you retire your company is required to pay you the % of your salary at retirement (your "final" salary) that you have earned. That's why they can get a deficit - the risk is on them, they have guaranteed you something up front and need to invest appropriately to get the required returns.

So yeah a final salary pension is bad for the company - the risk is on them, they can go into a deficit - but it's good for you - guaranteed income when you retire, etc.

[keith_d]

I'm putting a sensible amount of money into my pension, but I'm not optimistic about getting much back and here's why....

* My pension is invested in the stock market along with millions of others.
* The price of shares is partly determined by supply and demand.
* At the moment pension funds provide a steady demand which keep prices stable
* There's a whole lot of people (baby boomers) who will be taking their pensions ahead of me
* So, pension funds will be selling shares to pay pensions. Any guesses how that will affect the value of my pension?

Worse still, the government will be facing a rising pension bill too. So they'll be taxing anything that moves to pay their pension bill. If you think Crash Gordon was bad, you ain't seen nuthin yet...

Best I ride my SV now, while I can still afford to.