Morning all,

I was on the phone to family yesterday catching up with what's happening, I'd almost finished talking with Dad when he said "oh, I'been meaning to ask you for a few weeks, have you started thinking about pensions yet?". I haven't, and he wasn't a whole lot of use seeing as he went into the MOD at 16 and has had a pension plan with them for as long as he can have had.

So, I'm looking for advice on what to do. I'm certainly in a position to be putting something aside every week/month, and I might as well start sooner rather than later, I'd have thought.

So yes, any advice would be brilliant

Cheers,
Ben

At the tender age of 34, I started a pension plan.
Took one out with the company I was working for, and now I have another one with the present employer.
You'd be wise to start one earlier rather than later.

My advice is to see a professional for advice.
If you're not using an employers pension scheme, you'll need it.

I'm going to be looking into this at some point. The experts reckon you need to save about a third of your disposable income away for the future.

At the mo, I have an NHS pension but feck knows what'll happen to that given the way various people want to bring down the NHS.

This would be a place to start: http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/
And ask your employer about pensions, most companies have a pension arrangement with big insurance companies to provide easy access for their employees.
I put 18% of my gross salary into my company's pension scheme.

I'm only planning to be with my current employer until March. And with some of their other choices in business, I wouldn't really trust them with my money/future...They are also pulling out of the UK entirely after really screwing up some stuff with Network Rail, so I'm not entirely sure where that would leave me later on...

To echo what l3v1ck said, if your employer offers a pension scheme (and soon, next 3 years or so, they all will have to offer something by law or make use of the new government backed scheme) into which they match some or all of your contributions then go for that. Even if your employer doesn't match your contributions, in general, an employer backed scheme will have lower charges than a personal scheme. If, because of the nature of your work - freelance for example - you can't take advantage of an employer scheme then seek advice from an IFA (independent financial advisor).

Have a look at the Citizens Advice Bureau pensions website. If you happen to be a member of a trade union they should also be able to offer some sort of advice.

Depending on your employers pension scheme you may be able to take it with you when you leave. Stakeholder pensions typically belong to the individual - once your and your employers contributions are in there it's your money and the employer has no further call on it.

I hate pensions. Nasty confusing things. A good way to throw money away, too.

If you want to start a pension plan, but you don't know if you're going to be with an employer for any length of time, you could consider what used to be called a stakeholder pension.

Essentially, it's a personal pension plan that is yours, and not tied to a company plan. There's nothing to stop you joining company plans down the road as well.

As others have said, find a professional advisor and discuss the options open to you.

1. never too young to start.
2. Take professional advice.
3. Don't put all your eggs in one basket - or type of basket.
4. Keep as much control as you can. Not day to day but the big decisions - cashing in, areas to invest in, risk, what you are committed too.

That's is correct, you will be able to take it from old employer (but only if you've been a member of the scheme for at least 3 months). However your new employer doesn't have to accept a transfer when you join them.
I would say you have 3 options:
1. start a pension with your current employer and transfer it when you leave and hope your new employer accept transfer into their scheme.
2. start a personal pension scheme with an insurance company (I would go with somebody like Prudential)
3. Put money from your salary aside every month and when you join the new company you can start a pension with them. At the beginning you will contribute more from your salary, drawing on money you've put aside while being with your own company. Then you can lower your contribution from your salary once the money has been all drawn upon.

I'm only with my employer on a fixed-term contract until September 2012, is there much point paying into their pension scheme?

I had a good one with Cap, but then 7 years unemployed/barely selfemployed and I have lost a big chunk, now, after a couple of years of regular work, I need to start playing catch-up. Options don't sound very good though, 100€ a month will bring me about 118€ a month, when I retire, and that assumes that I will increase the rate every year, until I'm paying over 300€ a month in the last couple of years!

By the time I reach retirement the age will have been put back to 100, I'll be dead or the banks will have stolen the money.

Or perhaps a combination of the above.

I have a pension which I pay quite a lot of money into but I'm also slightly suspicious that the government (both present and future) will conspire to ensure I never cash it in. My 'years to retirement' will be like a half-life curve. Every two years the government will put the legal retirement age up a year and I'll never actually get there.

Jon