OK, I'll bite.
What I've been attempting to do is "hedge bets" on what will turn out to have been the right thing to do, given uncertainty about future government tinkering.
Until the current year, I was paying salary of ~8K (previously ~10K) and paying 100% of this in personal pension contributions. I've then been making a lump sum company contribution at year end (in October) based on a fag-packet projection of how much I can afford to contribute whilst having enough in the bank at the end of March to max the basic rate band allowance with dividends and hopefully leave something in the warchest; this has varied between 5K and 15K.
In other words, I've been paying between ~13K and ~25K per year into the pension, which I think is "reasonable" for someone who is earning - meaning invoicing - somewhere between 80K and 150K per year depending on level of idleness.
I've since stopped the personal contributions, as I'm not sure this is still the right thing in light of the dividend tax changes, in addition to which I''ve spent a few quid fixing up the house this year, meaning that a pension contribution "holiday" was no bad thing. I did make a small company contribution at year end. "Fixing up the house" is of course also an investment in a certain sense, and possibly a fairly tax-efficient one at that.
I am also making ISA contributions out of what is left after house-fixing, wine, women, and song, but these are naturally somewhat smaller due to Brexit-induced inflation of wine prices.
The S&S ISA exists to support the idle fantasy that I will actually be able to chuck this all in at a reasonably young age and live off the investment income from that until the pension income starts.
BTL not my style at all, it's too much like hard work and I understand that Hector - who is a man with a lot of time on his hands - has also been taking a keen interest in this area of late.
What I've been attempting to do is "hedge bets" on what will turn out to have been the right thing to do, given uncertainty about future government tinkering.
Until the current year, I was paying salary of ~8K (previously ~10K) and paying 100% of this in personal pension contributions. I've then been making a lump sum company contribution at year end (in October) based on a fag-packet projection of how much I can afford to contribute whilst having enough in the bank at the end of March to max the basic rate band allowance with dividends and hopefully leave something in the warchest; this has varied between 5K and 15K.
In other words, I've been paying between ~13K and ~25K per year into the pension, which I think is "reasonable" for someone who is earning - meaning invoicing - somewhere between 80K and 150K per year depending on level of idleness.
I've since stopped the personal contributions, as I'm not sure this is still the right thing in light of the dividend tax changes, in addition to which I''ve spent a few quid fixing up the house this year, meaning that a pension contribution "holiday" was no bad thing. I did make a small company contribution at year end. "Fixing up the house" is of course also an investment in a certain sense, and possibly a fairly tax-efficient one at that.
I am also making ISA contributions out of what is left after house-fixing, wine, women, and song, but these are naturally somewhat smaller due to Brexit-induced inflation of wine prices.
The S&S ISA exists to support the idle fantasy that I will actually be able to chuck this all in at a reasonably young age and live off the investment income from that until the pension income starts.
BTL not my style at all, it's too much like hard work and I understand that Hector - who is a man with a lot of time on his hands - has also been taking a keen interest in this area of late.
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