Looking for some advice around pension/salary sacrifice

[SimonMac]

What if your ISA is your warchest?

Then you warchest is cash, so not really making the best use of an ISA.

Warchest instant access, ISA usually locked away for a period of time. But I think we are getting ahead of the OP!

[SimonMac]

Not so sure about that if you are using an umbrella.

I would be going warchesk, debts then pension over ISA. Little point throwing £18k or even £10k into an ISA if you can be throwing £40k into your pension instead

Remember when you are on £100k+ a year the tax above £100k (due to losing your personal allowance) is so bad for umbrella workers that I would be throwing everything I could above £100k into the pension pot.

If OP has been contracting for a year they have cash which has already been taxed, throw that into the ISA and new, unearned money into the SIPP

[daleric]

Thanks for the answers folks. I've set up a meeting with an IFA to discuss my thoughts, I'm hoping they will be able to steer me in the right direction.

As it stands, it looks like I'll be canceling NEST and moving to another provider that allows me to do Salary Sacrifice. I'd like to avoid the £100k+ tax fees as I think I've hit that already, so hoping moving to Salary Sacrifice will save me money in the long run.

I don't currently have an ISA set up either, so I'll be speaking to them regarding this.

I'll also be sure to ask about the warchest/debt/ISA scenario you have mentioned and let you know what they say.

[Lance]

I'd be inclined to talk to an IFA rather than a bunch of randoms on'tinterweb.

THIS ^^^^^^^^^^

[mackenzie99d]

I think NEST is ok with salary sacrifice if you google it. Maybe it's your umbrella that has a problem with doing it?

[eek]

I think NEST is ok with salary sacrifice if you google it. Maybe it's your umbrella that has a problem with doing it?

The point was NEST is expensive, not that NEST doesn't support it - the method of deduction isn't relevant as PAPDIS filing is just total amounts period / month.

[NowPermOutsideUK]

You are going to be disappointed with an ifa! Just like people here are upset with their accountants.

the Ida will suggest investments that net them commissions .. just be aware

[Fred Bloggs]

You are going to be disappointed with an ifa! Just like people here are upset with their accountants.

the Ida will suggest investments that net them commissions .. just be aware

Absolutely. Similar experience as dealing with double glazing salesman. Far better to self educate and make your own decisions.

[Lance]

You are going to be disappointed with an ifa! Just like people here are upset with their accountants.

the Ida will suggest investments that net them commissions .. just be aware

IFAs are heavily regulated these days. And you can just pay them £££ for advice and put your money elsewhere.
20 years ago they were mostly crooks, but they have to explain all their commissions now.

They are qualified to provide financial advice, unlike everybody on here.

[daleric]

So I spoke with an IFA this morning.

Their advice for me was to consolidate my 3 pension pots into one pot with another SIPP provider, stop my NEST pension, and Salary Sacrifice into the new SIPP.
Setup an S&S ISA, and a Lifetime ISA that they would manage. Not sure which funds they use, they just stated that on average over 10 years they have compound interest of 15%.

I definitely found it useful as I haven't got a clue about any of this, but they want £1500 to set up the SIPP and the ISA's and move my pensions for me.

I find this to be quite expensive, but after speaking to colleagues £1500 is the average?

Is it worth doing? I can do 90% of that myself I'm assuming the benefit they have is knowing which funds to invest my money into.