Putting all your earnings into a pension

[pmeswani]

oh ok, I wasn't aware of that, thanks

Don't get me wrong... medical retirement isn't great... unless you enjoy moaning and doing the garden. Medical cover is great up until a certain point. If the doctor forces you to medically retire... will your insurance cover you?

[contractor79]

ok
so are you guys putting lots in your pension now when you've got the money so you can ease off later and save tax now?

[pmeswani]

ok
so are you guys putting lots in your pension now when you've got the money so you can ease off later and save tax now?

I have about £15k to £16k in my SIPP. Mainly from transferred in pensions. If I had the money to put in, I would put it in as much as I can as often as I can, but within the means of making sure that I get paid if I am benched (like I am now). There is never a bad time to invest into a pension. But always a bad time not to invest into a retirement plan.

Some people will rely on properties to give them a decent retirement... and that's fair play to them. Personally I say... if you can afford to, don't put all your retirement eggs in one basket. As I don't have a property, my main retirement plan objective for 09/10 is to get another £10k into my pension. So, if I get a longish contract with a decent rate, I will hopefully put 4k from my personal contributions and 6k from the employer contributions. But one has to be sensible. Contribute within ones means.

[contractor79]

yes
when I first started contracting I paid nothing into pension for a few months
then I paid 10% of fees
then 20% of fees
now I pay 26% of fees into pension, however some of the rationale for this is that I'm catching up with payments not made early on in my contracting life
I reckon 10-20% of fees is pretty good

[Fred Bloggs]

Been contracting for 5 years, first 2 years was spent building up a bench fund that I still have put to one side for a rainy day, that's in cash ISA's with the missus. For the last 3 years I've put £1k a month into my SIPP. It's unlikely I'll be able to pay in any more than this unless I get a big rate increase, even more unlikely at present I reckon.