Saving for pension - any regrets?

[GitMaster69]

Those of you folks that are locking away funds in pension, ever regretted it ? I mean not being able to access that money and all associated opportunity cost (like property perhaps)?
curious of you guys and gals approach to retirement

[northernladuk]

There will be millions more people that regret NOT putting money in to their pension. Being able to access it means it can be spent before it's needed so you can go to the first sentence of my post. With proper saving at a reasonable level and planned properly there should be absolutely zero reason to regret paying in to a pension.

What is it you are after? Reasons to get one or reasons not to?

[pr1]

Those of you folks that are locking away funds in pension, ever regretted it ? I mean not being able to access that money and all associated opportunity cost (like property perhaps)?
curious of you guys and gals approach to retirement

I think I've probably had the exact same thought as you recently - I started contracting at 25 and have been putting away about £10k/year into my pension - now at 33 I've been pondering whether I should have just been keeping it in my company with a view doing an MVL around the time my kids will be in their late teens / early 20s so I can help them to buy - with the housing market the way it is I can't see how their generation will ever be able to afford anything without significant contribution from the BOMAD

Waiting until I'm 55+ to access the money again is starting to seem like a waste/inefficient use of the money, even considering the apparent tax savings in the short term. Yes I'll be able to use it and spend it (assuming I'm still around by then) but my kids will be almost in their 30s

[TheDude]

I am kind of torn on this.

I am 49 and have £300k in pensions - the financial advisor I have consulted recently says this is not great.

I have spent 8 years contracting and not contributing a great deal - but I have been able to afford to have a lot of great experiences with my children that just would not have been possible if I had aggressively paid into my pension or remained permie.

That said the rates I am commanding now mean I can pay the tax free £40k a year into pensions without noticing it too much and my mortgage is only £70k. There will be inheritances but they will not be huge and as we all know residential care can eat through them at an alarming rate.

I hopefully have another ten years of contracting ahead of me - my main concern is ageism preventing me working in my current market.

[eek]

I hopefully have another ten years of contracting ahead of me - my main concern is ageism preventing me working in my current market.

That's easily fixable - find the roles that can continue and move towards them.

[TheDude]

There will be millions more people that regret NOT putting money in to their pension. Being able to access it means it can be spent before it's needed so you can go to the first sentence of my post. With proper saving at a reasonable level and planned properly there should be absolutely zero reason to regret paying in to a pension.

What is it you are after? Reasons to get one or reasons not to?

I read recently that the average retirement pension pot is around £68k.

Obviously lots of people cannot afford to save for a pension but I suspect many more have traded lifestyle now in the hope that inheritances will pay for their future (a dangerous assumption and in any case this does not apply to me)

[ShandyDrinker]

As someone quickly heading towards 50 I would say to save into a pension as much as you can afford earlier on, you'll thank yourselves later. I haven't paid in as much as I should but still hoping I can get to the magic million plus by retirement through both growth and significant annual contributions.

[Lance]

I guess the ones that really would have regretted paying into a pension are dead. So there aren't likely to be many takers.

[Protagoras]

As someone now over 55 but not yet of pensionable age, my take is as follows
- Saving into a pension; regret is not starting to put away larger sums of money earlier!
- Saving outside a pension; I am really pleased I did this. It is handy if you want to semi-retire and do some part time work, topping up the pension pot with the income while not drawing pension since it can avoid triggering the current £4k contribution limit. And it's there for emergencies.
- If under 55, I would have a concern that this age limit will move up and further lock in funds. Since one never knows what's around the corner, having too much money locked away is not always great.
- Future state pension as fixed income is probably enough to cover council tax and energy bills in future, but not much more.
- I made a spreadsheet of outgoings in retirement to establish funding needed; numbers were better than expected when I did this and worked out the optimum drawdown phasing.

So while the tax efficiency of a pension is excellent, at least currently, my take is that one needs decent savings outside pension fund too, although not nearly as much.

Comments based on defined contribution pension. Just my 2p worth!

[TheDude]

I am a member of a yacht club (a million miles from Howards Way) and there are many members who retired in their early 50s on fantastic pensions.

Many consider themselves financial geniuses yet they all worked for one of the major local employers for life and all they did was contribute the statutory amount to the company pension. They seem to have little understanding that the sort of pensions they paid into no longer exist.