Pension Performance

[Malcolm Buggeridge]

Just got my annual statement.

Value of pension on 4 Jan 2012 = £x

Contribution made on 31 Mar 2012 = £10k

Value of pension on 4 Jan 2013 = £x + £5k

Is there any point?

[Troll]

No


One of the hardest lessons in life to be learned is do not let other people look after your money

HTH

[SimonMac]

Just got my annual statement.

Value of pension on 4 Jan 2012 = £x

Contribution made on 31 Mar 2012 = £10k

Value of pension on 4 Jan 2013 = £x + £5k

Is there any point?

For your pension provider, yes.

My pension is averaging 3.45% growth PER MONTH, maybe you are just doing it wrong.

[Mich the Tester]

Just got my annual statement.

Value of pension on 4 Jan 2012 = £x

Contribution made on 31 Mar 2012 = £10k

Value of pension on 4 Jan 2013 = £x + £5k

Is there any point?

I sympathise; Dutch insurance firms have pretty much ruined the pensions of anybody who's between 30 and 50 with their mis-selling, enormous 'administration costs' and abject failure to invest in a way that will deliver reliable returns. I still pay in, but I've given up on the idea of ever getting a pension out of it and intend to study for a job that I can carry on doing into old age, perhaps taking the pittance of a pension to top up on whatever work I'll be doing. It was a big scandal here in NL which ended with pension firms avoiding court by agreeing to give minimal compensation on their own terms, and that compensation would barely provide one month's extra pension. If that scandal had happened in the food sector there'd have been prosecutions, but as usual with the finance sector, companies are given a slap on the wrist an the individual conmen are allowed to get away with it, even worse, rewarded with failure bonusses.

[DimPrawn]

For your pension provider, yes.

My pension is averaging 3.45% growth PER MONTH, maybe you are just doing it wrong.

Indeed, not all pensions and pension providers are created equally.

[Gibbon]

Just got my annual statement.

Value of pension on 4 Jan 2012 = £x

Contribution made on 31 Mar 2012 = £10k

Value of pension on 4 Jan 2013 = £x + £5k

Is there any point?

No. Stack your cash ISAs up and then invest in premium bonds etc.
They give you a tax free income in your dotage.

Buying an annuity is like walking into a bookmakers, they are stacking the odds that you die before you use the money up. If you have to then take up smoking and go to the doctors complaining of chest pains etc. They pay more out if you're ill.

[DimPrawn]

Pensions are tax free in and taxed on the way out.

ISA's are taxed income in and tax free (gains and income) out.

Unless you are paying higher rate income tax now and will be paying lower rate income tax when you retire, what's the point of the pension? And if you are paying higher rate income tax now, you are doing something wrong as a director anyway.

[Sausage Surprise]

For your pension provider, yes.

My pension is averaging 3.45% growth PER MONTH, maybe you are just doing it wrong.

Ditto + .....my annual statement was very surprising.

[mudskipper]

Since I've been contracting I've been putting 10% of my gross income into my pension. Plus 10 years of permiedom with 15% contributions - (7.5 me, 7.5 employer). It's all worth squat.

[Malcolm Buggeridge]

Pensions are tax free in and taxed on the way out.

ISA's are taxed income in and tax free (gains and income) out.

Unless you are paying higher rate income tax now and will be paying lower rate income tax when you retire, what's the point of the pension? And if you are paying higher rate income tax now, you are doing something wrong as a director anyway.

If I'm paying a decent amount into an ISA, that's surely going to push me into the higher tax bracket, no?