I've been pondering this the past couple of months, wonder if anyone has any views on it.

I pay into a stakeholder pension to the tune of £150 per month and the company matches it. That sounds like I should end up with a good pension when I retire (I'm currently 33 and have been paying in for 11 yrs already).

This year we got a pension forecast - and if I retire @ 60, it reckons I'm only gonna have about £10k per year - which is total crap IMO.

So what I'm wondering is, am I better off reducing my payments (to say £20 a month - but enough to keep the pension going) and moving up the property ladder and paying an extra £150 per month on my mortgage?

In a few years I can increase the pension contributions a bit but the increase in property value should be worth more?

What do you think?

 

to be honest mate, i would reduce the pension and increase the morgadge, property is always goin to be worth money, and im sure is a much better investment,

what wold be better is if u morgadged a second house and rented it straight out (e.g a house with a £500 mofgadge, then rent it for £400)

that way ull end up with 2 houses no morgadge and lots of pennies lol

its just having the initial down payment for the secon house

 

property all the time.

worth well more.

 

boon, property bruv good earner at the moment, sold my first house last feb netted 18k in as many months

C L

 

sorry that was 33k, i've had a long day,

C L

 

This depends on your attitude to risk. Property can go down as well as up - folks in the South-East should remember negative equity not so long ago. If you put tenants in a buy-to-let property they might not pay, or you may have rental voids (periods with no tenants at all) leaving you to pay the mortgage without the additional income.

Stopping your savings for a while to invest in property is an option but the earlier you start investing, the more time you leave for the miracle of compound interest to take effect. Someone who invests £100 a month from age 20 to 29 and then lets their investments grow is likely to have more money at 60 than someone who invests £100 a month from age 30 to 59.

And finally, in your pension, your employers matching contributions are free money that they won't pay if you don't.

 

Been wondering along the lines of something similar myself, although nothing to do with a pension.

I currently have a 2 bed flat, which me and my missus are moving out of within the next few months into a bigger house with all the toys (i.e garage etc ) and wondered if i am best of selling the flat (have a substantial amount of equity in it) or renting it out to someone for 500 quid per month baring in mind my mortgage is going to be circa 900 per month and already have a good deposit to put down on our new house ?

Sell up or rent out ? Not sure about the latter because some people are just not trustworthy !!

 

pensions are not gonna be worth jack shit the way this country is going mate, put your money into bricks and mortar

 

I'm having the same trouble at the moment, company pension scheme is changing from a final salary, to a stakeholder.

Only thing is, with property, you have to manage it, and if you get (which you should) a commercial mortgage, the banks want to see 125% income, compared to your martgage, i.e £500 mortgage, income of minimum £625/month. And thts not forgetting the 30% deposit down.

Also, you try chasing rents, especially ppl on the dole, they are the worst payers. Pain in the bum every friday night driving around collecting cash or cheques.

It is swings and roundabouts, with people lasting longer, with a lump sum in property you could then go buy yourself a annuity, which gurantees you a set income unitl you snuff it, so if you live longer, yor quids in, but if you depart early the anuity company are winners and will have made a few quid out of you.

Your right with proerty at the mo, just dont go silly, and keep to an area you know, and a clientelle that you can handle, i.e dont have a shop, a flat, large house etc, if you want bedsits, stick to them!

 

better with the property i think,by the time you reach retirement age,your pension pot will have been plundered by the company and the government and youll be left with even less.

 

property

 

I would also suggest that you reduce the pension payments at the moment, although if you are reasonably happy living in your current property I would suggest the best thing to do is start overpaying your existing mortgage if the facility is available rather than purchasing a BTL flat or the like - interest rates may be low at the moment, but it won't always be that way and I think the large increase in property "values" has largely ceased so there's no real incentive there !

 

mines in my property
go big and down size later

 

The company couldn't plunder a personal pension fund.
The government give you tax relief on premiums into a personal pension.

The issue is the performance of the pension and the rapid decline of annuity rates as we're all living longer.

Property would make a good investment but as well as, not instead as a pension imo.

If you reduce your contribution to the minimum £20 I assume your company will do the same?

Get a projection on that basis and see what you will be left with

10k is not that bad when you consider that's in todays terms and you should have no mortgage and the basic state pension & second state pension on top of that.

 

this is frightening - i am 25 and i dont yet have a pension

i have been told by a few family and friends to start paying a pension even if it is only £40 a month - The place i work for will not match anything i contribute so its all down to me. I knew that i wouldnt get much for £40 a month, but i figured its a start.

Bearing in mind i live with my parents at the moment but soon am looking to move out with my g/f, £150 is jsut a figure i coudlnt afford to be paying into a pension, yet i dont want to be left with nothing when i give up work! - I would have thought that £150 a month is a good pension and that with the matched £150 making £300 a month thats not bad going! But if it only gives you 10k a year till the inevitable, then i dont htink i will bother - stick it into property!

 

Paddle your own canoe!!!

I've seen enough pension fund managers getting fat of our money so I have no pension and have started a property portfolio.

This way, if I end up broke, its my fault and not some idiot in the square mile!!

 

good idea!

i wanna invest in things but altho i do alright, im not going to be in a position to buy another property for a very long time so what would be good to invest in i wonder?

 

An ISA should be your first port of call as it's tax free.