Hi,
I am self-employed, 39 and today I got a letter from my pension company - Equitable Life (I admit I stopped paying into them about 4 years ago now) - suggesting that I opt back into with regards to NI as opposed to my current state of being contracted out.
Does anyone have any views on this? The way that I am looking at general retirement at the moment regarding pensions, NI, etc, is that, well, it is a right mess with little if no safeguards as to what happens with your money. My current plan being to save as much as possible to buy a house in the next few years and then look at the whole retirement 'thing'.
Am I the only one who feels a mixture of confusion, anger, mistrust of both Govt & Pension firms and resentment with regard to retirement planning. In my early 30s I quite happily paid into a pension each month only to see both my Equitable and Standard Lie pensions go South in 2000/01.
Constructive comments would be welcome,
John.