Should I get a pension?

Increase in paper value leads directly to an increase in annuity value and therefore in your actual pension. There's no getting away from the fact that if the employer matches the employee's contributions, then the pension will be twice what it would have been without it, even if it's still not very good.

Of course "return" is the wrong technical term for it, but you have to make allowances for the plebs.

It's only Tuesday. No point getting riled about such a trivium this early in the week.

No it wasn't. ^

DG

In message , The Blue Max writes

Not in the way proposed. Put it this way.

2 *.06 =.12

.12 x .78 =.0936

See above.

Gosh, I thought it was only Monday... ahh but you'll be on GMT + whatever it is you add for being in Scotland.

Not by the time you collect it, You are accepting being constrained to chose what may be a very poor investment decision. Your analysis is insufficient.

x= my monthly contribution, y= the firms monthly contribution (assumed for this argument to be equal).

So erm, how much pension will I get for *my* contributions ?? ??

It should be something along the lines..

pension after +/- 40 years = {[The integral of 480 months growth, contributions, and charges] - penalties- tax free lump sum} X the annuity rate when you check in your dinner plate.

Get sick with a stroke/ bad heart at age 57? Do not pass go, do not collect £200, retire immediately if you have to but lose yet another

:-(

Periods of negative growth? How many years, How deeply negative. Remembering they keep on taking their charges even when the fund is losing money, and they've paid off all their whizz kids with their Porsches and red braces, and their concupiscient females!

An annuity rate of a poxy 5-6%, die next week and your family loses the lot. absolutely super!

Or take a guaranteed annuity and get a lot less than the best bank deposit rates. Obviously because your are constrained to buy an annuity. Spiffing!

Just remind me where's that extra 100% got you the noo?

C8-)= (a Fyfe Robertson)

Alternatively, presumably your employer doesn't care where his contributions have gone once the money has left his hands, (Pension schemes were originally promoted to encourage cradle/grave loyalty, Margaret Hilda scotched that, because punterz were losing out when changing jobs and going on benefits when they retired, and it was stifling mobility of labour) so that incentive's gone.

So why not let us "Think of a better way"? (Lord Kelvin)

Either just pay the tax as paye and make straightforward sensible investment decisions with the cash under your own control. Or chose a better tax free vehicle for your retirement savings.

The fact that your employer is equalling your contributions is a poor justification for making an investment decision that anyone would otherwise regard as the absolute pits. Just re-negotiate the package. Anyway who, in their right mind would trust their bosses judgement?

They set you on to start with !

BTW: My Opinion, Not Advice.

DG

Indubitably.

Are we using different definitions of "what you get out"?

You invest 100. Later, you cash in your investment when it's worth 101. So, you "get out" 101, and your return is 1%.

Or did you mean by "get out 101" that you still leave in your original 100, and before getting the 101 out it was worth 201?

It may have been Monday when you wrote what you wrote, but it was Tuesday by the time I replied. OK, to be precise, I was fooled into thinking it was, because the clock on my computer is about 5 mins fast. I see from the news server timestamp that it was posted at just under 90 seconds before midnight, so as far as my machine was concerned, it was already well after.

But it's only Tuesday, and there's no point discussing such trivia this early in the week.

We add the same in Edinburgh as you do in Blackpool. Here, are you one of those geeks who keeps their wristwatch set to GMT all year round?

"Ronald Raygun" wrote

Which is what I meant.

I'll let you off. It's your age.

In message , Ronald Raygun writes

Whats a wristwatch? I was relying on the shadow of my neighbours flagpole passing over the whitewashed roman numerals ive painted on my lawn. Its aligned to BLT.

That'll be Blackpool Lunar Time, so you can tell the time in the middle of the night, to quibble about whether it's Monday or Tuesday? Not very likely at or near New Moon. And your lawn has to be on a turntable so you can re-align to suit the phases of the moon. Jolly good!

No, its Boyle's Local Time, (a bit like the old JBSE98), it means its any time I want it to be. Quite Handy.

(But I like the connection between Blackpool and Loonies)

What *about* my age?

You're a crotchety old bastard.

If you're not old you've no right to be so crotchety, you crotchety bastard.

I have recently been invited to join the company pension scheme and I think I will. I contribute 2% and they will match it. My only concern is if I leave the company in say 6 months what happens to what I have put in? I'm not sure if there is a stock answer to this or not? I'm aware I may have to chat to HR if necessary.

Hmm, lets see, this is a tough one, you could either accept answers from people on a newsgroup who may or may not know what the law is, and certainly wont know what your companies policy is, or you could ask your company for the definitive answer....

..OK, the answer is that if you leave in 6 months, they will set killer rabbits on you.

Depends on the type of scheme they have, and the charging structure. You will need to ask the company.

What sort of scheme is it. Who are the trustees, do you trust them?

Total contributions 4% ? That's not enough. Think 18 - 19% maybe more.

If you are earning £15k your contributions will only amount to £150, I daresay you can leave them in the scheme for a deferred pension equivalent to about 2 quid a month in todays money, that's if they havent been dissipated in charges.

IME employers very rarely know anything at all about their pension schemes. There may be a leaflet available produced by the pension provider.

DG

Try and snip correctly next time, I didnt write this.