Pension advice

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

True in part I have read somewhere a while back that Martin Lewis no longer owns or runs the site he is described now as the founder - I believe he sold the website.

Might be fake news but sold for £87m...............https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18295587

[BigAl (Alan)]

Martin Lewis site (he did sell out) is a good place to start, but with all future investments there is no guarantee that your pension fund will perform well based upon past performance.
As previous post, I bought a self employed personal pension from the Equitable life Company based upon a 'Which' magazine recommendation in 1996...their assumption was if it performed well in the past, so it will do the same in the future???...over the next few years Equitable started to fail and was eventually broken up...it is still trading today as Utmost Life Assurance, I'm still contributing to this plan in the hope that it may recover?

[DomP]

 Encouraging reading chaps🤣 

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

A good friend of mine used the same Independent Fnancial Advisor (IFA) for over 50 years about 8 years ago he closed his business, he now works for a Pension Provider so not independent now.

The interesting part is why he closed his business - the reason was a combination of Insurance Costs against giving bad advice, the final nail in the coffin for the business was the constant changes in Government Regulations by the Financial Conduct Authority & the Prudent Regulation Authority . Each time the Regulations changed he had to go on a special course to learn and fully understand the changes that initiated - new products from Pension Providers - these courses are not free so as well as having to fund his ongoing training  that was time away from his core business of giving truly independent advice.

The FCA & the PRA are making the role of IFA almost impossible to fill so not that many about plus the best advice is generally not free. This then drives customers to Banks or Pension Poviders who will give so called "free advice" that they cannot call independent.

[DomP]

Sod it, I'll just enjoy myself until I drop🤣

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Sod it, I'll just enjoy myself until I drop🤣

The key to private pensions seems to be to start young as with each passing decade you leave it the more expensive it is to catch up to end up with a decent pension pot.

Nothing worse than having to rely on just a State Pension as my late parents discovered. At the very least consider paying into a shares ISA  each year until you can decide or afford a private pension.

[davidcumbria]

You are incentivised through tax saving to save for your pension

https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-your-private-pension/pension-tax-relief

[taysidedragon]

Sod it, I'll just enjoy myself until I drop🤣

The best thing to do is talk to at least 2, preferably 3, approved financial advisors. The government website gives general advice and has the list of approved advisors. Don’t go to any so-called advisor who is not listed.

Everybody has a different job history and financial situation. A good advisor will tell you the best course of action to take for your situation. You don’t pay tax on pension contributions so it's better to start ASAP for maximum future benefit.

After getting advice from 2 or 3 advisors you can decide which is best for you.