How much do you put in your work pension each month?

[Chloefairydust]

So here I was thinking I was being sensible paying £22 into my nest work pension every month, but after talking to my brother, I find out he’s putting £300 away each month into his (and your work has to double that so I think he’s making £600 a month in his pension! ) , and he seemed worried that I wasn’t putting enough away.

Im now panicking that I’m going to be really poor when I’m old😭…. For context I’m 30 years old and I think I have about £2000 in the pension pot. So how screwed am I?? 😱

Im on minimum wage so can’t afford £300, the most I could put away would probably be £100 at a push.

Is everyone else paying loads into their work pension pots too?

3.4% works out about 130ish I think

I only put in half because I can’t afford the standard 6.8%

I pay £266 per month. If you could afford £100 you should do that. You do want some quality of life when you get older.

Can I ask how old you are? 266 would be totally unaffordable for me

Do you mean pay in more to top up what your work put in for you automatically? I don't pay anything extra into mine. I don't even know how much my work pay in to be honest. I should really find out!

Wait I’m confused can you ask your employer to increase the amount going into the pension pot from the wage each month… Or do I have to pay it into the pension pot out of my bank account?

I always thought I could ask the employer…

I’m 30

OMG yes I don’t want to be struggling when I’m old, God knows how expensive everything will be by then right😱

I pay in 7% and work pay in 14%

I pay 10%, always paid into a pension scheme so I don't miss it although the % has varied, and been defined by my employer .

I am 30 and I pay around 700 a month in plus employer match , I have around 65000

However I am a high earned with no kids ... and I will be lowering it due to increased mortgage costs

Is it an option for me to choose the amount that goes into the pension pot from my wage? Or is it the employer that gets to choose? 🤔

You need to check what your works program is .

They might have a minimum to get a certain match ... maybe staggered matching

We can't help without knowing your company policy

Do you pay your pension contribution in net or gross? What I mean is - is the contribution taken out of your take home pay (net) or your pay before it’s taxed?
Everyone gets tax relief on their pension contributions, so if you earn enough to be taxed the actual amount of money you are putting in will be reduced by 20%. So if you make a £100 contribution you are only actually handing over £80 of your money thanks to the tax relief.
how you technically go about getting the tax relief (the £20 in my above example) depends on whether the pension contribution is made (net or gross).
you should contribute as much as you can. It’s my regret I didn’t put in bigger contributions when I was younger. I now put silly amounts of my salary into my pension to make up for those lost years

I’m 45, didn’t have any pension until about a month ago (am self employed and have put all of my money until now into my house, which I’m hoping will give me a lump sum from equity to put into a pension in a few years)
From this month, I’ll be paying £1,300 a month into my pension, through my limited company.

I will speak to my manager when I’m next in work, I hope I’m allowed to pay in more, I don’t want to be a hobo when I’m an old lady 😭

I think it's about 140 euro a month but I've no control over that. It's just the percentage they take. I can't increase it or decrease it.

Don't you have a contract or employee handbook? Will be in there usually !

Is it an option for me to choose the amount that goes into the pension pot from my wage?

It should be. The employer can choose what percentage they'll match up to.

It's a good idea to make contributions while you're still young if you can - the longer it's invested the more it will grow, remember those compound interest calculations at school.

About £350 - £400 usually, depending on pay for the month. I wish I’d added AVCs at a younger age.

Think I’m going to speak to my employer get £100 of my wage and how ever much they want to top me up each month going into my pension pot each month. I’m also going to be saving money where I can and making additional one off contributions whenever I can. Hopefully then I can have a comfortable retirement one day 🤞🏻

£600 per month. Looking forward to travelling when I retire.

@Chloefairydust
Good plan. It’s best to do as much as you can as early as you can. You’re paying your future self.

I’m 34 and pay £750 which is 10% of my salary each month. My employer pays 5.5%. I think I’d currently have a pot of c 100k. I’m a higher earner though but have only been for the last few years and I don’t have kids and don’t currently have a mortgage

Pay in as much as you can. If £100 a month is the max you can manage then do that. Most workplaces will make higher contributions if you do (up to a cap). That's "free money" so silly to turn down if that's the case.

Regardless £22 is much, much too low. Particularly as you are 30. Effectively you are starting your pension now.

£10k in pension savings at current rates will get you an income of £500 per year in retirement if you were to buy an annuity. So your savings to date would get you £300 per year.

The rough rule of thumb is that you should save a percentage that's half your age when you start your pension (because of compounding: if you start saving later you need to save a higher % to get to the same outcome).

So if you are effectively starting now with such low savings you need to aim for a minimum of 15% contributions between you and your employer. Ideally higher.

I currently pay in 13.5% but I haven't always paid in that much. My employer pays in 21.6%.