to think I need a stakeholder pension

[cinders005]

Currently working part time self employed with about 15 years previous work pension years.
Am unlikely to return to work full time for another 5 years.
Dh has a private pension he pays into and is about to join current work one. He has said he wants to pay into work one so he can get contribution from employers. Fair enough. We can now aford to.
I have said though that I should start a stakeholder pension as I will be down on about 10 years. His reply was I don't need it as I will have his.
AIBU to be wary about this. Obv don't forsee splitting up but this makes me vulnerable. Although I guess you can claim % of pension if you split.
And please tell me how I can get this point across without it sounding dodgy.

You should spread your risk as a family by having pensions with different providers in case another equitable life happens.

Of course you have to think about yourself and your own financial future.

Like you I feel that relying on a partner for your financial future is not wise and unfortunately I know of a few women that have been caught out by this. They end up with part of their ex DH's and very little of their own.

I would just tell my DH as it is. I'm not, and he's not that naive to think that its a certainty we will remain together forever - as much as we would like to.

Well if you have spare money it's a very tax efficient way of saving.

He should put what he needs to into his to get the employers contribution as that's free money, but anything you pay in will get tax relief too..

Just tell him that.

It's very sensible and you should do it.

I think you should definitely make your own provision, whether that's Stakeholder or something else. All sorts of things could happen - splitting up, ill health, redundancy, poor performance on his pension, etc. I'm sure you could sell it to him as more tax efficient if the money is an issue.

I take it you have preserved pension from your previous employment? Might be worth getting an up to date value and seeing if you can get some advice.

Also, even if you have his pension as a couple, there might not be that great an annuity for you if he dies before you (not meaning to sound harsh, but those are scenarios that have to be looked at). I think you should look into how much you could save into a pension, the tax benefits, and the projected income in retirement, and also ask about illustrations for his work pension - how much is it likely to pay, is it based on final salary or not, how much is paid as a spouse's pension if he dies etc.

DH and I both have work pensions, but there's no way I would rely on his. Partly because I earn more and I think the scheme I'm in is better, but also I wouldn't want him relying on mine.