Should I not bother with a pension?

[riae]

Is a local authority pension actually worth it when you're 40, working very pt and probably won't be working at the local authority for the next 30 years.

Am I better just not having a pension and maybe invest the money in shares or something instead. I'm thinking is there no point in a pension when you work so part time and in your 40s. It won't be worth much will it? Need to decide by end of month so can opt out.

Having a pension/retirement plan is very important, however what exactly that plan is, and the best way to save varies by personal circumstance. I would take some independent financial advice if you can, to help you work out the best strategy for you.

Get the pension. Always. It’s tax efficient and will probably be invested in shares anyway. What else will you live on in retirement? What are your plans?

Definitely join it. Local authority pensions are much more generous than you can get if you save yourself. It is really expensive to buy a pension yourself. Eg. If you managed to save £100,000 it would only buy you a pension of around £3k per year if you bought an annuity at 65.

www.hl.co.uk/retirement/annuities/best-buy-rates

I would say there is a point because you will miss out on employer contributions. If you think you will be OK managing on state pension from 67 (plus any other income or savings you will have) then no need to worry about pension saving. But if you save towards a pension from 40-67 that's 27 years of contributions (yours and your employers) and could provide you with a monthly payment that will significantly top up the state pension.

The local government pension is one of the best there is. I wouldn't hesitate to join.

Pension first and foremost.

Pension.
Comes with 2 lots of free money: employer contribution, and the Gvt adds 20%.

Also is there a chance you might have to work more hours in the future?

DH has a local authority pension from when he worked there for a couple of years decades ago at a fairly lowly level. It won't keep the roof over our heads but he's worked out that it will pay for his football habit (season ticket plus beer and pies) and the lump sum will go a fair way towards our plans for The Big Retirement Trip.

Stick with it.

Pension. Is there any way to increase your hours, you’re still young? My mum did similar to what you’re planning (potentially) and now really regrets it.

@RainingBatsAndFrogs

Pension. Comes with 2 lots of free money: employer contribution, and the Gvt adds 20%.

This.

Even if you set up your own pension, you'd be on the back foot because you'd be missing out on the employer's contribution.

What you could do is join the LA pension and if you feel it is insufficient, set up your own low cost SIPP on top.

For example, if you can afford £200 pm for a pension and your work pension costs you £50 pm, set up another pension and put £150 pm into that.

Definitely pension for the reasons above. You will receive a small pension as long as you pay in for the equivalent of 2 years. If you don't reach the threshold then you can claim your money back anyway. Even a small pension will help you top up your state pension. Small amounts of guaranteed money when you are skint make a big difference.

If the pension is local authority, it often comes with death in service benefits for dependants - you need to check the T&C - but these benefits are definitely worth having if you have kids/spouse.

Get the pension.

I have about 5 different ones from different jobs over the years. Some of the ones I only worked at for short periods are humming along nicely.

I might combine them at some point, but they'll all contribute something in the end. Employers contributions and the tax break are always worth taking advantage of.

If you know of any other investments giving guaranteed 30% a year returns ( tax relief and employer contributions) , please share them.
Not having a pension is literally refusing free money.

I will have a teeny Local Government pension of about £2500 a year, probaby cost me £50 a month for 5 years, so £3k total. To buy an income of £2500 would cost over £50k!

Hugely regret not doing one in the 3 years I worked for an LA.

It's absolutely worth it for so many reasons including the death in service benefits, the possibility of being retired early through I'll health in a worst case scenario. Councils are changing constantly and my local one has had two generous redundancy packages in the last decade.

Silly not to if it's available to you. I worked job share for 12 years raising my kids but still paid in. You don't know what the future may bring.

@GenderApostate19

If you know of any other investments giving guaranteed 30% a year returns ( tax relief and employer contributions) , please share them. Not having a pension is literally refusing free money. I will have a teeny Local Government pension of about £2500 a year, probaby cost me £50 a month for 5 years, so £3k total. To buy an income of £2500 would cost over £50k!

This.

For the love of God. The level of ignorance amongst women about pensions is staggering. It is FREE MONEY with TAX RELIEF.

As others have said why would you refuse free money? And many pensions are either transferable to similar schemes if you move jobs, or you can leave it safely in the LA scheme to get on with maturing. I would also get signed up ASAP, employers often tweak their pension schemes for new applicants, and not in the applicants favour, established pensions are often better value so the sooner you are signed up the better.

Even if you only stay in for a couple of years, it's still a really good pension scheme. You won't get the same outcome investing the same amount anywhere else.

Get the pension. If you have a small pot from the local authority, you can often commute the monetary value of it (which will be more than you could put into a private one) as a lump sum into a private pot later, which gives you options.

If you opt out will you pay more NI? It was the case but I'm not sure now.

You may be able to pass your pension on after death, my dad receives a small amount from my mum's pension and she only worked for local gov for a few years in her 50s.

If you have to retire on ill health grounds you will probably be able to get a pension early, my NHS pension has paid out more than I ever paid in.

I have a LA pension with a similar value to @GenderApostate19 from a (relatively short) time working in a local authority. The annual income isn't huge - just under £3.5k - but it also means death benefits of around £18k for my partner and any dependents, and a spouse's pension for them as well. No-one wants to think about what would happen when they die, but it's a relief to me to know that I wouldn't be leaving DH/DD unable to pay the mortgage.

I didn't really miss the money going out at the time, but it's built up to a considerable value, and I'm so glad I did. In terms of the scheme's security and investment performance, it's outperforming my current pension with a university even though I'm now on a better salary (but that's a whole other issue with USS )

Stay in the pension scheme. LGPS is still one of the best and even if it’s not going to be enough to live on it’s worth it.

Definitely go for the pension, I'm in LGS. One of my colleagues, who was Chief Finance Officer and then went on to head up one of the big Public Finance organisations always gave this advice, especially to women in low paid or pt jobs.

Also isn't it the case that all people get auto enrolled onto a Govt led pension scheme now?

I don't even need to read your OP to answer.

Any pension is always worth it!!