I know nothing about pensions should I start adding to my very tiny NEST pension?

[fastliving]

I am in my mid-40s and only recently started paying into a Nest pension. (About £80 pm).
Should I try and add to this or into an additional pension scheme?
I am a basic tax payer.

The nest charges look very high to me?

www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/nest/members/my-nest-pension/contributions-and-fees.html

Anyone know anything about this stuff....I'm completely lost!

If you have this set up, use it. The ongoing charges are actually not too bad. The 1.8% upfront isn’t too bad in the context of alternative options.

The 1.8% up front charge is very high. Large fees like that compound up massively in the long term. It does not sound much but it is.

It is scandalous in my opinion but I am used to running my own pension and my costs are less than 1/2% but I appreciate that diy investing is not for everyone.

I guess in the end you have to accept it and probably increase your payments to compensate for the high charge effect.

The 1.8% up front charge is very high St James’s place the largest UK adviser charge 4.5%

Large fees like that compound up massively in the long term it’s a one off charge so it doesn’t compound. The ongoing fee at 0.3%m is actually competitive.... less than yours in fact.

Have a look at the Money Advice Service website for a start www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/categories/pensions-and-retirement
They also have details about how to access free pensions advice.

It not pensions ‘advice’, it’s ‘guidance’, but it promotes understanding of the rules even if it won’t help you know whether something is any good or not

What percentage of your salary are you paying and does your employer match this amount? £80 a month seems very small.

Oh and for what it’s worth the STANDARD bid offer spread until recently was 3%. ALL SIPP investments paid it, but the smug ‘ohh I do it all myself’ brigade possibly didn’t understand that.

Don’t be put off OP. No it’s not perfect, but it hands down beats doing fuck all.

And some funds still have a spread so fuck knows I’d you’re in to a clean share class . ... now I’ll stop ranting

Panic sorry I used the wrong wording, just trying to give the Op some useful guidance

@panic

You are ignorant.

You did not even read my post properly.

I actually said that my fees are less than 1/2% not that they were 1/2%.

St James are well known in the industry and for all the wrong reasons.

So called pension advisors are nothing more than sales people peddling expensive goods.

If you want an argument you have picked on the wrong person.

@fastliving

This is a free advice site.

clearly anyone can post on here attention seeking

When they have not got the slightest clue about compound interest, up front charges, spreads, and are posing as a pension advisor be warned.

They are posting total bollocks and you are not protected against them.

Pension advisors do not post on mumsnet late in the evening unless they have lost their job.

It’s ridiculous behaviour.

if you want an argument you have picked on the wrong person put em up

Pension advisors do not post on mumsnet late in the evening unless they have lost their job

They are posting total bollocks and you are not protected against them and you offer sooo much better advice ‘look what I do’ ‘do it yourself’. No help whatsoever.

My degree in personal finance is clearly not worth the paper it is written on. Boo hoo for me

@ColourofMagic yes sorry, but they don’t give advice tailored to an individual, it’s just general rules. At best they read a script. I wish it was advice as god knows people need it. Pensions (despite us being purely ignorant sales people) are complex.

As the OP has asked, my suggestions are go with what you’ve got, it ain’t perfect, but better than most. Even that gets people in a lather.

OP,

Check whether your employer will increase contributions if you increase yours

Check with HR to see whether you are able to salary exchange to increase your contributions thus saving on NI. Some ERs will add the NI saving into your pension.

The NEST scheme is perfectly suitable for starting your pension savings. Initial charge is a one off charge, thereafter the fees are low.

If you really wanted to set up another plan yourself, the AEGON Retire Ready plan is cheap and direct to consumer. Zero initial charge but ongoing fees may be higher than the NEST scheme.

I'm not a "sales person peddling expensive goods". I'm a professional, regulated, financial adviser and I come onto the Money and Investment boards specifically because they are subjects of interest to me. If I can be helpful with a steer in the right direction to something that's been asked then I'm happy to do so, in the same way I do quite a bit of pro bono work in the course of my day to day activities. I tend to look at them early morning and in the evening.... in fact I even look at them at weekends.

I'm not sure why that should be considered ridiculous behaviour?

I had not bothered replying to the OP last night because an appropriate enough answer had already been given.... the charges are what they are and on relatively small contributions really neither here nor there. Their effects would of course be felt more keenly on a much larger pot size and over a longer timescale, and then it might be appropriate to look at suitable alternatives, depending on the wider circumstances.

Whilst there are doubtless plenty of trolls on MN there are thousands of perfectly genuine users too, many of whom are happy to share their own expertise when asked. I don't know why that should be so surprising.

Thanks everyone for your contributions, it's lovely to see people so passionate about pensions!

I would transfer everything out into a Vanguard SIPP - they are coming online next year.
Have a read on there website

I would transfer everything out into a Vanguard SIPP - they are coming online next year. Have a read on there website

Yes, but it’s likely an auto enrolment pension. Perhaps explain to OP how that might actually work in reality.