Private pension where to start?

[Finlaggan]

Hi I'm 50, have a paltry workplace pension plan and can invest about £400 per month so I'd like to try and make it work hard over the next 15 years. Have been thinking about a private pension, is this the best idea?
I did contact an IFA but they are linked to SJP which makes me nervous due to high fees and punative exit costs.
Now having read a few threads on SJP on here I'm even more nervous about going down this route!
I do have another IFA recommended I can contact, to see what they can offer.
Any tips on getting it right? TIA

A private pension is a tax efficient way to invest £400 a month as you'll get tax relief.

But what is your workplace pension plan? Can you choose what funds your workplace pension is invested in? If so, it might be better to salary sacrifice more of your salary into that so you aren't paying fees for two different pension plans and you'll get NI relief.

That's a good point. My thought process was that diversifying might give me the best possible outcome?

Can you add more into your work pension?

I think money in has more of an effect than diversification unfortunately. Is it a good pension scheme (the work one)? Do they have a pension planner which will show your projected pension at retirement age, and the impact of the additional £400? Might be a good place to start.

You don't need an IFA for a £400 a month pension. Not worth the fees.

A pension will be invested in a lot of different things. It is already diversified. So if your work pension is salary sacrifice - and especially if your employer will match part of your additional contributions- use that. You get the benefit of NI saving as well as the tax advantage you get with any pension.

If it's not salary sacrifice, look at the fee it charges and compare it with the fees for a SIPP on here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/cheap-sipps/ If one of these is lower, than your company pension, then that's where to put your £400.

If the IFA is independent, they should be selling you the best product available and not be limited to SJP products?

Tell us about your work situation - income, existing pension arrangements - do you have any matching contributions available?

I missed the bit about SJP! Avoid at all costs.

BTW, on the money-saving expert link ignore the bit about SIPPs being only for people who understand how to actively manage their investments.

You can do that if you want but most have a selection of simple retirement funds - you just pick your risk level/age of retirement when you open the pension and it then does everything for you in exactly the same way as your workplace one.

Vanguard is particularly straightforward for this. Pick a single 'Lifestrategy' or 'Target retirement' fund when you open it and you don't need to do anything else until you retire. It handles all the portfolio rebalancing for you.

Your workplace pension is a good place to start. They will invest in a default set of funds for a good diverse mix.
Does your company offer salary sacrifice? A very tax efficient way of saving and could take you under a threshold of tax depending what you earn.

Companies I use are Aviva and Royal London (best performer), but there are others out there.

I would recommend watching videos by Meaningful Money. They have a podcast as well and explain everything clearly so you don’t need an IFA