What's my best plan for pension?

[tomhazard]

Grateful for any advice here. I am 33 years old- from 2010 to 2016 I was a state school teacher and paid into the teacher pension scheme. I then left because my children were babies and my husband was seconded overseas so I went along for the adventure- I didn't work then so obviously paid into no pension. When we came back I worked for a private school part time and then full time- no TPS at this school but a legal and general work place pension that I've paid into since Jan 2018. I am moving overseas again in July to work for a two year teaching contract - this is definitely a two year trip but whilst I will be getting a good salary to save on, again I won't be paying into a pension.

Would anyone recommend that I paid into a private pension while we are away? I'll be back by 35 years old and hope to find another teaching job (in either sector) that will pay into TPS again and then transfer my legal and general pension into my TPS which I've checked is possible.

Do you think it's essential that I keep paying into a private pension or is two years out going to be okay at my age? Worried about stitching myself up in the future and keen to make the right financial choices now. Thanks for any expertise !

You need a set number of years to get state pension so check that.
In relation to private pension, it’s based on contributions you make not years if that makes sense so I think you can get away with not. But given if you were in uk you would be automatically enrolled into work pension I would seriously consider it if you can.

Thank you Digestive28 I get what you mean. Yes if I was to stay in my current job I'd be back to working 0.6 (I've just covered maternity full time) which last time I worked those hours was just over £300 pm into the private pension with mine and employer contributions combined- so by working abroad I could potentially lose out on several thousand pounds worth of contributions. Hopefully I will earn reasonably highly in the UK in the future so can claw it back at some point! I will look into some kind of private pension though, perhaps I would be able to skim a couple of hundred pounds a month into this from our combined salaries overseas.

You may be able to keep adding to your l&g one, it's worth looking into!
Although it may be complicated due to the tax bonus you get on pensions- you may be better just putting the money aside for the two years, then using the money to top up the pension that goes with your new job when you get back.

It really depends on what your plans for retirement are and how much you have saved already. I know retirement is years off yet but 2 years off contributing every few years soon adds up (not that you have said you are going to do this - just an example).

I know that due to various inheritances and a property that i will be ok come retirement age (not minted but able to live). If you think at retirement you will still need to pay bills plus rent or will have a mortgage well into your 60s then taking any time out of contributing to your pension may be critical. I know I would be ok financially if I stopped contributing for 2 years (not a stealth boast but an example).

Your L&G and teachers pensions are treated very differently by the way so 2 years out of TPS is different to 2 years out of L&G.

While you are overseas you can still contribute to your L&G depending on how it's set up (very likely you can but some are set up so you can only contribute through an employer or some are set up so they don't accept overseas contributions).

Thank you homethenababy. We are going to work overseas because we would like to move into a bigger house in a more expensive area to access good secondary schools in the future. We would have real trouble doing this on our current salaries without our monthly payments being more than we can afford or extended our mortgage term quite a lot. By 2 years overseas, while our children are still young, we can theoretically save quite a lot as capital toward this move. But the pay off is temporarily stopping our pensions.

We have overpaid on our mortgage quite a bit and would be due to finish paying when I am 50 and DH 56 if we do not have to extend the term to afford a larger house.

So I think based on this advice I will look to see if I can contribute to my legal and general one while overseas or something similar