Retirement options; pension vs investment

[Kerry987]

Hi

Have realised that DH and I won’t have enough pensions savings to retire; however we can probably save hard during the next 10 to 15 years depending on we will retire.

Just wondering whether is be better to save more for pensions or save to buy a second property overseas. We live in the UK but are both from overseas.

The Money Saving Expert website has a talk forum on pensions with lots of knowledgeable advisors on. Might be worth posting there?

Great! Thank you very much. I didn’t know about it

Paying into pensions is much better as it comes out of gross income so it’s very tax efficient. When it comes to withdrawing the money, the first 25% is tax free and then it’s taxed in line with income tax.
So even if you plan to retire abroad, it makes sense to pay into a pension and then you can withdraw 25% of the pot tax free to buy that property abroad.

However, if you weren’t aware of these pension basics, then it might be worth getting an IFA to plan it for you.