Pension plan for self employed

[Friedbanana]

Call me dumb but I don’t have a pension plan. I’m very good at saving into ISAs each month/paying extra on the mortgage but I’ve just never got round to setting up a pension. I’m now 30 and really need to set one up, I’m willing to put a substantial amount in each month to catch up (and help me keep in the lower tax payer bracket on my income)

Could anyone please advise on where to start? I actually had a call with my mortgage advisor asking him to advise but I left feeling more confused and he was going to take 10% of what I put in in the first year, and like I said I want to put quite a lot in, maybe £1000 per month. Super grateful for any advice at all!!

Maybe start by finding an independent financial adviser: https://www.money.co.uk/guides/5-steps-to-finding-an-ifa-you-can-trust

Have a look at an SIPP. I have one with Hargreaves’s Lansdown.

I opened a SIPP at 50 with Legal and general. I am self employed and left it a bit late,I know.
I can do a standing order or just add as and when.

Find a financial advisor. There are different ways to pay, fixed fee, hourly rate, or a percentage but no need to pay anywhere near 10%! (I’m a financial planner and don’t charge anywhere near that). If you feel confident with what you’re doing, you could try yourself with someone like Hargreaves’s lansdown or vanguard. It depends how valuable your time is, if you want to spend the time on it, or outsource to a specialist. The key is being invested in the best way for you, as you’ll have at least 25 years before you start to take anything out so there’s a lot of time for the money to work, on top of your payments in.

I was in the same boat last year (I’m 34) and decided to go for a stocks and shares pension with Nutmeg, as I already have a JISA for my child with them It’s mostly managed but I can pick from several different funds that they curate. As I’m still young, I went for high risk, then I can lower the risk as I get older. You can also hold a basic pension with Nest, which is the ‘default’ for most employers. You can manually pay into Nest, too, it’s just geared more towards employers I think.