Does anybody have a private pension plan? Or doyou know about PENSIONS?

[QuintessentialShadow]

Can you recommend a pension plan to me?

watching with interest as have always had a company pension but looking to opt out and start a private pension

mmmmm, we need to do this too.

working in the NHS / police force / teaching / local council is your best bet

otherwise you are basically fecked and will need to develop a taste for cheap gin and cold winters

Well, I dont want to have to burn my wooden bedframe for heat in old age, that is for sure.

My old company started a pension plan for me with Clerical Medical. Of course, they have not paid into it after I left. I am just wondering if I should start pay into it.

At the time I opted out of SERPS. I am also wondering if it is prudent to opt back in.

You need some sort of advice although I've no idea where one finds such a thing

SERPS has been replaced by ermmm SP2 or somesuch and if you are earning under around 13k it's best to opt back in IIRC

which I may not

Right. SP2. That would explain the papers they emailed me about opting in. I do earn very little, salarywise.

Can I help? I am an IFA.
Second state pension is funded from your national insurance contributions. You can contract out and have the funds put in a personal pension plan. Advantage is flexibilty to manage funds and you get a 25% tax free lump sum at retirement. But balance that aginst the security of having the pension within the Govt, but no lump sum. There are some web sites I can link you too if you like.
Does yuor employer offer you a pension?

you aren't here though are you? so you wouldn't be paying ni and it won't matter whether you are opted in or out?

Trouble is there is no way of knowing which ones are any good until it comes to annuity buying time 20, 30 years time.....

I have always been self employed so I have a private pension plan.

It appears that I have paid in about a million pounds and it is now worth £2.50. Naturally the fund managers have been amply rewarded for their efforts by the charges deducted from the fund.

so all in all, I'm sorry that I cannot recommend a pension plan.

But one serious tip is to be sure you understand what the charges are that will be taken from your payments for the administration of the scheme.

stakeholder pensions have a reputation for charging less, I believe. Lots of companies now offer this kind.

CS - I am not here, but I work for a UK company, and I pay uk tax and NI.

BigGitDad, is there a reason to stay opted out if you dont earn very much in terms of salary? (but have other assets)

advice on contracting out

I am not so sure about the stake holder pension. I can get one through HSBC, I am on paye, but my husband and I own the company.

Thanks, I will read that.

ahh, ok

hmm this says: "Self-employed people cannot build up a State Second Pension."

So by definition they have to opt out?

As I said the main advantage is being able to manage the funds yourself and getting a lump sum. However you balance that against the security of being in the Govt scheme. The link will explain it well.
Does your employer offer a pension scheme?
Most pensions these days offer a 1% annual management charge within the pension.
But how your pension does is largely down to how well the funds have performed and if you retire at a time like now you could be in trouble. That's why you need to have a varied approach to retirement and not put all your eggs in one basket like pensions and hope for the best.

Now here comes the really stupid question:

If there is a state second pension, what is the state first pension??

Self employed people do not have their National insurance contributions paid in to the second state pension (why I do not know) hence no second state pension.

Ah, that was explained pretty much in the first paragraph.

I am not classified as self employed, though.

What about this bit:

"You qualify for the State Second
Pension (S2P) if you are or have been
employed and earning above a certain
amount on which you have paid
National Insurance contributions (NICs)."

What's the "certain amount" ?

Are you fucked if you are self-employed?

so after 1012 is everyone opted back in - or can you just not contract out after that (but stay out if you already are?)

That's your normal state pension that your parents or whoever are getting now. Don't ask me why but a while back the govt decided that the state pension was not going to be enough so they created Serps which became the second state pension funded by national insurance contributions which in the main the employer pays.

"If you contract out, the government will
pay some of your National Insurance
contributions (called a rebate) and
income tax relief into a personal or
stakeholder pension of your choice."

And that would be the teeny weeny little sum that the government has added to my pension held by Clerical Medical.

So they do this, instead of building up a second pension on my behalf?

Squirrels, if you are out you can stay out but you cannot contract out further contributions.
Does not look good if you are self employed MP. I am not hot on retirement and state pensions so I would not know if you qualify for any other state benefit.