Pension Help - Overwhelmed
Discussion
I am 30 years old, work a decent job and have done since 18. I have never paid into a pension, apart from the state contributions (national insurance) during my 7 years employment in UK. I haven’t paid into any form of pension since moving abroad 3 years ago. I plan to return to UK within the next few years and settle.
I have a healthy savings account balance, but am conscious that this isn’t doing much for me as I earn virtually no interest. My plan is to put down a large deposit on a house in UK and aim to pay off the mortgage, at the same time starting to put money away for retirement.
I am quite overwhelmed but the research that I have done on the subject of pensions and planning for retirement, and subsequently have tried to ignore the problem. This obviously isn’t the way forward.
Any high level advice from the kind people of the forum? Should I open a private pension? Would it be sensible to aim for getting a house purchased first? In the short term is there any low-risk ways I could make my money work? Happy to share some more information if it would help.
I have a healthy savings account balance, but am conscious that this isn’t doing much for me as I earn virtually no interest. My plan is to put down a large deposit on a house in UK and aim to pay off the mortgage, at the same time starting to put money away for retirement.
I am quite overwhelmed but the research that I have done on the subject of pensions and planning for retirement, and subsequently have tried to ignore the problem. This obviously isn’t the way forward.
Any high level advice from the kind people of the forum? Should I open a private pension? Would it be sensible to aim for getting a house purchased first? In the short term is there any low-risk ways I could make my money work? Happy to share some more information if it would help.
If you live overseas and don't pay tax to HMRC (unless you're a crown employee, partner of etc) your options may be limited.
You refer to a pre existing pension so you might meet the HMRC definition of a ‘relevant UK individual’. This generally means you have earnings chargeable to UK income tax for that particular tax year, or were resident in the UK at some time during the five tax years before the contributions are paid. As a ‘relevant UK individual’ you may be able to contribute up to a total of 100% of your relevant UK earnings or £3,600 (gross) if higher each tax year.
Are you able to, or have you been paying voluntary NIC? From a planning perspective, this should form the core of sensible planning, we can all speculate what may or may not happen to the basic state pension in the future of course, but it's still there at the heart of things.
https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-if-you-go-ab...
Assuming that you can benefit from tax relief, assuming that a pension is right for you, which one? In 95% of all cases, as someone 30 years or so from retirement, you will probably want the cheapest, you probably won't benefit from exotic functionality, although of course, you might because I say that taking your post at face value.
Finally, have a read of this tech sheet below. It might allow you to sift through what info you might need to provide if you want a further steer. Finally, if you have a partner, remember that he or she can benefit from contributing too, if he/she is supporting your secondment. And finally, again, are you paying National Insurance Contributions, or equiv, to your host country?
http://www.aviva-for-advisers.co.uk/adviser/site/p...
You'll get a plethora of advice I'm sure. Be mindful to sift between guidance that's best for you and what may have worked for someone else. Once you have the technical analysis, the question about whether to save for a home and/or a pension and/or in what amounts becomes more relevant. Good luck.
You refer to a pre existing pension so you might meet the HMRC definition of a ‘relevant UK individual’. This generally means you have earnings chargeable to UK income tax for that particular tax year, or were resident in the UK at some time during the five tax years before the contributions are paid. As a ‘relevant UK individual’ you may be able to contribute up to a total of 100% of your relevant UK earnings or £3,600 (gross) if higher each tax year.
Are you able to, or have you been paying voluntary NIC? From a planning perspective, this should form the core of sensible planning, we can all speculate what may or may not happen to the basic state pension in the future of course, but it's still there at the heart of things.
https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-if-you-go-ab...
Assuming that you can benefit from tax relief, assuming that a pension is right for you, which one? In 95% of all cases, as someone 30 years or so from retirement, you will probably want the cheapest, you probably won't benefit from exotic functionality, although of course, you might because I say that taking your post at face value.
Finally, have a read of this tech sheet below. It might allow you to sift through what info you might need to provide if you want a further steer. Finally, if you have a partner, remember that he or she can benefit from contributing too, if he/she is supporting your secondment. And finally, again, are you paying National Insurance Contributions, or equiv, to your host country?
http://www.aviva-for-advisers.co.uk/adviser/site/p...
You'll get a plethora of advice I'm sure. Be mindful to sift between guidance that's best for you and what may have worked for someone else. Once you have the technical analysis, the question about whether to save for a home and/or a pension and/or in what amounts becomes more relevant. Good luck.
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