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Whats your private pension fund worth?

BrokenArrows

I started my pension early, but then didn't contribute for about 5 years after moving to the UK which was a big mistake i think, basically threw away free money that my company would have given me.

I'm 31 and my current private pension fund is worth about 35% of my annual salary.

Whats your pension worth as a % of your annual salary and what age are you?

Just trying to get an idea about how far behind the curve i am.

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Sugar Free

PaddyWilliams wrote: »

You'd have to imagine that it's 25% of his contributions? 11% is the highest I've ever heard of. Or maybe he works for the Rothschilds or the Illiuminati?! :pac::pac:

I'm pretty the sure the poster who mentioned this 25% lives in Germany, in case that changes things. Nice deal if it's 25% of his annual salary rather than 25% of his own contributions.

PaddyWilliams

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

25% ?

I thought the only employer that pays that sort of pension contribution to his employees is the private sector tax payer.

You'd have to imagine that it's 25% of his contributions? 11% is the highest I've ever heard of. Or maybe he works for the Rothschilds or the Illiuminati?! :pac::pac:

The Rape of Lucretia

RedXIV wrote: »

25% is definitely better than average. I'm in IT and I thought I was doing well with 7%

25% ?

I thought the only employer that pays that sort of pension contribution to his employees is the private sector tax payer.

endacl

My training is my pension. I can do it sitting in a comfy chair and by the time I'm at 'retirement age' (daft notion), I'll be in a position due to longevity and experience to charge a very hefty fee per hour. I can do an hour a week, or 40 hours. Or anything in between. I like what I do. It's never felt like work. So, barring dementia, in which case I won't give a damn anyway, my work is my pension.

Also, I will have a teaching pension from the best paid part time job in the world. I'm aiming to up contributions and max this out well before retirement age, leaving the option to retire early from my 'job', and focus on my 'work'.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

ThinkProgress wrote: »

They should call pensions what they actually are: "the waiting for death fund..."

Or better yet, perhaps: "The green mile fund"

I wonder how many people actually retire and have the time of their life?

I don't see any of them around. Maybe they live on sandy beaches far away? :P

I just see a lot of worn out people, who spent their lives being stressed, overworked and unhappy. Now they seem to remain stuck that way... I think the idea of a great retirement is more fantasy than reality for the majority.

Once you uncoil that spring, I think a lot of things start to unravel. In prison they call it being "institutionalized"...

In most professions, in order to play the game well, you must become institutionalized. The system chews you up... and by the time it spits you out, you're a busted flush! An empty vessel. Sounds very harsh, but that's mostly what I see!

But maybe I'm just missing all these happy retirees!

That's utter tosh. There are many many happily, gainfully retired people. A decent pension allows is have a few holidays a year, change the car every couple of years, eat out often, enjoy hobbies and family, and life life to the full. It's far from waiting for death, it's having a ball.

freedominacup

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Totally agree.

My employer matches me to 6%. Almost worst case scenario im making around 100% interest per year, worse case scenario im making 90% interest. Even if the government were to go mad and decide to dip into private pension funds you are still making a **** lot more than depositing that money into a normal savings fund.

And since they money you contribute is before tax every 100 you put into the pension in reality is around 160 (if you are in the 40% bracket).

What are the charges? What rate of return are you getting? I constantly hear figures of up to two years contributions disappearing in fees and charges when people take out pensions first. They're not behind the door about charging after this either.

Imo in order to describe a product as a pension the company supplying it should be in a position to underwrite the capital being invested in the product. Customers should have the option to capitalise any gains once every five years. And finally fees and charges should only be charged on profits which would be defined as a return greater than the rate of inflation in the year the return was made. The pension companies would scream blue murder though I don't see why as they all spend fortunes claiming to be the mutts nuts when it comes to delivering returns to their customers. There should be plenty of profit to levy charges against. The returns on funds that had to provide this level of security would obviously be very low but then again thousands of people in their late sixties and early seventieswho diligently put money into pension funds would have been far better off putting the money under a matress. They were completely wiped out from 2008-2010.

If companies want to offer funds with more dynamic management and higher potential returns (and losses) they can describe them as something else. Subject to the same rules and tax reliefs but at least people with limited knowledge of investment markets won't be working on the assumption that their pension is necessarily secure investing in such funds.

ThinkProgress

They should call pensions what they actually are: "the waiting for death fund..."

Or better yet, perhaps: "The green mile fund"

I wonder how many people actually retire and have the time of their life?

I don't see any of them around. Maybe they live on sandy beaches far away? :P

I just see a lot of worn out people, who spent their lives being stressed, overworked and unhappy. Now they seem to remain stuck that way... I think the idea of a great retirement is more fantasy than reality for the majority.

Once you uncoil that spring, I think a lot of things start to unravel. In prison they call it being "institutionalized"...

In most professions, in order to play the game well, you must become institutionalized. The system chews you up... and by the time it spits you out, you're a busted flush! An empty vessel. Sounds very harsh, but that's mostly what I see!

But maybe I'm just missing all these happy retirees!

Sam Kade

CFlat wrote: »

If you started a thread on Boards about 'what are your favourite sweets' someone would say they can't afford sweets because of the USC or some other such drivel. Sad really.

Anyway I'm similar to a few here. Paid a fair bit in during the CT but when everything went up in smoke that all ended. Only really getting back on my feet now and badly need to start contributing again. I think there's about 20K in mine which is very worrying for a middle aged man.

Ill probably also end up working till I'm 70(if I can and I'm allowed).

But can you still afford sweets? :rolleyes:

Galwayguy35

Rory Victorious Sandalwood wrote: »

I paid in for 30+ years, as did my employer. Retired in my early 50s with a six figure lump sum. Currently on a pension of 50k+ per year. Best investment I ever made.

This is how it should be done, retire early and have enough money to enjoy life.

Unfortunately for me it's looking like I will have to work until 68.

I'm paying 100 a month into a pension but only started it when I turned 40.

ongarboy

I've heard more than one recent retiree who had 6 figure pension funds accumulated now finding that they only receive a paltry 90 or 100 euro a month from it and they're disgusted. Not sure how it all works out but that seems like a raw deal.

Others I know had defined benefit schemes which went bust and their so called gauranteed retirement funds were wiped out.

I have 12 years of a DB scheme accumulated that looks good on paper now but god knows what it will be worth when I retire in the 2040s if it hasn't already been cleaned out. It seems that only public sector employees have truly gold plated non contributory pensions that will not be affected by market influences (compliments of us...the taxpayer).

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

The Backwards Man wrote: »

You can't burn ks on a cold winter's night though.

No, but my coal and turf supplier accepts them as barter.

The Backwards Man

Rory Victorious Sandalwood wrote: »

I paid in for 30+ years, as did my employer. Retired in my early 50s with a six figure lump sum. Currently on a pension of 50k+ per year. Best investment I ever made.

You can't burn ks on a cold winter's night though.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I paid in for 30+ years, as did my employer. Retired in my early 50s with a six figure lump sum. Currently on a pension of 50k+ per year. Best investment I ever made.

zl1whqvjs75cdy

I do worry about the government effectively stealing from us to bail out thosw without a pension. I'd be tempted to invest in property instead but sure that went tits up too. There's no good option, only a least bad one. I'm also toying with the idea of stopping my avcs and paying down my impending mortgage as fast as possible to save on interest.

MeatTwoVeg

hmmm wrote:

Been putting 15%+ in since the day I started working, and have built up a hefty pot. Made a killing around 2008/2009 because thankfully I held my nerve (and my job) and kept putting money in. Big fear is that some lefty government decides to steal it and hand it over to the "disadvantaged".

Make no mistake this is a very real risk.
The current situation of funding state pensions through current expenditure is unsustainable given our demographics and rising life expectancy.
A 'Paul Murphy' type politician will start to make noises about the 'unfairness' of it all. The prudent, such as yourself, will be portrayed as greedy fatcats, and the handout brigade will demand something be done to correct this injustice.

The day in 2011, when the Govt. decided to raid our funds is a day of infamy and sets a dangerous precedent. We should have blocked the streets of Dublin until they returned our money, but we were too busy working and paying the bills for everything else.

BrokenArrows

mark_jmc wrote: »

age 38, currently have approx. €100k- increased my own pension contributions to 15% at the start of this year employer pays 8%

Ya i really want to bump up my contributions. Currently its at 6% and employer matches 6%.

Looking for a new job at the moment and if i get the money im asking for then ill put it up to 10% or more if the company matches more.

BrokenArrows

BraveDonut wrote: »

I'm in a company plan, so:

contribute max amount
to get
max company contribution
and to get
max tax benefit

I also added AVCs.

48 now and have been managing my pension since I was 25.
I plan to be comfortable and to enjoy retirement. If I drop dead at 65, well I won't really care about that then.

It amazes me how many people adopt a 'head in the sand' attitude to this or "because gubberment".

Totally agree.

My employer matches me to 6%. Almost worst case scenario im making around 100% interest per year, worse case scenario im making 90% interest. Even if the government were to go mad and decide to dip into private pension funds you are still making a **** lot more than depositing that money into a normal savings fund.

And since they money you contribute is before tax every 100 you put into the pension in reality is around 160 (if you are in the 40% bracket).

mark_jmc

age 38, currently have approx. €100k- increased my own pension contributions to 15% at the start of this year employer pays 8%

BrokenArrows

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

25 % is ****ing monstrous, never mind better than average. I get 4.......

I dont think any employer is giving 25% of their salary.

Im assuming his employer is giving him 25% of whatever he puts in.
So he contributes 100 his employer gives him 25.

highgiant1985

ted1 wrote: »

Don't forget that st the moment you get 12k from the state so between that and having a mortgage cleared you will have more than you think

With the predicted age demographic in Ireland I won't be holding my breath for any stage pension by the time I reach retirement age. You are right about hopefully having t he mortgage cleared which will help though meaning less out going expenses.

ted1

highgiant1985 wrote: »

I'm 31 and currently paying 15% of my salary in each period. Current pension pot is 56.66% of my current annual salary. What's depressing is it buys feck all of a pension. To have what I consider a decent pension you need a pot of 400k plus minimum.

Don't forget that st the moment you get 12k from the state so between that and having a mortgage cleared you will have more than you think

hmmm

Been putting 15%+ in since the day I started working, and have built up a hefty pot. Made a killing around 2008/2009 because thankfully I held my nerve (and my job) and kept putting money in. Big fear is that some lefty government decides to steal it and hand it over to the "disadvantaged".

Speedwell

I'm 50 and have managed to save about $135K (yes, USD). Whatever US Social Security benefits I'm entitled to will transfer to Ireland by treaty, but I don't know how that works. I'm not saving anything at the moment because I am paid about half what my job is worth (working for a close friend who hired me when another job offer fell through even though he couldn't afford to pay me very much).

Edit: The money is in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). I'm legally forbidden from withdrawing the money without huge penalties before retirement age except for four or five reasons, none of which apply to me because (to keep it simple) I don't live, work, own a home, or go to university in the US. Interestingly I can use it as "collateral" of a sort to prove to the UK that I have the required funds to qualify to get a residency visa as the wife of a UK citizen (actually a UK/Irish dual citizen, but it counts), if we ever decide to do that.

highgiant1985

I'm 31 and currently paying 15% of my salary in each period. Current pension pot is 56.66% of my current annual salary. What's depressing is it buys feck all of a pension. To have what I consider a decent pension you need a pot of 400k plus minimum.

highgiant1985

RedXIV wrote: »

25% is definitely better than average. I'm in IT and I thought I was doing well with 7%

yeah anything over 5% is pretty good tbh from what I've seen.

kal7

I try to put in 20%.

I am 43yr

Current pot is 3x salary.

Reg'stoy

47 married no kids, mortgage paid off, no credit card debt, cars bought and paid for, so no personal debt what so ever. Took early retirement on a €23,000 a year pension, have about €100,000 in savings.
Pension is about €380 a week after tax so plenty (for me) to live on considering no mortgage. Herself has a small business from home which pays her €800+- a month, her private pension is currently valued at €120,000.
We're in a great position, granted we won't be taking a cruise every year but considering what some people work for per week I'm not going to complain.

I took early retirement because I could, too many people either can't or are afraid to. I do voluntary work now, again because I can.

My advise would be if possible; retire early if you are in a position to. I'm lucky and I know some just can't but if you can; do.

zl1whqvjs75cdy

RedXIV wrote: »

25% is definitely better than average. I'm in IT and I thought I was doing well with 7%

25 % is ****ing monstrous, never mind better than average. I get 4.......

Greyian

highgiant1985 wrote: »

25% er contribution :O.... what industry are you in if you don't mind me asking!

I'm asking as I'm in the software industry and our company is only giving 3% so 22% extra is massive.

RedXIV wrote: »

25% is definitely better than average. I'm in IT and I thought I was doing well with 7%

25% would be absolutely amazing, though it is possible he means they contribute 25% of whatever he puts in (every €4 he puts in, they put in €1).

kowloon

My plan is to die before the shaky future I've built crashes down on top of me.