Do you have a pension?

sbsquarepants

Ace2007 wrote: »

For the record, I've never claimed them to be a "sure fine winner", I merely said the more you put in the more you get out.
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That's true but only purely semantically - if you put more money into your pension, you will get more money out of it than if you put less in. But the guy sitting next to you can very easily put in less and get out more, or put in more and get out less.

You just don't have the control you think you have. Yes you can opt for higher risk, lower risk, etc even for "zero risk" now there's a misnomer for a start!
But for your pension to do well what you really need, at least as much as anything else, is good old fashioned impossible to control luck.
You have to time it right and you have get the rub of the green along the way, you'll have to be lucky with the company you choose, the boom and bust cycle, the government of the day, the impact of world events and so on and so forth - and you'll only know towards the very end of the road, if all those things have fallen favourably for you or not.

sbsquarepants

sbsquarepants wrote: »

But for your pension to do well what you really need, at least as much as anything else, is good old fashioned impossible to control luck.
You have to time it right and you have get the rub of the green along the way, you'll have to be lucky with the company you choose, the boom and bust cycle, the government of the day, the impact of world events and so on and so forth - and you'll only know towards the very end of the road, if all those things have fallen favourably for you or not.

What alternative is not dependant on the above, at least the pension takes advantage of tax relief so you are gaining on that alone. Unless you are suggesting putting your head in the sand and then arrive at retirement with no planning and who wants that? Having a good pension on retirement is massive for your quality of life, even better if you can retire early. I know of a few people who retired recently and have pensions paying them close to (or above in some cases) the average industrial wage per anum, the freedom and security that gives in retirement is massive.

Pensions are far more secure than you are claiming also imo.

Ace2007

sbsquarepants wrote: »

That's true but only purely semantically - if you put more money into your pension, you will get more money out of it than if you put less in. But the guy sitting next to you can very easily put in less and get out more, or put in more and get out less.

You just don't have the control you think you have. Yes you can opt for higher risk, lower risk, etc even for "zero risk" now there's a misnomer for a start!
But for your pension to do well what you really need, at least as much as anything else, is good old fashioned impossible to control luck.
You have to time it right and you have get the rub of the green along the way, you'll have to be lucky with the company you choose, the boom and bust cycle, the government of the day, the impact of world events and so on and so forth - and you'll only know towards the very end of the road, if all those things have fallen favourably for you or not.

Isn't that pretty much the same as life? you could be a fit as a fiddle and drop dead before the lad beside you who smokes 40 a day?

Health Insurance - you could have it all your life and pay a fortune and never use it, guy beside you could not have any never need to.

At the end of the day, private sector employees need to look out for themselves - no one else is going to do it for them - least of all the government as they have the DB pensions.

BarryD2

sbsquarepants wrote: »

You have to time it right and you have get the rub of the green along the way, you'll have to be lucky with the company you choose, the boom and bust cycle, the government of the day, the impact of world events and so on and so forth - and you'll only know towards the very end of the road, if all those things have fallen favourably for you or not.

I guess the only real certainty concerning private pension schemes is that the lads & lassies who run them, will do OK.

BronsonTB

Oaklynn Brief Plasterboard wrote: »

Ok, that a bit different to the norm so. I don't have an answer for you on how you claim the tax relief so.

For anyone else who has a non-standard PRSA. In order to claim the tax relief you need to update Revenue with the details of the pension(online or your local tax office) & they will update your tax credits.

sbsquarepants

Ace2007 wrote: »

At the end of the day, private sector employees need to look out for themselves - no one else is going to do it for them - least of all the government as they have the DB pensions.

On this we certainly do agree!

_Kaiser_

Had/have 2 from previous jobs/companies. Currently can't afford to be contributing to the one in here (which isn't great anyway)

I don't see myself being able to retire anyway to be honest.

Creative83

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Had/have 2 from previous jobs/companies. Currently can't afford to be contributing to the one in here (which isn't great anyway)

I don't see myself being able to retire anyway to be honest.

I don't think most do to be honest... it's almost impossible for anyone to contribute with ridiculous rents