Here is the link to the pension sheet: I will continue to add to this with other providers and funds I have missed so just comment below anything you think i have missed off please. financialinterest.com/pension-provider-cheat-sheet/ you will need to provide an email so we can send it to you.
Damien, would you make a video about public sector pension schemes such as explaining the Police CARE 2015 scheme? We have high contributions compared to the private sector and it would be good to get your thoughts. I’m told other emergency services, NHS and military all have similar schemes so may make a useful video for all. Cheers
I'm currently rocking the Global Technology Fund W-Acc-GBP. Its very pricey, but has great consistent returns. I like that is isn't all USA, its not full of sectors that do nothing like agriculture and I like having firms like TSMC and Samsung that you don't get with S&P500. Its volatile but pensions are meant to be fun, right?
Hi Damien Great video, I noticed my pension was underperforming when I started investing in 2020 and since then I have had great returns after changing from the default option. I think its worth pointing out that the peoples pension has a management charge rebate for balances over £3000. Here is the bands for the rebate and percentage: For the part of your savings: up to £3,000, no rebate is given over £3,000 and up to £10,000, we’ll give back 0.1% over £10,000 and up to £25,000, we’ll give back 0.2% over £25,000 and up to £50,000, we’ll give back 0.25% over £50,000, we’ll give back 0.3%.
I am lucky to get at 10% match with my current employer and I have my investments going into 100% equities. Prior to that I worked for a different company for 8 years contributing the minimum 5% and leaving it in the default fund. Since I consolidated my pensions, upped the contributions and optimised the allocation to grow I have increased the value of my pension by 400%. This is the best thing you can do for your long term financial future. Great video Damien, everyone should be paying attention to this 👍
Great comment. I’m in a similar position, 10% of my overall income is matched and I’m actually paying more than that in myself through salary sacrifice. Couldn’t agree more about changing funds. If only I’d have done it sooner…
A lot of RUclipsrs talk about "empowering" people, but you genuinely do, Damo! I'm in my 60s, and if you'd been around even just 20-odd years ago I'd be retired by now. By following your advice just over the past couple of years, I've substantially improved my financial security. Thank you for showing us so clearly how to make sense of things, and for making it so entertaining that I almost don't notice how much I'm learning from every minute of your podcasts.
I feel the same, but I'm 20 years younger than you! If someone had explained all this to me in my 20's, I'd be a millionaire by now through better pension and investment decisions. Better late than never I guess. My mission now it to make sure my kids understand the power of compounding.
@@SomeoneSmarter Better in your 40s then 60s. Even more valuable is educating the next gen incl teaching and encouraging them to seek out info, ask questions, educate themselves. My dad always said never take anyone’s word even mine and think for yourself. Best gift you can give.
Very much agree! I’m 59, becoming very focussed on how to fund retirement. Took out a small pension when I was 30. Gradually increased contributions, but also have a small defined benefit pension, full state pension, and now several isas and other investments. Wish I’d been more proactive years ago, but actually feeling very empowered by all the excellent information out there. Also, years ago we couldn’t just get a Vanguard app and start investing! It was all much more complicated 😂
Hi Damien, thanks for the video! I’m an NHS employee, so my pension is ‘defined benefit’ and works slightly differently to ‘defined contribution’ pensions seen in the private sector. Would be great if you did a video on how defined benefit pensions work, as I’m sure there are plenty of public service workers who watch your channel :) cheers!
DB is gold and you are lucky to have it... none of the private sector employees get it now, my father had a DB pension and since his passing away in 2019 its still being paid to my mum , no worry about money running out ever
Your DB pension is calculated through your average salary or through the years there or your final salary are calculators to help you. It is excluded from investment so it’s solely based on your service. They are very rare now and you will get payment until you die once calculated.
If you have the option to pay into an AVC on top of your DB pension then this will apply. I’m an LGPS employee, but the AVC is with Prudential and you encounter all these default schemes and high fees that you need to check out and change if needed.
My old scheme was DB. The main catch a lot of us retirees got burned with is the yearly payout increases are discretionary and in no way match the rate of inflation. If you’re looking forward to a long retirement don’t bank on the true value of the pension staying adequate.
I took the furlough time I had during the pandemic to take a deep dive in how my pension pots are invested and ended up switching 90% of the allocations. Let me tell you they do not make it easy! The available alternative funds were burried in lists that were hard to filter I can easily see how the average person would be completely lost! But I stuck with it, took me weeks but I think I chose the best of the bunch for my risk preference. The guy from Aegon I was on the phone with when changing allocations even asked if I worked in finance when I gave him the exact code of the fund I wanted to switch to😂😂 No mate Im just a determined millennial with time on my hands!
@@NTL578 With Aegon too. I've been switching mine from the default fund. Its performance has been demoralising shocking! Will now be paying into 75% S&P 500 (ISIN: GB00BMN91T34) and 25% Tech (ISIN: GB00B629ZJ09, closest to QQQ I could find). Currently searching for a SIPP where I can buy individual equities. Interactive Investor looks promising, but I cant seem to find info on Aegon about how to transfer and whether my employer match will be maintained once the transfer is complete.
I'm with Aegon as well and agree with you. Almost too many funds to choose from but there are decent funds to select if like you, you put in the time and effort.
Began my first job out of college in September. Including my employers match I’m putting 12% of my salary away for my pension. The tax incentives are too good to pass up here in Ireland. I’m 26 and I’m happy I’ve educated myself enough to do this. Videos like yours Damo are making a difference. Keep it up brother 🙏
I'm hoping this is leading to a series where you cover many aspects of pensions including best SIPPs and their costs, what your options are once you retire and is taking your tax free cash allways a good idea 🙏
Salary sacrifice into SIPP is the best way to get money in and withdrawing the tax free cash can be a bad idea as it can put you into a higher rate of tax when you withdraw later on if you plan to take out larger amounts in retirement
@@beartybollocks7782 but what SIPP? Every March/April we get the ISA providers review (not just Damo but most UK creators) but for the arguably more important pension I've yet to see one
Hi, I did that and invested in stocks and shares ISA. Pension now paying out and going up yearly, should be back to full value by state retirement age. Still have a SIPP and using that to the best I can. Using ISA’s to save in will be the next thing to do when I can. Take care M.
Superb video! I've been telling the young members of staff in my workplace about changing out of the default pension fund (the default fund has sovereigns, corporate bonds, 30% equity - an absolute horror show for young people). Am now using this video now to help, as it really is spot on. Well done, and you have another subscriber.
I work in the pension industry, just to point out if a member got in touch and asked what funds meet their risk profile, I wouldn't provide a tailored response as this would constitute financial advice. I would provide the fund factsheets and direct the member to speak to a qualified financial adviser.
Thanks for clarifying So if someone called and said ‘send me a list of all your global funds with 100% equity exposure’ you wouldn’t provide this info?
@@DamienTalksMoney I’m guessing no based on experience of others in past when I advised similar. As commenter said just fund fact sheet/s. Why not overall asset allocation: equity and fixed incl % domestic, US, Global/Int’l and ideally EMs? They have the data.
Will a qualified financial advisor ever tell you that self-investing is a valid choice when it means they could be sued or lose their licence for giving bad advice?
I’m glad to see this topic covered. I recently looked at my auto enroll pension having gone through years of not giving it any thought at all. At the age of 30 I had a something of an epiphany when I realised that A) left to its own devices there’s a good chance I’ll have to work into my 70’s and B) I have an opportunity now to take a bit of control and do things to ultimately retire earlier and hopefully have more time to enjoy life. So I’ve opted for the high risk profile, and with my annual pay rise next month I have significantly increased my contribution and plan to keep doing so every pay or promotion rise I get, basically to contribute as much as I can afford.
One of the most important videos i've watched. I'm on my auto-enrolled pension with nest, and after this video looked into the different fund options. Have now switched to the highest risk fund - the sharia fund, which has performed 3x the others (apart from the low risk option) over 5 years and roughly 2x the others since release. Thank you
Funny you should say that - I did my research and like you went with the Sharia options for a third of my portfolio- it’s hands down out performing the other 2! Also, not sure if you get the option, but Vanguard manage their Funds well
Absolute gold again Damien. I consolidated my pensions with 4 providers into MyAviva 2 years ago and set myself up with a low cost global index fund for the balance and new deposits and I was shocked at the lower returns and cost of the default fund
@@owenbigwood2246 weird can’t see that listed as an option on mine. I seem to have Blackrock global ex UK (which I’ve opted for) or a UK-only one. The black rock global was the closest I could find to a global equity tracker so went with that early last year.
@@lileli7177 we are indeed. Avoiding a default lifestyle fund and adopting an equity based index fund was my approach to achieving that. Your goals Might be different but I’m in my 30s and having an equity backed portfolio for a global index works for me
To whom it may benefit. I have a SIPP with Vanguard for their 100% Equities fund. Every time I leave a job I transfer whatever is in my workplace pension into that SIPP / fund. And lastly, I make sure to switch my default workplace pension fund over to 100% a world equities fund. For context, I’m 35 years old.
this should be mandatory education in schools... seriously, it can be covered in 1-2 hours (maybe even have the students actually start a pot as part of it)? but has a huge impact and then it should be a standardised part of induction to any workplace... just like all those health and safety mini courses it really sucks to finally understand these things when you're 30+ and find you're already behind and need to play catchup on the past ~10 years
They don't want financially savvy people, they want mindless consumers. After all, if everyone was financially aware, the economy would suffer because we would be spend more on investing than Gucci handbags. They don't want that.
Perhaps not just schools but also workplaces - many companies organize workshops and "online sessions with pension providers". There is also a taboo topic about pensions - I've heard colleagues saying they don't go to these as they think is a waste of time...
@@lucho1844 yes i did say that, but we’re in agreement Basically the point is that there should be multiple points in life where this is brought up to make sure you understand it even if you miss it in school or at your first job… etc
In the late 90's my high school had a branch of HSBC on the school site in an old classroom, which was run mainly by students and would open at break times so we could do small deposits and withdrawals without leaving the property - but even with this close partnership between our school and a large bank, we still got zero financial education from anyone, other than a few leaflets about junior savings accounts that would be left on our desks from time to time.
Amazing video Damo, I'm training to become a financial coach to help people with exactly this type of thing rather than sleep walking into retirement and 'hoping' everything will be ok. Thanks for getting the message out there, so many people just don't realise what's going on. Would love it if you could add Scottish Widows and Royal London to the list mate. The hands gag had me in stiches, even got the missus in to watch it!!
I have an NHS pension (defined benefit scheme) to which I pay about £400 a month. I receive a pension statement each year but to be honest I don't really understand it as it's full of jargon and what not. All I understand is that once I retire I will receive a guaranteed income every year for the rest of my life.
Its likely you can also purchase additional pension credits (APCs) look into those as an option - DB schemes are few and far between make hay while the sun shines!
I was today years old when I found out how pensions work thanks to you lol. So thankful for your channel because I'm learning a lot, your content is super helpful! Will definitely be checking my workplace pension after this video!
Thank you, been looking at my people's pension for a while now and its peforming so badly. Already maxed out my matched contribution. Done my research and will definitely be switching to the options as recommended so eloquently by your good self. Got 23 years to retirement, so feel confident in the change.
This is a great video, I was talking to my partner about making changes to my pension recently and the information you keep passing out gives me significantly more confidence that I'm doing the right thing. Thanks for the hand ✋
I really, really like this guy and uniquely I trust what he says. He puts across a difficult subject in a way that I can understand. Considering pensions affect everyone, I'm amazed how complicated the industry have made it. I love your videos and watch every single one as I approach 63 in full time employment but keen to retire. Thank you so much for your efforts.
Another great video, am 21 and been watching since I finished uni and started part time work you’ve helped me with my finances so much and made me feel so much more confident about bettering my future. I opted-in to the pension sheet but am still waiting on the document, my provider is also Legal and General if that’s not on there already!
Automatic pensions with loads of bonds in has honestly pointlessly destroyed a huge portion of wealth 😢 Mine was 33% automatically (working at age 23), so I mkved mine to all equities, but lots of people won't do that or do it too late solely due to lack if knowledge.
And who in their 20s cares about bonds...let's be real, those should no more than balance your equity portfolio. I'd say there are plenty of ETFs that can reduce your risk exposure if you are very risk averse.
Great video! I switched my two workplace pension funds a few months ago into funds that best replicated the global stock market. It’s surprising how safe the default funds really are.
Hey Damien, you have not included NHS pension provider NHSBSA collects from all NHS employees. would love to have one video specifically for NHS staff. Its so confusing the way they work out pension for us. Much appreciated for your informative content.
I just recently moved all my work place pensions to a vanguard sipp in funds I wanted, not my provider. Best thing I did last year. In just three months I've already noticed on the return. Great video Damien!
You are an awesome dude on RUclips. This video is over 38k in 8 hours. Well done to you and the new format looks good. I am glad I have found you! You helped me and my family massively. Thanks again Damien! Awesome work! 🍻🖖
This is what they should be teaching in schools. Not rock formations and who won a battle in the 1600’s. I wish I’d been taught how to invest properly for my future. How to build a good credit score. How to manage debt. What tax rules are and how they impact me.
Only started paying attention to my pension 3 years ago when I was getting divorced and I was asked for my pension value for the financial settlement. It was then when I realised I only had £10k in it after 10 years of working for my employer (I suppose getting divorced has it’s pros as well) Looked into it and unbeknownst to me my employer was offering to match up to 6% (if I contribute 6% they match it with 12%) Why do companies not let their employees know about these perks???? Obviously as soon as my divorce finalised I maxed out on it and I now have £25k in. Still not sure I’m on track as I am 38…
Don't panic! You're on the right track, the fact you're taking an active interest in your pension in your 30's is a positive. As your wage increases into your 40' and 50's and your contributions increase, that's when the magic happens, compound interest is a wonderful thing 👍
Don't worry, if you are not sure, Please check Hargreaves and Lansdowne (H&L) pension calculator to work how much your pension will be at your chosen retirement time, As a thumb rule - you need 60% of your after tax income to maintain your current life style at retirement providing your mortgage is paid off. hope that helps
Your videos are always the best💯 I do receive a notification each time you post a new video.. We'll have regrets for things we did not participate in...Investment should always be on any creative man's heart for success in life.
I agree with you and I believe that the secret to financial stability is having the right investment ideas to enable you earn more money, investing with the right expert would free you from modern financial slavery.
Nice one mate!. Regardless of how bad it gets on the economy, I still make over 19k every single week. Thanks to Fergus Waylen for keepin me financially Educated!
Great video, I once had a job which provided a Nest pension so I did some reading. Apparently the 1.8% contribution charge was levied to repay the loans taken out to establish the scheme. I also found out the hard way about employers not necessarily paying in 3% of the full salary. I hope this message spreads far and wide so employees have an idea how their pension works.
I needed this video thank you. I have about 8 pensions with 5 different providers and all of them are just on the default path. I seriously need to take a more active approach towards the plans. I also need to possibly consolidate some of these schemes, especially where I have more than one pension with the same provider. One thing I will add, is that during my career, I have not had the luxury of going beyond minimum contributions at times, when I was on low pay but had high rent, when my wife went on unpaid maternity leave, when childcare costs were more than double my mortgage, when my wife was made redundant and had to spend a year, as a student (not entitled to any money) re training at her expense. But I am lucky enough to have been able to up my contributions at other times. Sadly, the cost of living is so high and salaries are not catching up, that many people simply can't afford to lose the income to a pension contribution beyond the minimum. Yes, it pays back long term, but it doesn't keep a roof over your head or feed your family today 😢 I look forward to your further videos on the subject as I start to try and manage my pensions a little better. Thank you.
I wish I could believe that this advice is all you need to ensure a secure future. I don't think it's bad advice, I just think it doesn't touch the sides of the real problem.
I work for an auto enrollment pension scheme, one of the schemes you displayed. I'm looking forward to some calls tomorrow off the back of this video 👍
Damo thank you so much, because of you I have started investing. I was in the army and now working for NHS so get a good work pension. But I have a weekly direct debit set up weekly with Moneybox split between a sipp, isa, simple save and Jisa for children. I’m just loving the set and forget approach. My wife started watching you (and your weird shaped hands and fading hairline, but she still talks about you more than me to her friends) and now she invests weekly with plum. Another set and forgot. I’m 35 years time when we are set in retirement I will shake your odd shaped hands
Great video as ever Damien. Lucky in that I didn't learn anything new as I've been playing a much closer eye to my own pension over the past few years as I managed to dodge a couple of rounds of redundancy but I saw it as a signal to get myself to a position where it wouldn't be a disaster if it was 'third time unlucky'. I was a late starter as I had nothing at 36 due to remaining in a low paying job due to loyalty to my small employer. Then I changed to an established employer in a new industry with a good pension plan in place and from 36 to now at just over 50 I've managed to get myself to a £175k pot from an average salary. Small compared to some I expect but I know I'll be happy living a very frugal retirement and the roof over my head is already secure so I think I'm in a good place should the worst happen. But it's amazing how many of my colleagues know nothing about the ways and workings of a pension and I'm doing my best to educate them with the type of thing you discuss here. Keep up the good work.
Great timing, I'm 48 and I've been looking at my Royal London company pension this week, it's on the default balanced fund and I would like to increase the risk profile. It gives options based on risk numbered 1-6 but with little info on each option. Could you please add this to your document. It would be a massive help. Keep up the good work.
My employer pension scheme was also with royal London, which at least in my case is kind of limited to choosing to pay into royal London funds. Though my employer are moving providers again to aviva. If they supported paying directly to my SIPP I would do that.
Last year upped my contributions to 28% which with a company match of 12% and a moving funds into an equities based world tracker has seen my pot grow nicely. Upping to that level brings me back into basic tax territory and I’m able to continue pushing through into easy access savings and S&S ISA so feel like I’m doing everything I can to minimise tax and maximise current and future savings. Would still welcome another salary bump though…
How has your selected pension fund performed over the last 10 years? Was the average return better or worse than say ISHARES VII PLC NASDAQ 100 UCITS ETF USD ACC? Have you looked at the two scenarios where you put the same amount you’re investing into your pension (net of tax) into a stocks and shares ISA and manage the investment choice yourself?
I was not aware of the option to increase the pension contribution till few months ago, thanks to another video from Damien. Since then, i maximised to 9% (top of what my employer offers). I have also set up a private pension pot through a wealth management group, where i am paying money every month. I have also asked them to collect the contributions i payed to the providers of my previous employers, to have everything invested together. I changed few companies in the past years and they all seems to use a different provider. The fund i choosed to invest in was an adventurous one, and actually i am due to a review call with the manager soon. Again, thank you Damien for your great work
I couldn't stop laughing at the hands gag all the way through - excellent vid again! On a more serious note - I think workplace pensions are great in concept, but totally agree that people don't dig into them, when most people see them, I think they just assume that will look after them to the same level they've seen older generations with a final salary scheme live. A few hours to learn about your pension can make you £thousands extra by the time you retire.
Cheers for all the in-depth advice Damien! I'm self employed, running a limited company. About 5 years ago I realised I didn't have anything set up for pension, it hadn't even crossed my mind. I got started up with Pension Bee and it's been a breeze so far. I'm able to send contributions straight from my company so it's tax-friendly, and I can (to an extent) control how much risk I want. I'm young enough so I'm going for high risk. When I hit 40 maybe I'll turn it down to a safer plan.
A complex answer as it depends entirely depends on how you structure your self employment. If you are a limited company you can save the corporation tax and any potential income/dividend tax. If a sole trader then you can save your taxation rate and potentially reduce your tax bracket to claim tax free childcare, or child benefit (if your income forces you outside of that bracket currently). It's something you have to consider - do you want to get a big boost to your investment now and start the compounding effect with that boost, or do you want to pay a rate of tax now and save into an ISA to have access to all of the money without tax later.. generally the SIpP can win out especially with a longer time horizon and there are ways to save tax later e.g Using your 25% on withdrawals regular and crystallising chunks of your pension to take more tax free cash. As with all these things, it depends.. looking back I should have started my pension earlier, though! (I was self employed)
A pension, like an ISA, is a tax wrapper in which you hold your investments. So, if you open a pension, you are likely investing (unless left in cash to lose to inflation). For retirement planning, pensions are a good option, boosting what you put in by 25% (non tax payer or basic). Even paying 20% on withdrawals later mean it's 6.25% better than an ISA's contributions. Ultimately, all us self-ployed people (and everyone else) need to know how we'll fund ourselves when no longer working, so certainly worth getting going on retirement provision aas early as possible. Good luck!
@@darrenb1522Thank you so much for your time to answer that 🙌 Please can I ask who your pension is with? I’m brand new to educating myself in this. I wish I could have learnt this kind of thing in school instead of magnesium with water in a test tube = fizzy test tube 🧪
Almost everyone, including the media, is anticipating a market catastrophe, and as a result, many are turning a blind eye to the opportunities in the market. I began investing in stocks and Def earlier this year and it is the best choice I’ve ever made. My portfolio is rounding up to almost a million and I have realized that when a stock makes it to the news, chances are you’re quite late to the party, the idea is to get in early on blue chips before it becomes public. There are lots of life changing opportunities in the market, maximize it
Damien, please do the same for the self-employed and solo employees of the LTD (when director is the only employee in the firm). Please 👍 this post so that Damien sees it Contractor and creative people like yourself need to think about pensions too. And without an HR department to speak to, it is easy to miss on the benefits of setting up your own tiny firm with the benefits of the pension in mind. I am sure you have it all planned out for your RUclips channel firm and you can share the insights.
Check out plenty of his and other vids on the theme. SIPPs for micro-cos are simpler to understand than these convoluted ripoff schemes designed specifically to a) make large fees for the enrolment fund providers and b) contrive to divert unjustifiably large investment flows in the UK companies. With a SIPP you just look at the platform fee (annual flat-rate is best) and bung it all into S&P 500 index or (genuine) global index funds: job done.
No problem HODL'ing with those GIANT hands right!? 🙌 Brilliant video Damo. I consolidated my pensions with 4 providers last year into Royal London (my current workplace pension provider) and then changed from the default offerings to 'BlackRock ACS World (ex UK) Equity Index 95%' and 'BlackRock ACS UK Equity Index 5%'. My pension is now better diversified with more growth potential - a HUGE win for me! 💯 EVERYONE should be taking notice of how their pension is invested. Future you will be very grateful if so 👌
What a great video. Not even applicable to me as a public sector worker in a DB pension, but very interesting nonetheless! This is going to help so many people and pension providers now hate you 😉
my daughter is now at university and works part time in a well known pasty shop, started there when doing A levels we had to ring then E mail them to get her to join the pension, as she wasn't old enough for auto enrollment, then looked at the default funds which like you said included stuff that at her age were irreverent, swapped them all for a simple world tracker fund. This was made possible because i have spent a few years watching videos like yours that explain this stuff, Many of my friends who are also in their 50's are clueless about pensions and have no intention of learning about them of even how is the best ways to withdraw money in a tax efficient manor. its sad its not taught at schools
Crucial advice for 2024! This video highlights the one financial step everyone should prioritize. A concise yet powerful guide for a successful year. #FinancialWellness
mate, legend on this one... Your videos are awesome and followed you for a while now and been shaping up my personal SIPP and investments. This video has helped me sort out my current work pension with Scottish widow as well now... What a shit pension company. Balanced PIA with a majority in fixed securities and UK equities. Same for their 'Adventous' version of it... Switched it to a fund in there for global equities. slightly lower fees, maps the global economy split more fairly and seems to have better long-term returns. Top man, Damien. Thank you.
Cheers Damo, massive video. I looked into this last year and I've now transferred all my previous workplace pensions into my SIPP. I also transfer 90% of my current workplace pension every quarter to maximise the compound interest but also still get the advantage of my company match by not transferring all of it. This will be seriously useful for everyone 👍
Damien - By far your best one. I have tried to speak tp my son about this but now I am just going to share this video with him. Thanks for all your work
Another cracking video Damien👍🏻 Unfortunately I can’t take advantage of much of the advice as I work for the NHS. I’m not sure whether your viewership demographic would justify it, but I would certainly appreciate your take on the NHS pension scheme and how to best navigate the mine field!
Great video as always, thank you! Would love to see a video about pensions for the self-employed...especially for those of us who have left it a bit late (40s).
I've been watching a lot of your videos lately as I'm looking to start investing in the stock market. I'm 33, gutted I've left it so long, but better late than never. I hadn't even though about looking into my workplace pension. Whilst watching your video I've logged on and changed to the higher risk. Its something I would never have thought of looking into if I hadn't seen your video. So thanks for highlighting.
Thank you for your great content. You make it so easy to understand and provide great value, not just within your videos but also with your fact sheets you create to help us 😊
Most default fund in employer pensions are very hard to understand and its no easy task to make changes. The best way I have found is to contribute to employer pensions to get the employer match and do a partial transfer to SIPP. I used to do partial transfer every few months but now I do it on a monthly basis. It takes less than a minute to do it and the money is sent to my SIPP which I can invest in funds of my choice with much lower investment fees and higher returns.
Huge thanks for this! I knew my pension provider used a lifestyle strategy which invested my money into ‘higher risk’ funds while I’m still young, but I had never looked into what these investments looked like. It turns out their ‘high risk’ option has barely beaten inflation over the last 10 years! Granted the economy has been quite turbulent in recent times but this doesn’t seem nearly ambitious enough for a strategy claiming to maximise risk/reward while you’re young
Great video Damian I’m amazed how many people I come across that sign out of a work place pension because their mate down the pub says pensions aren’t worth it. I was with Nest for a few years but immediately changed the default to the shariah pure equities fund 👌 which has performed extremely well. Current place where I work is with a different provider creative where you get a good choice of different funds that you can have choice of multiples and adjust the allocations to your desires with a slide bar. I’m sticking with the actual current default on this one as it’s 90% allocated to global sustainability indexing and 10% bonds, also salary sacrificing 25% of wages to keep us under the 40% tax threshold 👌 as I’ve a couple of btl’s in my name. Tax efficiency and compounding should be an academic subject taught to all I think 👍
Anytime I change job/company I always pull my private pension out of their scheme and place it into my SIPP, that way you can select a low cost index fund and have direct control over it. I have switched jobs a number of times and its definitely worth doing, easier to manage and keeps costs low
You’re right it’s amazing how many people don’t know what they have in their pensions or the contribution % let alone the provider fees. You’re putting out great content as always my friend. Keep going
Hi and thanks, agree with your thoughts. Want to share my strategy. I'm 45 yrs old, I make full use of employers pension in creasing my payment by 2% each year. The fund is okay but limited as you point out so each year in August I transfer 90% of that pot into a vanguard sipp - 50% LS100 & 50% retirement 2040.
I have a pension in Nest and also Scottish Widows. Id love to learn more about SW from your perspective and help with how to maximise it . Thanks in advance 😃
Excellent video as always Damien and perfect timing as I am trying to get my young daughter to take more interest in her workplace pension. Many thanks 🙏
Great videos. I wish we had similar ones for Sweden (where we are very lucky with our pension scheme. I'm probably getting around 25% without any need for putting in anything yourself).
Great video. Pensions confuse a lot of of people including myself. And they seem like hard work. So most people just leave them alone and hope for the best.
I am perfectly happy with my entirely self-managed pension provision. I have a high risk tolerance and I have structured my provision accordingly. My point is that I have thought about what I wanted to get out of my pension provision for years and I've actively positioned my capital towards investments that I believe will serve that goal. Suffice to say I am probably not the target audience for this video - YET - I watched it in its entirely thinking, my god, this is a fantasticly well structured, easy to understand and brilliantly executed public service announcement. Kudos to you D for yet anohter fantastic effort. This is certain to make a real difference to many people's later lives even if they don't yet realise just how much. Bravo!
Thank you Damo! I'm out of UK now but I wish I knew this 10 years ago. This is really valuable information .I kept opting out of company pensions every time I switched jobs/companies. My thought process was, I'm not sure I'll live that long and I might as well make the most of my money while I'm alive. 10 years later here I am wishing I opted into every company pension. Also, cos I've moved so many jobs, the little pension I had accumulated is scattered over 4 or 5 different providers. And all in their default pots with ridiculously high fees.
Hi Damien. Thanks for another great video highlighting the importance of our pensions and future financial planning. In relation to adding other pension providers, could you look at adding Scottish Widows to the Google sheets document? It would be most appreciated. Many thanks and keep up the great work! 👍🏼
Here is the link to the pension sheet: I will continue to add to this with other providers and funds I have missed so just comment below anything you think i have missed off please.
financialinterest.com/pension-provider-cheat-sheet/ you will need to provide an email so we can send it to you.
Damien, would you make a video about public sector pension schemes such as explaining the Police CARE 2015 scheme? We have high contributions compared to the private sector and it would be good to get your thoughts. I’m told other emergency services, NHS and military all have similar schemes so may make a useful video for all. Cheers
I'm currently rocking the Global Technology Fund W-Acc-GBP. Its very pricey, but has great consistent returns. I like that is isn't all USA, its not full of sectors that do nothing like agriculture and I like having firms like TSMC and Samsung that you don't get with S&P500. Its volatile but pensions are meant to be fun, right?
Hi Damien
Great video, I noticed my pension was underperforming when I started investing in 2020 and since then I have had great returns after changing from the default option.
I think its worth pointing out that the peoples pension has a management charge rebate for balances over £3000. Here is the bands for the rebate and percentage:
For the part of your savings:
up to £3,000, no rebate is given
over £3,000 and up to £10,000, we’ll give back 0.1%
over £10,000 and up to £25,000, we’ll give back 0.2%
over £25,000 and up to £50,000, we’ll give back 0.25%
over £50,000, we’ll give back 0.3%.
Hi Damien! What about legal& general? Can you add them to the mix? As far as I knew they are quite big on the market as well. Thanks! 😊
@@catalinomocea6986 Yes i will!
I am lucky to get at 10% match with my current employer and I have my investments going into 100% equities. Prior to that I worked for a different company for 8 years contributing the minimum 5% and leaving it in the default fund. Since I consolidated my pensions, upped the contributions and optimised the allocation to grow I have increased the value of my pension by 400%. This is the best thing you can do for your long term financial future. Great video Damien, everyone should be paying attention to this 👍
Excellent work!
That is amazing, Scipio. Very well done.
If its a SIPP try and get them to salary sacrifice it in then you dont loose the NI either
Great comment. I’m in a similar position, 10% of my overall income is matched and I’m actually paying more than that in myself through salary sacrifice.
Couldn’t agree more about changing funds. If only I’d have done it sooner…
@beartybollocks7782 it is salary sacrifice thankfully. I periodically partially transfer out to my SIPP, once or twice a year as well.
A lot of RUclipsrs talk about "empowering" people, but you genuinely do, Damo! I'm in my 60s, and if you'd been around even just 20-odd years ago I'd be retired by now. By following your advice just over the past couple of years, I've substantially improved my financial security. Thank you for showing us so clearly how to make sense of things, and for making it so entertaining that I almost don't notice how much I'm learning from every minute of your podcasts.
I feel the same, but I'm 20 years younger than you! If someone had explained all this to me in my 20's, I'd be a millionaire by now through better pension and investment decisions. Better late than never I guess. My mission now it to make sure my kids understand the power of compounding.
@@SomeoneSmarter
Better in your 40s then 60s. Even more valuable is educating the next gen incl teaching and encouraging them to seek out info, ask questions, educate themselves. My dad always said never take anyone’s word even mine and think for yourself. Best gift you can give.
Very much agree! I’m 59, becoming very focussed on how to fund retirement. Took out a small pension when I was 30. Gradually increased contributions, but also have a small defined benefit pension, full state pension, and now several isas and other investments. Wish I’d been more proactive years ago, but actually feeling very empowered by all the excellent information out there.
Also, years ago we couldn’t just get a Vanguard app and start investing! It was all much more complicated 😂
Not Vanguard app, but website, so far 🤭
Hi Damien, thanks for the video! I’m an NHS employee, so my pension is ‘defined benefit’ and works slightly differently to ‘defined contribution’ pensions seen in the private sector. Would be great if you did a video on how defined benefit pensions work, as I’m sure there are plenty of public service workers who watch your channel :) cheers!
As a local government employee I second this comment :)
DB is gold and you are lucky to have it... none of the private sector employees get it now, my father had a DB pension and since his passing away in 2019 its still being paid to my mum , no worry about money running out ever
Your DB pension is calculated through your average salary or through the years there or your final salary are calculators to help you. It is excluded from investment so it’s solely based on your service. They are very rare now and you will get payment until you die once calculated.
If you have the option to pay into an AVC on top of your DB pension then this will apply. I’m an LGPS employee, but the AVC is with Prudential and you encounter all these default schemes and high fees that you need to check out and change if needed.
My old scheme was DB. The main catch a lot of us retirees got burned with is the yearly payout increases are discretionary and in no way match the rate of inflation. If you’re looking forward to a long retirement don’t bank on the true value of the pension staying adequate.
I took the furlough time I had during the pandemic to take a deep dive in how my pension pots are invested and ended up switching 90% of the allocations. Let me tell you they do not make it easy! The available alternative funds were burried in lists that were hard to filter I can easily see how the average person would be completely lost! But I stuck with it, took me weeks but I think I chose the best of the bunch for my risk preference. The guy from Aegon I was on the phone with when changing allocations even asked if I worked in finance when I gave him the exact code of the fund I wanted to switch to😂😂 No mate Im just a determined millennial with time on my hands!
Which funds did you go for mate?
I'm with Aegon too, be useful to know any findings
Me too, please report back.
@@NTL578 With Aegon too. I've been switching mine from the default fund. Its performance has been demoralising shocking! Will now be paying into 75% S&P 500 (ISIN: GB00BMN91T34) and 25% Tech (ISIN: GB00B629ZJ09, closest to QQQ I could find). Currently searching for a SIPP where I can buy individual equities. Interactive Investor looks promising, but I cant seem to find info on Aegon about how to transfer and whether my employer match will be maintained once the transfer is complete.
I'm with Aegon as well and agree with you. Almost too many funds to choose from but there are decent funds to select if like you, you put in the time and effort.
Began my first job out of college in September. Including my employers match I’m putting 12% of my salary away for my pension. The tax incentives are too good to pass up here in Ireland.
I’m 26 and I’m happy I’ve educated myself enough to do this. Videos like yours Damo are making a difference. Keep it up brother 🙏
I also picked all equity funds 😉
Congrats on landing your first job and well done on making the decision to take care of the future you... and in a tax-efficient manner!
I'm hoping this is leading to a series where you cover many aspects of pensions including best SIPPs and their costs, what your options are once you retire and is taking your tax free cash allways a good idea 🙏
Salary sacrifice into SIPP is the best way to get money in and withdrawing the tax free cash can be a bad idea as it can put you into a higher rate of tax when you withdraw later on if you plan to take out larger amounts in retirement
@@beartybollocks7782 but what SIPP?
Every March/April we get the ISA providers review (not just Damo but most UK creators) but for the arguably more important pension I've yet to see one
Hi, I did that and invested in stocks and shares ISA.
Pension now paying out and going up yearly, should be back to full value by state retirement age.
Still have a SIPP and using that to the best I can.
Using ISA’s to save in will be the next thing to do when I can.
Take care M.
Haha the hands 🙌 reference at the very start of the video setting up the smaller hands 🤚 jokes = genius 😂 0:07
It’s all a matter of perspective!
Just like saving and life expectancy.
Take care M.
Superb video! I've been telling the young members of staff in my workplace about changing out of the default pension fund (the default fund has sovereigns, corporate bonds, 30% equity - an absolute horror show for young people). Am now using this video now to help, as it really is spot on. Well done, and you have another subscriber.
I work in the pension industry, just to point out if a member got in touch and asked what funds meet their risk profile, I wouldn't provide a tailored response as this would constitute financial advice. I would provide the fund factsheets and direct the member to speak to a qualified financial adviser.
Thanks for clarifying
So if someone called and said ‘send me a list of all your global funds with 100% equity exposure’ you wouldn’t provide this info?
@@DamienTalksMoney
I’m guessing no based on experience of others in past when I advised similar. As commenter said just fund fact sheet/s. Why not overall asset allocation: equity and fixed incl % domestic, US, Global/Int’l and ideally EMs? They have the data.
Will a qualified financial advisor ever tell you that self-investing is a valid choice when it means they could be sued or lose their licence for giving bad advice?
I’m glad to see this topic covered. I recently looked at my auto enroll pension having gone through years of not giving it any thought at all. At the age of 30 I had a something of an epiphany when I realised that A) left to its own devices there’s a good chance I’ll have to work into my 70’s and B) I have an opportunity now to take a bit of control and do things to ultimately retire earlier and hopefully have more time to enjoy life. So I’ve opted for the high risk profile, and with my annual pay rise next month I have significantly increased my contribution and plan to keep doing so every pay or promotion rise I get, basically to contribute as much as I can afford.
One of the most important videos i've watched. I'm on my auto-enrolled pension with nest, and after this video looked into the different fund options. Have now switched to the highest risk fund - the sharia fund, which has performed 3x the others (apart from the low risk option) over 5 years and roughly 2x the others since release. Thank you
Check out the Sharia option!
@@martinclennell3023I'm in the Sharia option (not nest) and it does seem to be doing better than the standard global index.
Funny you should say that - I did my research and like you went with the Sharia options for a third of my portfolio- it’s hands down out performing the other 2!
Also, not sure if you get the option, but Vanguard manage their Funds well
Great timing. Legal & General is a great big provider as well which you may consider to add to the list! Thanks Damian. 🤚🧤
Absolute gold again Damien.
I consolidated my pensions with 4 providers into MyAviva 2 years ago and set myself up with a low cost global index fund for the balance and new deposits and I was shocked at the lower returns and cost of the default fund
Which fund did you go for with Aviva?
@@screambluemurder101 Aviva Pension Global Equity FP
#notfinancialadvice 😀
@@owenbigwood2246 weird can’t see that listed as an option on mine. I seem to have Blackrock global ex UK (which I’ve opted for) or a UK-only one. The black rock global was the closest I could find to a global equity tracker so went with that early last year.
@owenbigwood2246: aren't we supposed to be looking for higher returns. why are you satisfied with lower returns? I'm I missing something?
@@lileli7177 we are indeed. Avoiding a default lifestyle fund and adopting an equity based index fund was my approach to achieving that. Your goals
Might be different but I’m in my 30s and having an equity backed portfolio for a global index works for me
To whom it may benefit. I have a SIPP with Vanguard for their 100% Equities fund. Every time I leave a job I transfer whatever is in my workplace pension into that SIPP / fund. And lastly, I make sure to switch my default workplace pension fund over to 100% a world equities fund. For context, I’m 35 years old.
this should be mandatory education in schools... seriously, it can be covered in 1-2 hours (maybe even have the students actually start a pot as part of it)? but has a huge impact
and then it should be a standardised part of induction to any workplace... just like all those health and safety mini courses
it really sucks to finally understand these things when you're 30+ and find you're already behind and need to play catchup on the past ~10 years
Couldn’t agree more!!!
They don't want financially savvy people, they want mindless consumers. After all, if everyone was financially aware, the economy would suffer because we would be spend more on investing than Gucci handbags. They don't want that.
Perhaps not just schools but also workplaces - many companies organize workshops and "online sessions with pension providers". There is also a taboo topic about pensions - I've heard colleagues saying they don't go to these as they think is a waste of time...
@@lucho1844 yes i did say that, but we’re in agreement
Basically the point is that there should be multiple points in life where this is brought up to make sure you understand it even if you miss it in school or at your first job… etc
In the late 90's my high school had a branch of HSBC on the school site in an old classroom, which was run mainly by students and would open at break times so we could do small deposits and withdrawals without leaving the property - but even with this close partnership between our school and a large bank, we still got zero financial education from anyone, other than a few leaflets about junior savings accounts that would be left on our desks from time to time.
This guy is honestly the best no nonsense, easy to understand, trustworthy financial RUclipsr out there.
Amazing video Damo, I'm training to become a financial coach to help people with exactly this type of thing rather than sleep walking into retirement and 'hoping' everything will be ok. Thanks for getting the message out there, so many people just don't realise what's going on. Would love it if you could add Scottish Widows and Royal London to the list mate. The hands gag had me in stiches, even got the missus in to watch it!!
You are doing everyone a great service by making this video! Especially also near the time where everyone's scrambling on what to do with their tax.
I have an NHS pension (defined benefit scheme) to which I pay about £400 a month. I receive a pension statement each year but to be honest I don't really understand it as it's full of jargon and what not. All I understand is that once I retire I will receive a guaranteed income every year for the rest of my life.
Its likely you can also purchase additional pension credits (APCs) look into those as an option - DB schemes are few and far between make hay while the sun shines!
I was today years old when I found out how pensions work thanks to you lol. So thankful for your channel because I'm learning a lot, your content is super helpful! Will definitely be checking my workplace pension after this video!
Absolutely! I am increasing to 16% for a total of 20% with my employer's contribution.
Thank you, been looking at my people's pension for a while now and its peforming so badly. Already maxed out my matched contribution.
Done my research and will definitely be switching to the options as recommended so eloquently by your good self.
Got 23 years to retirement, so feel confident in the change.
This is a great video, I was talking to my partner about making changes to my pension recently and the information you keep passing out gives me significantly more confidence that I'm doing the right thing. Thanks for the hand ✋
I really, really like this guy and uniquely I trust what he says. He puts across a difficult subject in a way that I can understand. Considering pensions affect everyone, I'm amazed how complicated the industry have made it. I love your videos and watch every single one as I approach 63 in full time employment but keen to retire. Thank you so much for your efforts.
Another great video, am 21 and been watching since I finished uni and started part time work you’ve helped me with my finances so much and made me feel so much more confident about bettering my future. I opted-in to the pension sheet but am still waiting on the document, my provider is also Legal and General if that’s not on there already!
I'm starting a new job tomorrow and just about to be set up with PP,
This is impeccably timed!
Automatic pensions with loads of bonds in has honestly pointlessly destroyed a huge portion of wealth 😢 Mine was 33% automatically (working at age 23), so I mkved mine to all equities, but lots of people won't do that or do it too late solely due to lack if knowledge.
And who in their 20s cares about bonds...let's be real, those should no more than balance your equity portfolio. I'd say there are plenty of ETFs that can reduce your risk exposure if you are very risk averse.
Hi Damien, thanks for openning my eyes!!!. Please can you update us once legal and general are added. Keep up the good work 👏
Great video! I switched my two workplace pension funds a few months ago into funds that best replicated the global stock market. It’s surprising how safe the default funds really are.
Shame they don’t teach you this in school, I’ve recently bundled all my pensions into one and only just at the age of 27 changed my funds
Hey Damien,
you have not included NHS pension provider NHSBSA collects from all NHS employees. would love to have one video specifically for NHS staff. Its so confusing the way they work out pension for us. Much appreciated for your informative content.
I just recently moved all my work place pensions to a vanguard sipp in funds I wanted, not my provider. Best thing I did last year. In just three months I've already noticed on the return. Great video Damien!
Same, just transferred my old work place pension from nest to Vanguard for SP500, lets see how fast they will transfer nest account
@@MultiLogina 👍 mine took roughly two months.
You are an awesome dude on RUclips. This video is over 38k in 8 hours. Well done to you and the new format looks good. I am glad I have found you! You helped me and my family massively. Thanks again Damien! Awesome work! 🍻🖖
I am glad you found me as-well Lukas!
This is what they should be teaching in schools. Not rock formations and who won a battle in the 1600’s. I wish I’d been taught how to invest properly for my future. How to build a good credit score. How to manage debt. What tax rules are and how they impact me.
Only started paying attention to my pension 3 years ago when I was getting divorced and I was asked for my pension value for the financial settlement. It was then when I realised I only had £10k in it after 10 years of working for my employer (I suppose getting divorced has it’s pros as well) Looked into it and unbeknownst to me my employer was offering to match up to 6% (if I contribute 6% they match it with 12%) Why do companies not let their employees know about these perks???? Obviously as soon as my divorce finalised I maxed out on it and I now have £25k in. Still not sure I’m on track as I am 38…
Don't panic! You're on the right track, the fact you're taking an active interest in your pension in your 30's is a positive. As your wage increases into your 40' and 50's and your contributions increase, that's when the magic happens, compound interest is a wonderful thing 👍
I mean it costs them literal money so they aren’t going to be jumping to tell you 😂
Don't worry, if you are not sure, Please check Hargreaves and Lansdowne (H&L) pension calculator to work how much your pension will be at your chosen retirement time, As a thumb rule - you need 60% of your after tax income to maintain your current life style at retirement providing your mortgage is paid off. hope that helps
thats on you for being half asleep and not educating yourself.
Boots? I work for Boots and pay 6%+12% from employer! It is great
Not sure if I've just watched the best video on UK pensions ever, or the best written script about UK pensions ever. Love the hand bits.
What a compliment thank you so much
Your videos are always the best💯 I do receive a notification each time you post a new video.. We'll have regrets for things we did not participate in...Investment should always be on any creative man's heart for success in life.
I agree with you and I believe that the secret to financial stability is having the right investment ideas to enable you earn more money, investing with the right expert would free you from modern financial slavery.
Nice one mate!. Regardless of how bad it gets on the economy, I still make over 19k every single week. Thanks to Fergus Waylen for keepin me financially Educated!
YES!!! That's exactly his name (Fergus Waylen) so many people have recommended highly about him and am just starting with him from Brisbane Australia
My brother and I also joined his strategy and we made massive gains at the moment while under training. I am forever grateful to Mr Fergus Waylen
Though I started with as low as $15,000 actually because it was my first time and it was successful, he's is a great personality in the state
Great video, I once had a job which provided a Nest pension so I did some reading. Apparently the 1.8% contribution charge was levied to repay the loans taken out to establish the scheme. I also found out the hard way about employers not necessarily paying in 3% of the full salary. I hope this message spreads far and wide so employees have an idea how their pension works.
I needed this video thank you.
I have about 8 pensions with 5 different providers and all of them are just on the default path.
I seriously need to take a more active approach towards the plans.
I also need to possibly consolidate some of these schemes, especially where I have more than one pension with the same provider.
One thing I will add, is that during my career, I have not had the luxury of going beyond minimum contributions at times, when I was on low pay but had high rent, when my wife went on unpaid maternity leave, when childcare costs were more than double my mortgage, when my wife was made redundant and had to spend a year, as a student (not entitled to any money) re training at her expense.
But I am lucky enough to have been able to up my contributions at other times.
Sadly, the cost of living is so high and salaries are not catching up, that many people simply can't afford to lose the income to a pension contribution beyond the minimum.
Yes, it pays back long term, but it doesn't keep a roof over your head or feed your family today 😢
I look forward to your further videos on the subject as I start to try and manage my pensions a little better.
Thank you.
I wish I could believe that this advice is all you need to ensure a secure future.
I don't think it's bad advice, I just think it doesn't touch the sides of the real problem.
I work for an auto enrollment pension scheme, one of the schemes you displayed.
I'm looking forward to some calls tomorrow off the back of this video 👍
Damo thank you so much, because of you I have started investing. I was in the army and now working for NHS so get a good work pension. But I have a weekly direct debit set up weekly with Moneybox split between a sipp, isa, simple save and Jisa for children. I’m just loving the set and forget approach. My wife started watching you (and your weird shaped hands and fading hairline, but she still talks about you more than me to her friends) and now she invests weekly with plum. Another set and forgot. I’m 35 years time when we are set in retirement I will shake your odd shaped hands
Great video as ever Damien. Lucky in that I didn't learn anything new as I've been playing a much closer eye to my own pension over the past few years as I managed to dodge a couple of rounds of redundancy but I saw it as a signal to get myself to a position where it wouldn't be a disaster if it was 'third time unlucky'. I was a late starter as I had nothing at 36 due to remaining in a low paying job due to loyalty to my small employer. Then I changed to an established employer in a new industry with a good pension plan in place and from 36 to now at just over 50 I've managed to get myself to a £175k pot from an average salary. Small compared to some I expect but I know I'll be happy living a very frugal retirement and the roof over my head is already secure so I think I'm in a good place should the worst happen. But it's amazing how many of my colleagues know nothing about the ways and workings of a pension and I'm doing my best to educate them with the type of thing you discuss here. Keep up the good work.
Honestly this guy is a fkn G! Every post and podcast is just saucyyyy! Keep it coming bro!
Great timing, I'm 48 and I've been looking at my Royal London company pension this week, it's on the default balanced fund and I would like to increase the risk profile. It gives options based on risk numbered 1-6 but with little info on each option. Could you please add this to your document. It would be a massive help. Keep up the good work.
Yes!! Not sure how I missed them sorry I will add it on by COB tomorrow
@@DamienTalksMoney
Thank you! You are so helpful!
@@DamienTalksMoney legend. 👍
My employer pension scheme was also with royal London, which at least in my case is kind of limited to choosing to pay into royal London funds. Though my employer are moving providers again to aviva.
If they supported paying directly to my SIPP I would do that.
@@DamienTalksMoneyI would love to see Royal London added as well as my workplace pension is with them. Thanks!
Never underestimate what your videos provide.
Last year upped my contributions to 28% which with a company match of 12% and a moving funds into an equities based world tracker has seen my pot grow nicely.
Upping to that level brings me back into basic tax territory and I’m able to continue pushing through into easy access savings and S&S ISA so feel like I’m doing everything I can to minimise tax and maximise current and future savings. Would still welcome another salary bump though…
How has your selected pension fund performed over the last 10 years? Was the average return better or worse than say ISHARES VII PLC NASDAQ 100 UCITS ETF USD ACC? Have you looked at the two scenarios where you put the same amount you’re investing into your pension (net of tax) into a stocks and shares ISA and manage the investment choice yourself?
That’s cool. My employer will only pay 4% 😢
@@nick255 been with my employer over 15 years hence the decent matched %
I was not aware of the option to increase the pension contribution till few months ago, thanks to another video from Damien. Since then, i maximised to 9% (top of what my employer offers).
I have also set up a private pension pot through a wealth management group, where i am paying money every month. I have also asked them to collect the contributions i payed to the providers of my previous employers, to have everything invested together. I changed few companies in the past years and they all seems to use a different provider.
The fund i choosed to invest in was an adventurous one, and actually i am due to a review call with the manager soon.
Again, thank you Damien for your great work
This prompted me to go and look at my current plan which is default... 50% in UK! Been meaning to change it for a while but definitely on it now
I couldn't stop laughing at the hands gag all the way through - excellent vid again!
On a more serious note - I think workplace pensions are great in concept, but totally agree that people don't dig into them, when most people see them, I think they just assume that will look after them to the same level they've seen older generations with a final salary scheme live. A few hours to learn about your pension can make you £thousands extra by the time you retire.
Mine is Legal&General. I think it’s quite good. I chose two funds to invest in and they charge 0.2%
Should you consolidate pensions from different jobs into one? What are the things to think about?
Losses from transferring and make sure you dont move the pension from a low charges sheme to a higher charges scheme - good luck!
Cheers for all the in-depth advice Damien! I'm self employed, running a limited company. About 5 years ago I realised I didn't have anything set up for pension, it hadn't even crossed my mind. I got started up with Pension Bee and it's been a breeze so far. I'm able to send contributions straight from my company so it's tax-friendly, and I can (to an extent) control how much risk I want. I'm young enough so I'm going for high risk. When I hit 40 maybe I'll turn it down to a safer plan.
What if you are self employed? It is worth getting a pension or should I invest?? 🤷♂️ thank you
A complex answer as it depends entirely depends on how you structure your self employment. If you are a limited company you can save the corporation tax and any potential income/dividend tax. If a sole trader then you can save your taxation rate and potentially reduce your tax bracket to claim tax free childcare, or child benefit (if your income forces you outside of that bracket currently). It's something you have to consider - do you want to get a big boost to your investment now and start the compounding effect with that boost, or do you want to pay a rate of tax now and save into an ISA to have access to all of the money without tax later.. generally the SIpP can win out especially with a longer time horizon and there are ways to save tax later e.g Using your 25% on withdrawals regular and crystallising chunks of your pension to take more tax free cash. As with all these things, it depends.. looking back I should have started my pension earlier, though! (I was self employed)
A pension, like an ISA, is a tax wrapper in which you hold your investments. So, if you open a pension, you are likely investing (unless left in cash to lose to inflation). For retirement planning, pensions are a good option, boosting what you put in by 25% (non tax payer or basic). Even paying 20% on withdrawals later mean it's 6.25% better than an ISA's contributions. Ultimately, all us self-ployed people (and everyone else) need to know how we'll fund ourselves when no longer working, so certainly worth getting going on retirement provision aas early as possible. Good luck!
@@darrenb1522Thank you so much for your time to answer that 🙌 Please can I ask who your pension is with? I’m brand new to educating myself in this. I wish I could have learnt this kind of thing in school instead of magnesium with water in a test tube = fizzy test tube 🧪
@@adrianl5899great advice thank you!
I'm 21, so I wasn't even enrolled! But here I am, self-enrolled, with a grand total of £300 in my pension, basically ready to retire now!
Almost everyone, including the media, is anticipating a market catastrophe, and as a result, many are turning a blind eye to the opportunities in the market. I began investing in stocks and Def earlier this year and it is the best choice I’ve ever made. My portfolio is rounding up to almost a million and I have realized that when a stock makes it to the news, chances are you’re quite late to the party, the idea is to get in early on blue chips before it becomes public. There are lots of life changing opportunities in the market, maximize it
You can make a lot of money from the market regardless of whether it strengthens or crashes. The key is to be well positioned.
All you need is a good capital and the service of a professional broker, with those your investment will most certainly produce high yields.
Patricia is considered a key Crypto Strategist with one of the best copy Trading Portfolios and also very active in the cryptocurrency space.
PATRICIA VESELY is the name to search🔍
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The hand bit was brilliant.
Does this apply to public sector jobs
Cracking content that mate. Should be shown in schools!
Nice one pal
Damien, please do the same for the self-employed and solo employees of the LTD (when director is the only employee in the firm). Please 👍 this post so that Damien sees it
Contractor and creative people like yourself need to think about pensions too. And without an HR department to speak to, it is easy to miss on the benefits of setting up your own tiny firm with the benefits of the pension in mind. I am sure you have it all planned out for your RUclips channel firm and you can share the insights.
Check out plenty of his and other vids on the theme. SIPPs for micro-cos are simpler to understand than these convoluted ripoff schemes designed specifically to a) make large fees for the enrolment fund providers and b) contrive to divert unjustifiably large investment flows in the UK companies. With a SIPP you just look at the platform fee (annual flat-rate is best) and bung it all into S&P 500 index or (genuine) global index funds: job done.
No problem HODL'ing with those GIANT hands right!? 🙌
Brilliant video Damo. I consolidated my pensions with 4 providers last year into Royal London (my current workplace pension provider) and then changed from the default offerings to 'BlackRock ACS World (ex UK) Equity Index 95%' and 'BlackRock ACS UK Equity Index 5%'. My pension is now better diversified with more growth potential - a HUGE win for me! 💯
EVERYONE should be taking notice of how their pension is invested. Future you will be very grateful if so 👌
What a great video. Not even applicable to me as a public sector worker in a DB pension, but very interesting nonetheless! This is going to help so many people and pension providers now hate you 😉
my daughter is now at university and works part time in a well known pasty shop, started there when doing A levels we had to ring then E mail them to get her to join the pension, as she wasn't old enough for auto enrollment, then looked at the default funds which like you said included stuff that at her age were irreverent, swapped them all for a simple world tracker fund. This was made possible because i have spent a few years watching videos like yours that explain this stuff, Many of my friends who are also in their 50's are clueless about pensions and have no intention of learning about them of even how is the best ways to withdraw money in a tax efficient manor. its sad its not taught at schools
Crucial advice for 2024! This video highlights the one financial step everyone should prioritize. A concise yet powerful guide for a successful year. #FinancialWellness
mate, legend on this one... Your videos are awesome and followed you for a while now and been shaping up my personal SIPP and investments. This video has helped me sort out my current work pension with Scottish widow as well now... What a shit pension company. Balanced PIA with a majority in fixed securities and UK equities. Same for their 'Adventous' version of it... Switched it to a fund in there for global equities. slightly lower fees, maps the global economy split more fairly and seems to have better long-term returns. Top man, Damien. Thank you.
Cheers Damo, massive video. I looked into this last year and I've now transferred all my previous workplace pensions into my SIPP. I also transfer 90% of my current workplace pension every quarter to maximise the compound interest but also still get the advantage of my company match by not transferring all of it. This will be seriously useful for everyone 👍
Damien - By far your best one. I have tried to speak tp my son about this but now I am just going to share this video with him. Thanks for all your work
I been using my money and putting it into property. Plan is now to put in pensions, so I will have a property paying me rent at 60+ and now pension.
Great video! Feels like the start of a good series around workplace pensions. Hope to see a continuation on the topic!
Another cracking video Damien👍🏻 Unfortunately I can’t take advantage of much of the advice as I work for the NHS. I’m not sure whether your viewership demographic would justify it, but I would certainly appreciate your take on the NHS pension scheme and how to best navigate the mine field!
Awesome video Damien. Thankyou!
Great video as always, thank you! Would love to see a video about pensions for the self-employed...especially for those of us who have left it a bit late (40s).
Thanks mate, I just changed to adventurous from balanced after watching your massive hands.
I've been watching a lot of your videos lately as I'm looking to start investing in the stock market. I'm 33, gutted I've left it so long, but better late than never. I hadn't even though about looking into my workplace pension. Whilst watching your video I've logged on and changed to the higher risk. Its something I would never have thought of looking into if I hadn't seen your video. So thanks for highlighting.
Thank you for your great content. You make it so easy to understand and provide great value, not just within your videos but also with your fact sheets you create to help us 😊
Glad you enjoy them and find them useful!
Happy new year to you and your massive hands, Damo. Wishing you nowt but good luck, keep the great vids coming.
Most default fund in employer pensions are very hard to understand and its no easy task to make changes.
The best way I have found is to contribute to employer pensions to get the employer match and do a partial transfer to SIPP. I used to do partial transfer every few months but now I do it on a monthly basis. It takes less than a minute to do it and the money is sent to my SIPP which I can invest in funds of my choice with much lower investment fees and higher returns.
Was just listening to Nisha I’m now tuning into my namesake for valuable info.
Huge thanks for this! I knew my pension provider used a lifestyle strategy which invested my money into ‘higher risk’ funds while I’m still young, but I had never looked into what these investments looked like. It turns out their ‘high risk’ option has barely beaten inflation over the last 10 years! Granted the economy has been quite turbulent in recent times but this doesn’t seem nearly ambitious enough for a strategy claiming to maximise risk/reward while you’re young
Excellent presentation. Thank you. I am USA myself but all of what you discuss applies to us as well.
Great video Damian I’m amazed how many people I come across that sign out of a work place pension because their mate down the pub says pensions aren’t worth it. I was with Nest for a few years but immediately changed the default to the shariah pure equities fund 👌 which has performed extremely well. Current place where I work is with a different provider creative where you get a good choice of different funds that you can have choice of multiples and adjust the allocations to your desires with a slide bar. I’m sticking with the actual current default on this one as it’s 90% allocated to global sustainability indexing and 10% bonds, also salary sacrificing 25% of wages to keep us under the 40% tax threshold 👌 as I’ve a couple of btl’s in my name. Tax efficiency and compounding should be an academic subject taught to all I think 👍
Damien - you are the man! Thanks for putting so much effort into your messages :D
Anytime I change job/company I always pull my private pension out of their scheme and place it into my SIPP, that way you can select a low cost index fund and have direct control over it. I have switched jobs a number of times and its definitely worth doing, easier to manage and keeps costs low
Thanks Damien, you've changed how I view finances. Definitely think about money more critically after watching your videos!
Great video Damien, love your content. You make it super easy for people to understand the minefield which companies present, Thanks.
You’re right it’s amazing how many people don’t know what they have in their pensions or the contribution % let alone the provider fees. You’re putting out great content as always my friend. Keep going
Hi and thanks, agree with your thoughts. Want to share my strategy. I'm 45 yrs old, I make full use of employers pension in creasing my payment by 2% each year. The fund is okay but limited as you point out so each year in August I transfer 90% of that pot into a vanguard sipp - 50% LS100 & 50% retirement 2040.
I have a pension in Nest and also Scottish Widows. Id love to learn more about SW from your perspective and help with how to maximise it . Thanks in advance 😃
Excellent video as always Damien and perfect timing as I am trying to get my young daughter to take more interest in her workplace pension. Many thanks 🙏
Great videos. I wish we had similar ones for Sweden (where we are very lucky with our pension scheme. I'm probably getting around 25% without any need for putting in anything yourself).
Great video. Pensions confuse a lot of of people including myself. And they seem like hard work. So most people just leave them alone and hope for the best.
Great video. Not enough people are aware of this stuff.
I am perfectly happy with my entirely self-managed pension provision. I have a high risk tolerance and I have structured my provision accordingly. My point is that I have thought about what I wanted to get out of my pension provision for years and I've actively positioned my capital towards investments that I believe will serve that goal. Suffice to say I am probably not the target audience for this video - YET - I watched it in its entirely thinking, my god, this is a fantasticly well structured, easy to understand and brilliantly executed public service announcement. Kudos to you D for yet anohter fantastic effort. This is certain to make a real difference to many people's later lives even if they don't yet realise just how much. Bravo!
Thank you Damo! I'm out of UK now but I wish I knew this 10 years ago. This is really valuable information .I kept opting out of company pensions every time I switched jobs/companies. My thought process was, I'm not sure I'll live that long and I might as well make the most of my money while I'm alive. 10 years later here I am wishing I opted into every company pension. Also, cos I've moved so many jobs, the little pension I had accumulated is scattered over 4 or 5 different providers. And all in their default pots with ridiculously high fees.
Great advice! Financial planning is key, looking forward to implementing it in 2024. 💰 #FinancialGoals #MoneyMatters
already had this sorted for me but thanks for going over it so clearly
Thanks Damien - appreciate you taking the time to lay this out so clearly. The Borat cameo didn't hurt! 🤣
Hi Damien. Thanks for another great video highlighting the importance of our pensions and future financial planning.
In relation to adding other pension providers, could you look at adding Scottish Widows to the Google sheets document? It would be most appreciated. Many thanks and keep up the great work! 👍🏼
Your hands look big because of your setup. It’s all to do with the lens and focal point. You’re welcome 😊
I know this, I’m just making a joke out of it