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Salary Sacrifice - Pension Scheme. Help Required
The Prince-e-Paul
Posts: 6,688
Apologies if this is going over old ground on another thread. I have recently joined an employment agency and wanted to set up a salary sacrifice to make some additional payment into a pension. I am a bit bemused by the whole finance sector (my previously shared forays into Crypto will indicate my extremely limited and unwise investment prowess), as such the umbrella company have advised that I can choose from a list of approved pension providers, that they will agree to. The list is as follows:
Aegon
AJ Bell
Aviva
Fidelity
Hargreaves Lansdown
Interactive Investor
Old Mutual Wealth
Pension Bee
Royal London
Scottish Widows
Standard Life
St James Place
Transact
So that's my lot to choose from. Clearly I will need to choose one and then I suppose ask the right questions. I've never set up a pension myself, only even had NHS or local authority etc so have no clue as to where to go from here. If anyone has a basic answer for a basic person, then that would be great. I only want to put maybe £500 pcm into the pot. Don't know if the amount is relevant. As said I'm pretty hopeless in this field and don't want I waste time or money unnecessarily.
Oh I'm North of 50 and an Addick, thus already have a nervous disposition, so please be kind. 😬
Aegon
AJ Bell
Aviva
Fidelity
Hargreaves Lansdown
Interactive Investor
Old Mutual Wealth
Pension Bee
Royal London
Scottish Widows
Standard Life
St James Place
Transact
So that's my lot to choose from. Clearly I will need to choose one and then I suppose ask the right questions. I've never set up a pension myself, only even had NHS or local authority etc so have no clue as to where to go from here. If anyone has a basic answer for a basic person, then that would be great. I only want to put maybe £500 pcm into the pot. Don't know if the amount is relevant. As said I'm pretty hopeless in this field and don't want I waste time or money unnecessarily.
Oh I'm North of 50 and an Addick, thus already have a nervous disposition, so please be kind. 😬
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Comments
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I have had a Standard Life private pension for a number of years now. I continue to add to it and have transferred pots from various different work plans over the years so everything is in one place. I have it invested in a few funds including a US tracker fund, UK tracker and a Far East tracker. Also a couple of smaller more risky funds but at a smaller percentage. It has performed well and I’ve just left it alone. It’s easy to contact them and I’m really happy with it.2
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Another thumbs up for Standard Life for me. Been with them since 2011, have everything in their Sustaintable Multi-Asset fund and has performed ok for me (15% over the past 5 years I think). Not that I pay too much attention to it to be honest. Always been good to deal with when needed to.
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Most of those seem quite reputable, and the ones in bold I have used or heard of.The Prince-e-Paul said:Apologies if this is going over old ground on another thread. I have recently joined an employment agency and wanted to set up a salary sacrifice to make some additional payment into a pension. I am a bit bemused by the whole finance sector (my previously shared forays into Crypto will indicate my extremely limited and unwise investment prowess), as such the umbrella company have advised that I can choose from a list of approved pension providers, that they will agree to. The list is as follows:
Aegon
AJ Bell
Aviva
Fidelity
Hargreaves Lansdown
Interactive Investor
Old Mutual Wealth
Pension Bee
Royal London
Scottish Widows
Standard Life
St James Place
Transact
So that's my lot to choose from. Clearly I will need to choose one and then I suppose ask the right questions. I've never set up a pension myself, only even had NHS or local authority etc so have no clue as to where to go from here. If anyone has a basic answer for a basic person, then that would be great. I only want to put maybe £500 pcm into the pot. Don't know if the amount is relevant. As said I'm pretty hopeless in this field and don't want I waste time or money unnecessarily.
Oh I'm North of 50 and an Addick, thus already have a nervous disposition, so please be kind. 😬
In terms of what to invest in, the usual advice is that as you get older (i.e 50+ counts as older) you put more of the pot into steady assets like bonds (say 75%) and the rest in less steady assets like shares.
Disclaimer: I'm not a financial advisor, not even close.
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Just from my own experience I once spoke to a financial advisor from St James Place and found them very pushy and hard sell, took ages to get rid of them from contacting me.2
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iirc hargreaves lansdown and aj bell give you most versatility. I wouldn't fuck about with your pension pot though, just stick it in a tracker fund and use pocket money on "investments" in individual stocks in something like a S&S isa. IMO2
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Won't you miss out on the tax free element of paying into a pension? I'm no buff, but thought a standard rate tax payer saves the 20% income tax by paying into a recognised pension, 40% for higher rate payers. That's because you only get taxed on what money remains AFTER paying into the pension pot. So you're winning by 20% or 40% before you start.kentaddick said:iirc hargreaves lansdown and aj bell give you most versatility. I wouldn't fuck about with your pension pot though, just stick it in a tracker fund and use pocket money on "investments" in individual stocks in something like a S&S isa. IMO
I'm sure experts on here will correct me if I'm wrong2 -
Salary sacrifice enables an individual to avoid paying income tax and national insurance by sacrificing that salary and re-directing it into a pension so the aspect of tax relief isn't relevant. One of the few potential drawbacks is that death in service benefits will be based on the salary after the sacrifice.KingKinsella said:
Won't you miss out on the tax free element of paying into a pension? I'm no buff, but thought a standard rate tax payer saves the 20% income tax by paying into a recognised pension, 40% for higher rate payers. That's because you only get taxed on what money remains AFTER paying into the pension pot. So you're winning by 20% or 40% before you start.kentaddick said:iirc hargreaves lansdown and aj bell give you most versatility. I wouldn't fuck about with your pension pot though, just stick it in a tracker fund and use pocket money on "investments" in individual stocks in something like a S&S isa. IMO
I'm sure experts on here will correct me if I'm wrong1 -
Look at the fee's of each as they vary wildly in that list,
Interactive investor gives you pretty good market access and low fee's, especially once your pot gets to a certain size. Ditto Fidelity, but fee's will be higher longer term.
Do not touch St James place!2 -
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A tad worrying as I’ve just invested with St James’s Place. I’ve forwarded this link to my Financial Advisor or as they seem to call themselves now Wealth Advisors. I will let you know what he says.cafcfan said:1 - Sponsored links:
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You may find whoever you end up working for, that they already has a scheme set up. Our company does and you can simply log into our portal and change the %'s as you seem fit. The company of course has to have a pension provider that allows you to do this.0
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My IFA is SJP and always liked the guy and given me good advice and helped with life insurance/critical illlness etc but he’s now being quite pushy about me investing in a VCT and I’m quite sceptical, looks very risky
Any IFA’s on here?0 -
@golfaddickSouthendaddick said:My IFA is SJP and always liked the guy and given me good advice and helped with life insurance/critical illlness etc but he’s now being quite pushy about me investing in a VCT and I’m quite sceptical, looks very risky
Any IFA’s on here?0 -
St James place ARE NOT independent financial advisors. They are tied to St James Place. Believe the official term is restricted advice.
Personally I wouldn't touch them. Not saying the individuals are dodgy or anything, but why would you tie yourself to advice from someone effectively only selling products from the company that employs them?
Your advisor is not Independent (The I in IFA).Southendaddick said:My IFA is SJP and always liked the guy and given me good advice and helped with life insurance/critical illlness etc but he’s now being quite pushy about me investing in a VCT and I’m quite sceptical, looks very risky
Any IFA’s on here?
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Look, I'm no expert but it seems odd to me that they claim they use a different method of calculating stuff from their peers. Why would you do that?Solidgone said:
And then there's this, more recent article. According to the FT the FCA stepped in and put some pressure on fee reductions. The rest of the article does not make for happy reading either. https://www.ft.com/content/cba1f8bd-1ac0-4203-99e5-3be0e5ae9b42
A cynic might suggest there's a reason why tied advisers like being tied advisers with SJP.
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Good job too !! If you had a 75%/25% split over the past 18 months you would be approx 10%-15% down.Arthur_Trudgill said:
Most of those seem quite reputable, and the ones in bold I have used or heard of.The Prince-e-Paul said:Apologies if this is going over old ground on another thread. I have recently joined an employment agency and wanted to set up a salary sacrifice to make some additional payment into a pension. I am a bit bemused by the whole finance sector (my previously shared forays into Crypto will indicate my extremely limited and unwise investment prowess), as such the umbrella company have advised that I can choose from a list of approved pension providers, that they will agree to. The list is as follows:
Aegon
AJ Bell
Aviva
Fidelity
Hargreaves Lansdown
Interactive Investor
Old Mutual Wealth
Pension Bee
Royal London
Scottish Widows
Standard Life
St James Place
Transact
So that's my lot to choose from. Clearly I will need to choose one and then I suppose ask the right questions. I've never set up a pension myself, only even had NHS or local authority etc so have no clue as to where to go from here. If anyone has a basic answer for a basic person, then that would be great. I only want to put maybe £500 pcm into the pot. Don't know if the amount is relevant. As said I'm pretty hopeless in this field and don't want I waste time or money unnecessarily.
Oh I'm North of 50 and an Addick, thus already have a nervous disposition, so please be kind. 😬
In terms of what to invest in, the usual advice is that as you get older (i.e 50+ counts as older) you put more of the pot into steady assets like bonds (say 75%) and the rest in less steady assets like shares.
Disclaimer: I'm not a financial advisor, not even close.
First thing I would say is that the umbrella company don't know anything - Old Mutual changed their name 3 years ago !! Also, in that list of names you have traditional pension companies as well as Platforms - a right hodge podge if you ask me.
I'm not touting for business but you really need advice from a regulated pensions adviser.1 -
SJP really should be investigated by the FCA. I have no idea how they get round their upfront & exit charges.Solidgone said:
A tad worrying as I’ve just invested with St James’s Place. I’ve forwarded this link to my Financial Advisor or as they seem to call themselves now Wealth Advisors. I will let you know what he says.cafcfan said:
Absolutely criminal.1 -
You say you have joined an Employment Agency, I assume this is as an employee. Therefore, they will have a company pension of which you are now a member. As salary sacrifice is basically just a slightly more complicated AVC , I’m surprised they are referring you to an external provider. Surely this additional payment would just be an AVC through your employers existing pension scheme…. ?Or are you in some way self employed… which I would think not as that would not really work with salary sacrifice…..0
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I got my first mortgage through SJP and it was a Natwest product that they "sold" me.Rob7Lee said:St James place ARE NOT independent financial advisors. They are tied to St James Place. Believe the official term is restricted advice.
Personally I wouldn't touch them. Not saying the individuals are dodgy or anything, but why would you tie yourself to advice from someone effectively only selling products from the company that employs them?
Your advisor is not Independent (The I in IFA).Southendaddick said:My IFA is SJP and always liked the guy and given me good advice and helped with life insurance/critical illlness etc but he’s now being quite pushy about me investing in a VCT and I’m quite sceptical, looks very risky
Any IFA’s on here?0 - Sponsored links:
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I think it was the excessive exit charges that got them the bad press a few years back, think it applies for 6 years.golfaddick said:
SJP really should be investigated by the FCA. I have no idea how they get round their upfront & exit charges.Solidgone said:
A tad worrying as I’ve just invested with St James’s Place. I’ve forwarded this link to my Financial Advisor or as they seem to call themselves now Wealth Advisors. I will let you know what he says.cafcfan said:
Absolutely criminal.0 -
Fair enough.golfaddick said:
Good job too !! If you had a 75%/25% split over the past 18 months you would be approx 10%-15% down.Arthur_Trudgill said:
Most of those seem quite reputable, and the ones in bold I have used or heard of.The Prince-e-Paul said:Apologies if this is going over old ground on another thread. I have recently joined an employment agency and wanted to set up a salary sacrifice to make some additional payment into a pension. I am a bit bemused by the whole finance sector (my previously shared forays into Crypto will indicate my extremely limited and unwise investment prowess), as such the umbrella company have advised that I can choose from a list of approved pension providers, that they will agree to. The list is as follows:
Aegon
AJ Bell
Aviva
Fidelity
Hargreaves Lansdown
Interactive Investor
Old Mutual Wealth
Pension Bee
Royal London
Scottish Widows
Standard Life
St James Place
Transact
So that's my lot to choose from. Clearly I will need to choose one and then I suppose ask the right questions. I've never set up a pension myself, only even had NHS or local authority etc so have no clue as to where to go from here. If anyone has a basic answer for a basic person, then that would be great. I only want to put maybe £500 pcm into the pot. Don't know if the amount is relevant. As said I'm pretty hopeless in this field and don't want I waste time or money unnecessarily.
Oh I'm North of 50 and an Addick, thus already have a nervous disposition, so please be kind. 😬
In terms of what to invest in, the usual advice is that as you get older (i.e 50+ counts as older) you put more of the pot into steady assets like bonds (say 75%) and the rest in less steady assets like shares.
Disclaimer: I'm not a financial advisor, not even close.
First thing I would say is that the umbrella company don't know anything - Old Mutual changed their name 3 years ago !! Also, in that list of names you have traditional pension companies as well as Platforms - a right hodge podge if you ask me.
I'm not touting for business but you really need advice from a regulated pensions adviser.
The other usual piece of advice is that past performance is not a guide to future performance.
And I agree: best to seek professional advice.0 -
Yes I am employed officially by an umbrella company, but essentially I'm an agency employee working in local government. As such I've just been placed into a pension fund 'Nest' and some deductions/contribution will be made for this. I enquired as to whether I could add an extra top-up into this pension, and was advised that whilst I can, it would be a personal payment as I choose at S later time, but of course would mean that I have already been taxed fully prior. With an AVC or SIP (is that right) the contribution is taken prior to Tax and NI being removed. I assume I will then pay tax on maturity or when paid out of course.RaplhMilne said:You say you have joined an Employment Agency, I assume this is as an employee. Therefore, they will have a company pension of which you are now a member. As salary sacrifice is basically just a slightly more complicated AVC , I’m surprised they are referring you to an external provider. Surely this additional payment would just be an AVC through your employers existing pension scheme…. ?Or are you in some way self employed… which I would think not as that would not really work with salary sacrifice…..0 -
Thanks to all who have contributed. The comments are very good and whilst it is my responsibility, I think the general consensus about what works well or what doesn't, is helpful.0
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I believe that with a NEST pension the employer contributes 3% whilst the employee contributes 5%, but they are minimum contributions. The employer could decide to be generous and contribute 5% and likewise the employee can choose to contribute more. This is as you say deducted at source. I can’t be sure but I cannot see why, if you wanted to contribute say 10%, that your employer can’t do this, it’s just an adjustment they need to make in your payroll record and then when the payroll is run it would deduct 10% as your contribution and pay that into your NEST pension. At work we used SAGE for our payroll and it was certainly doable in their system.The Prince-e-Paul said:
Yes I am employed officially by an umbrella company, but essentially I'm an agency employee working in local government. As such I've just been placed into a pension fund 'Nest' and some deductions/contribution will be made for this. I enquired as to whether I could add an extra top-up into this pension, and was advised that whilst I can, it would be a personal payment as I choose at S later time, but of course would mean that I have already been taxed fully prior. With an AVC or SIP (is that right) the contribution is taken prior to Tax and NI being removed. I assume I will then pay tax on maturity or when paid out of course.RaplhMilne said:You say you have joined an Employment Agency, I assume this is as an employee. Therefore, they will have a company pension of which you are now a member. As salary sacrifice is basically just a slightly more complicated AVC , I’m surprised they are referring you to an external provider. Surely this additional payment would just be an AVC through your employers existing pension scheme…. ?Or are you in some way self employed… which I would think not as that would not really work with salary sacrifice…..
I would say though that whether NEST is the best place to invest further into a pension is something you’d need to discuss with an IFA.1 -
It's not so much the scheme but how the funds are paid into it.The Prince-e-Paul said:
Yes I am employed officially by an umbrella company, but essentially I'm an agency employee working in local government. As such I've just been placed into a pension fund 'Nest' and some deductions/contribution will be made for this. I enquired as to whether I could add an extra top-up into this pension, and was advised that whilst I can, it would be a personal payment as I choose at S later time, but of course would mean that I have already been taxed fully prior. With an AVC or SIP (is that right) the contribution is taken prior to Tax and NI being removed. I assume I will then pay tax on maturity or when paid out of course.RaplhMilne said:You say you have joined an Employment Agency, I assume this is as an employee. Therefore, they will have a company pension of which you are now a member. As salary sacrifice is basically just a slightly more complicated AVC , I’m surprised they are referring you to an external provider. Surely this additional payment would just be an AVC through your employers existing pension scheme…. ?Or are you in some way self employed… which I would think not as that would not really work with salary sacrifice…..
If the employer can take out before you receive your pay (i.e. salary sacrifice) then yes this is before Tax & NI, worse case if you simply paid into a private SIPP you have to enter on your tax return, but you won't save NI. I do this in addition to my employee pension.1 -
Yes they do mortgage advice but aren't a lender themselves. No idea if they access whole of market.Cafc43v3r said:
I got my first mortgage through SJP and it was a Natwest product that they "sold" me.Rob7Lee said:St James place ARE NOT independent financial advisors. They are tied to St James Place. Believe the official term is restricted advice.
Personally I wouldn't touch them. Not saying the individuals are dodgy or anything, but why would you tie yourself to advice from someone effectively only selling products from the company that employs them?
Your advisor is not Independent (The I in IFA).Southendaddick said:My IFA is SJP and always liked the guy and given me good advice and helped with life insurance/critical illlness etc but he’s now being quite pushy about me investing in a VCT and I’m quite sceptical, looks very risky
Any IFA’s on here?
If people are happy to use SJP then that's up to them, just be ware of at least the investment fee structure. Exit fee's, 4.5% initial investment fee etc.0 -
The level of fees will outweigh any perceived investment boost from a fancy portfolio. All providers give access to the same core funds, just at different prices.
In the absence of knowledge, stick to mainstream insurer like Standard Life. St James are parasites and other big intermediaries will recommend what justifies their existence on the most profitable basis.
I always choose passive/index linked funds, fees can be 4 times and more cheaper than actively managed funds. Higher fees for fancy portfolios constructed by an adviser will not deliver out-performance that covers higher fees - except by chance. Statistics prove it.
Passive global equities give cheap simple diversified exposure to equities for the prospect of long term returns above inflation Attempting to second guess what specific funds from the thousands available will out-perform over any period is futile, but gives advisers justification for giving advice.Lifestyle funds are available but outcome will be random and are aimed at reducing risk with age. They essentially exist to avoid individuals taking perverse inappropriate investments through ignorance.
Volatility on an annual basis is a reality, and is the price of a real investment return. All that matters is long term returns against a target - and that’s where you need professional adviser advice. Problem is that advisers try to give what most punters want which is investments that don’t go down. So an adviser review risks being a ride on the roundabout with long term targets being sacrificed in the pursuit of short term performance.If getting advice, ask your adviser to accept part of fees based on out-performance over three year cycles or for matching a recommended target return.3 -
My wife is a trustee to a fund at St James. She never has had a problem with them since the fund was set up in 2002. They were actually very helpful at a very difficult time and have remained so every since. The money invested with them made good a return.Solidgone said:
A tad worrying as I’ve just invested with St James’s Place. I’ve forwarded this link to my Financial Advisor or as they seem to call themselves now Wealth Advisors. I will let you know what he says.cafcfan said:
My wife has a bit of money with Redmayne Bentley and me with True Potential, both retirement funds. Nothing much but various pensions moved for various reasons. Over the years all 3 companies have done a job we couldn't of done because neither of us have the knowledge or understanding of long term investments. The only bit that was hard bit was the set up fees but I think thats something that has to be paid.1 -
So are you selling the umbrellas or are you involved in their manufacture and testing?The Prince-e-Paul said:
Yes I am employed officially by an umbrella company, but essentially I'm an agency employee working in local government. As such I've just been placed into a pension fund 'Nest' and some deductions/contribution will be made for this. I enquired as to whether I could add an extra top-up into this pension, and was advised that whilst I can, it would be a personal payment as I choose at S later time, but of course would mean that I have already been taxed fully prior. With an AVC or SIP (is that right) the contribution is taken prior to Tax and NI being removed. I assume I will then pay tax on maturity or when paid out of course.RaplhMilne said:You say you have joined an Employment Agency, I assume this is as an employee. Therefore, they will have a company pension of which you are now a member. As salary sacrifice is basically just a slightly more complicated AVC , I’m surprised they are referring you to an external provider. Surely this additional payment would just be an AVC through your employers existing pension scheme…. ?Or are you in some way self employed… which I would think not as that would not really work with salary sacrifice…..
What is the biggest umbrella you have?1
