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[Viral_Jim]

Same place my other half works.. you'd be surprised how many people at head office earn less than £30k The directors do swan in in their company Maseratis, though..

Indeed, my comment on the £30k was referring to my last place of employment (RPC Containers) where the head office was tiny (30 people for a £3bn turnover business). TP seems like a much more traditional head office, ie there are people there who actually do things 

I noticed when I went for interview that someone there also runs a brand spanking Model S, and it seems has their own private charge point to plug it in to

[STEMO]

I think wifey's employers pay the equivalent of 13% of her annual salary into her pension. Teachers lower down the scale pay about 9% themselves and the employers contribution is a bout 16%.

Apples and Pears though.

The TPS is an unfunded final/average salary scheme which she now pays 9.6% of salary to be a member of, and she receives a benefit equivalent to about 20% of salary. I suppose it's fair to think of that as being up to 10% matched contributions. The employers contribution is actually entirely notional though  - no money actually changes hands and there is no 'pot' being built up to pay teachers pensions in the future - it's all going to have to come out of future taxes paid at that time. There is no real risk to her pension - stock market crashes can wipe 50%+ off private pensions, but the TPS pension is govt backed so a safe as it's possible to be.

Public sector pensions are some of the most generous going. Equivalent private sector schemes have mostly been closed as they are just too expensive.

The contributions are on a sliding scale and, I think, she pays about 12% of her salary now. I just hope the wheels don't fall off because it's a lot of money.

[aaronjb]

I noticed when I went for interview that someone there also runs a brand spanking Model S, and it seems has their own private charge point to plug it in to

Yes .. apparently that caused great controversy! (I'm usually in the same carpark at 4pm picking t'other half up .. but not in a Tesla )

[LC0112G]

That depends where you're moving, though.. Unless something crazy happens with property prices there are big differences between here (just about commutable to London) and, say, Yorkshire or deepest darkest Lincolnshire. Retirement is planned to be somewhere relatively remote, rural and near(ish) the coast, so should be a considerable drop in price.

This only works because I've (we've) got no kids, no plans for kids and almost certainly no other relatives left alive by the time we retire, of course.

I don't like that idea either - but it's probably just me. Moving out into the wilderness (north of the A303 :-) ) is fine whilst you're young(ish) and healthy(ish). But sooner or later you'll struggle to get about - friends, shops, doctors and hospitals will be miles away - there will be no reliable bus service and something will happen that means you can't drive anymore.  At that point you're stuffed if you can't afford to move back to somewhere more urban. And urban will be expensive because of all the old fogies that have got there before you and are just waiting to die and leave all their money to the grandkids.

[STEMO]

You should have bought your BTL in Yorkshire, Aaron, then it could have worked out that the mortgage on it was paid long before you retired to it.
I could have managed it for you....for a small consideration 

[tunnie]

Same place my other half works.. you'd be surprised how many people at head office earn less than £30k The directors do swan in in their company Maseratis, though..

Indeed, my comment on the £30k was referring to my last place of employment (RPC Containers) where the head office was tiny (30 people for a £3bn turnover business). TP seems like a much more traditional head office, ie there are people there who actually do things 

I noticed when I went for interview that someone there also runs a brand spanking Model S, and it seems has their own private charge point to plug it in to

Come to Sky, think we have around 15,000 people on site here 

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

How safe are private pensions?

If the company goes tits up will the government step in?

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

You should have bought your BTL in Yorkshire, Aaron, then it could have worked out that the mortgage on it was paid long before you retired to it.
I could have managed it for you....for a small consideration 

Yes, Aaron.....a missed opportunity.

Like all people from Liverpool STMO is as honest as the day is long.

[LC0112G]

How safe are private pensions?

If the company goes tits up will the government step in?

Depends what it's invested in.

The 'big' company (like Prudential, Standard Life, Liverpool Victoria, Hargreves Landsdown, whoever)  who 'supply' the pension (called the wrapper) hold your assets in a separate account to their own money. They cannot access your assets without your agreement, and if they went belly up your assets would be ring-fenced from their creditors. If one of the really big boys went bust (Prudential for example) then you'd probably be better off worrying about stocking up on Baked Beans and shotgun shells because the world would be coming to an end anyway.

You (or your advisor) choose which assets to hold within the pension 'wrapper'. You can invest in millions of things - individual companies, unit trusts, OEICS, Gold, Storage pods, airport parking spaces, cheese shops on the moon, whatever. If you invest the whole lot in one company, say Poly Peck or Northern Rock, and that company goes belly up, then you will lose the lot. If you invest your money across a range of different assets - say 10-20 different companies - then if one goes belly up you've only lost a portion of your assets/money.

You can invest in tracker funds which basically buy a bit of every company in the market they're tracking (FTSE100, FTSE250, All share, US, Europe, Global, whatever). Or you can invest in managed funds, where a fund manager attempts to pick 20-100 different companies that he/she thinks will out perform the rest of their peers. You pay higher charges for using managed funds, but hopefully they'll perform better than simple trackers. Some do, some don't.

If the company managing your tracker or managed fund goes bust, then again 'your' assets are ring fenced from the companies remaining assets. If one of the companies held in the fund goes bust then you would lose any money associated with that company, but the rest will be safe.

[Viral_Jim]

Yes .. apparently that caused great controversy! (I'm usually in the same carpark at 4pm picking t'other half up .. but not in a Tesla )

I can imagine. My first interview I saw it and though "oh cool they have wall chargers, could go to an electric car really easily working here". 2nd interview "ah that guy has an electric car charger". Would be tempting to get a BEV and use it just to see what happens as I'll bet it went in under the guise of being "usable for all employees ".

 

[2boxerdogs]

Went my father in law died we were left a decent sum of money which enabled us to buy two small terraced houses close to a university outright, these provide a very substantial income per annum more than any pension fund could provide us with.My advice would be put any spare cash into bricks & mortar.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

How safe are private pensions?

If the company goes tits up will the government step in?

Depends what it's invested in.

The 'big' company (like Prudential, Standard Life, Liverpool Victoria, Hargreves Landsdown, whoever)  who 'supply' the pension (called the wrapper) hold your assets in a separate account to their own money. They cannot access your assets without your agreement, and if they went belly up your assets would be ring-fenced from their creditors. If one of the really big boys went bust (Prudential for example) then you'd probably be better off worrying about stocking up on Baked Beans and shotgun shells because the world would be coming to an end anyway.

You (or your advisor) choose which assets to hold within the pension 'wrapper'. You can invest in millions of things - individual companies, unit trusts, OEICS, Gold, Storage pods, airport parking spaces, cheese shops on the moon, whatever. If you invest the whole lot in one company, say Poly Peck or Northern Rock, and that company goes belly up, then you will lose the lot. If you invest your money across a range of different assets - say 10-20 different companies - then if one goes belly up you've only lost a portion of your assets/money.

You can invest in tracker funds which basically buy a bit of every company in the market they're tracking (FTSE100, FTSE250, All share, US, Europe, Global, whatever). Or you can invest in managed funds, where a fund manager attempts to pick 20-100 different companies that he/she thinks will out perform the rest of their peers. You pay higher charges for using managed funds, but hopefully they'll perform better than simple trackers. Some do, some don't.

If the company managing your tracker or managed fund goes bust, then again 'your' assets are ring fenced from the companies remaining assets. If one of the companies held in the fund goes bust then you would lose any money associated with that company, but the rest will be safe.

I have a general distrust of fund managers.

If the markets are performing well they take all the credit. If the market performs poorly apparently it is not their fault.

If they make poor decisions with your money they are not accountable and probably still get a huge bonus for failure.

[STEMO]

How safe are private pensions?

If the company goes tits up will the government step in?

Depends what it's invested in.

The 'big' company (like Prudential, Standard Life, Liverpool Victoria, Hargreves Landsdown, whoever)  who 'supply' the pension (called the wrapper) hold your assets in a separate account to their own money. They cannot access your assets without your agreement, and if they went belly up your assets would be ring-fenced from their creditors. If one of the really big boys went bust (Prudential for example) then you'd probably be better off worrying about stocking up on Baked Beans and shotgun shells because the world would be coming to an end anyway.

You (or your advisor) choose which assets to hold within the pension 'wrapper'. You can invest in millions of things - individual companies, unit trusts, OEICS, Gold, Storage pods, airport parking spaces, cheese shops on the moon, whatever. If you invest the whole lot in one company, say Poly Peck or Northern Rock, and that company goes belly up, then you will lose the lot. If you invest your money across a range of different assets - say 10-20 different companies - then if one goes belly up you've only lost a portion of your assets/money.

You can invest in tracker funds which basically buy a bit of every company in the market they're tracking (FTSE100, FTSE250, All share, US, Europe, Global, whatever). Or you can invest in managed funds, where a fund manager attempts to pick 20-100 different companies that he/she thinks will out perform the rest of their peers. You pay higher charges for using managed funds, but hopefully they'll perform better than simple trackers. Some do, some don't.

If the company managing your tracker or managed fund goes bust, then again 'your' assets are ring fenced from the companies remaining assets. If one of the companies held in the fund goes bust then you would lose any money associated with that company, but the rest will be safe.

I have a general distrust of fund managers.

If the markets are performing well they take all the credit. If the market performs poorly apparently it is not their fault.

If they make poor decisions with your money they are not accountable and probably still get a huge bonus for failure.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40189970

[STEMO]

If a fund manager puts half of his (other people's) money into stocks which perform poorly and the other half into stocks which perform well, then his fund should break even. Half his clients will win, the other half lose, but he will always make money.

[STEMO]

It's good for governments as well, because the half that win pay tax on it.