IF you’re beginning to make plans to boost your pension savings, then here are three ways to make the task simpler, quicker and cheaper.
1. Make it quick
The annual pension allowance enables you to save as much as £60,000 or up to 100% of your annual earnings every year (if it is lower). And if you're not currently earning, you can still save up to £3,600 a year into your pension. So if you’ve been fortunate enough to have received a bonus, an unexpected windfall or inherited a lump sum, then it can be a quick and easy way to boost your pension savings. Remember, the value of investments can go down as well as up, so you may get back less than you invest.
Don’t forget 'carry forward' too, which allows you to contribute more - using unused allowance from the previous three years - and still keep all the tax benefits that come from pension savings.
2. Make it easy
Make sure you’re getting every penny you can out of your employer. If your employer offers to match any additional contributions you make, then take them up on it.
It’s a cheap and easy way to potentially boost your pension savings. So, if your employer will match (or maybe even beat) your additional contributions, then it’s well worth taking them up on it. By increasing your additional pension contributions to the max, you’ll benefit from the additional top-up you’ll then get from your employer. After all, that’s free money they’re giving you.
3. Make it quick and easy
If your employer allows you to make pension contributions via salary sacrifice you can save on the amount of national insurance you pay whilst saving towards your future.
Important information: The views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and all pension and tax rules may change in the future. You cannot normally access your pension savings until age 55. This is due rise to 57 in 2028. This information is not a personal recommendation for a particular course of action. If you are unsure of the right approach for you personally, you should speak to an authorised financial adviser of your choice.
WI0623/WF1360953/CSO/0624
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