Where does pension money go every month when I pay into it?

Nearly everyone will pay into some sort of pension at some stage. Most will pay into a pension fund throughout their entire working life. These are often through their employer, set up by an individual independently or through a financial adviser.

Most will go through life paying into their pension every month, without giving much thought as to what is happening to the funds they are paying in. It becomes habit, you don’t notice the contribution leaving your pay cheque every month. So, you probably don’t think about where your pension money goes when you pay it. Life gets in the way, there are always more important and more immediate issues that you have to attend to. The pension is something you’ll worry about later.

Pension benefits you can enjoy now

As you may have gathered, we would suggest that you look at it now. Your pension will offer you an array of benefits that you may not even be aware of, which are being wasted without your care and attention. Some examples are:

• Income Tax Relief – this is especially pertinent to Higher Income taxpayers. According to research by Prudential, nearly 60% of higher rate taxpayers fail to claim full income tax relief on their pension contributions.
• Tax efficient growth – the funds within your pension grow free from income and capital gains taxes. This can have a considerable compound effect over the many years that you hold it.
• Access to stock market-based investments for long-term growth. Most pensions will automatically invest you into a ‘default investment fund’, this may not be the most effective fund that is available within your pension but should still provide better potential long-term growth prospects than many other savings vehicles.
• Free of Inheritance Tax – nearly all pensions do not form part of your Estate and are therefore free of inheritance tax liability.

These are a few headline advantages of holding a pension, however there are of course drawbacks. This could be access (you can normally only access your private pension from age 55), affordability, Lifetime Allowance (you are limited as to how much you can hold in your pensions before suffering a tax charge) and others that may be specific to you as an individual.

The overall idea is that your money will be given the best chance to grow to a level that you might feel comfortable to live on in the future. Considering how crucial pensions will become to many of us in later life, it might be worth just thinking about what you currently do with yours and planning for your future.

Disclaimer

YorWealth Limited provides this document for your information. Please seek advice before acting on it. We take all reasonable steps to ensure the content is correct at the time of publication. But, we may have condensed the source material. Any views expressed or interpretations given are our own.

Please note that investments can fall as well as rise and past performance is no guarantee for future performance. No part of this document may be reproduced without the express permission of YorWealth Limited.

YorWealth Limited is an appointed representative of Hexagon Wealth Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.