Pension Advice

[Jeffju]

Has anyone over 50 any advice about starting a pension this late?

[factor-fiction]

If you are going to work to 65 it's worth it. And if it's an employers' scheme it's probably worth it, especially if the employer contributes. If you are looking at private pensions and you plan to retire well before 65 you will need to make some pretty big contributions for it to be worthwhile. In my view a small pension of perhaps £50 pw isn't worth having because you lose out on pension credit and council tax benefits.

How much pension are you wanting to get a year and from what age?

[buildersmate]

I agree. Although you get tax relief on any pension contributions that you make, there is little point in saving for a small pension that won't raise you above the threshold of Government handouts to the low paid. A cynical answer, I know, but it's true - such is the mess that successive Governments over the last 20 years have now got the system into.
Put another way, the Basic Pension is way below what is paid out (by Government) as the minimum one should be able to live on. But if you only had a small additional pension, you still wouldn't exceed this minimum.
The only exception to this is if your employer would pay into a scheme for you to match your own contributions - then you'd be building up a fund quicker.