Changing my Percentage

A question about : Changing my Percentage

Hi All,

The company I work for is due to auto enrol in May and I intend to initially put in 13% of my salary.

I can cope this this amount at the moment but if something happens and I'm struggling, are you allowed to decrease this amount?

Also, should I be putting all my pension eggs in one basket? I don't have a private pension and my company only have the auto enrolment pension and intend to only put in the minimum contribution.

I'm 27, on Ј20K and I should still be able to put a bit away on savings (About Ј100 a month) on top of this pension.

Best answers:

• We'd need to know more abt the auto enroll pension to say, but if 13% is mroe than you need to put in to get the best they will give, then you should be able to reduce in future.
  How much to the company put in on top of your 13%? You could. at your age, afford to put in a little less until you have your cash savings pot to a good level? does your 13% take into account TR or is that on top?
• The company standard Auto enrol pension will be:
  The Company will contribute 1% of your basic salary and you will also be required to contribute at least 1%.
  I've worked out 13% from Martin Lewis' calculator and have been putting this amount into a savings account for about 8 months now until the auto enrolment pension kicks in.
  I already have a good savings pot as I am saving for a deposit.
  If you TR - you mean tax relief, no the 13% does not include the tax relief, this is before this is added.
• yes, TR is tax relief but the number of times we have to type it here, it ehlps to abbreviate.
  Usually, your total into a pension would include the employers bit and TR. If you want to save more, and are on basic rate tax, a S&S isa could be preferable for flexibility?
• Just to note; as far as i know, even if you put in 13% from the start the company will not match it at this point - they wil only pay in the 1% minimum required, but i think by 2018 they have to be paying in 8%. unless you have really generous employers who will match from the start.
• Yeah I realise if I put in 13% my company will only put in 1%. My current isa is at 1.35% so it isn't that much of a difference. My main question is, if say for example, my car went kaput and I need to buy a new one, would I be able to lower my auto enrolment contributions to say, 9% for example, as the minimum required is 1%?
  I worry that if I put it into an Isa I will use it for my house deposit and I would like to keep these aspects separate. So I was wondering what the consensus was about me putting 13% + 1% employer Contribution + tax relief would be. Is it a wise move to save that much?