Is it worth it?

A question about : Is it worth it?

I am 50 years old now, is it really worth me joining the auto-enrolment pension scheme at my age?

Best answers:

• Is free money worth it to you?
  Is any alternative you do with your own money going to beat the free money you are given?
• At age 50, if you don't have any existing private pension saving then you probably won't be retiring until at least State Pension age (unless due to ill health or redundancy), which for you is likely to be 67.
  17 years is enough time to save an amount that will make a big difference in retirement. Using this pension calculator, a person aged 50 earning Ј20,000 could build up an annual pension of Ј1,500 from age 67 if they contribute 3% of salary and employer contributes 4%.
  Admittedly, Ј1,500 isn't much, but if all you have is income of Ј140 p/w then it is an extra 20% income which is a big increase. And a combined employee/employer contribution of 7% is low, so it should be easy to save more than that for many people.
  There is a risk that the extra income is reduced due to means-testing, although who knows what the system will be when you reach pension age. However, you can take pensions (based on total pension wealth, not individual pension pots) worth up to Ј18,000 as a lump sum under Trivial Commutation. Hence you can start saving, and if it turns out that means-testing is a problem, stop saving later and stay below the Trivial Commutation threshold.
• Yes, it's likely to be worth it at any age. Usually those who are getting to your age or older tend to want to increase their pension provision, as they get closer to retirement.
• Have you got disposable income?
  If you aren't on the breadline then probably yes.
  If you are then I'd wait for the next few years worth of benefits reform before you decide to opt-out - benefits may significantly reduce.
• It is worth it, with tax relief, plus 'free money' from your employer- do it.
• Isn't inflation going to destroy the value of pension anyway?
  What about pension money being used by hedge funds in the stock market, which wipes millions off the value when the stock market tanks.
  The idea of pensions makes people feel safer about the future. But as we all know, tomorrow never comes.
• I woke up a few hours ago- it came.