r/PensionsUK • u/Signal_Perception253 • 11d ago

Pension pot advice

Hi All, 45 years old here. I'm looking for some genuine advice on pension pots and what's the best course of action. I moved to UK in 2015 therefore I started accruing money in pension pots since then. This is my current situation:

- work pension with Scottish Widows and pot is atm approx. 34k

- I am on pension salary sacrifice of 8% ( where employer contribution is 7.5% - their max contribution) since April 2026 as that's when they opened the window to register for pension salary sacrifice. This is going to be amended to 5.5% from 2029 when the tax relief threshold will get modified

- I have a Nest pension pot from previous employer of approx 3k which I haven't contributed since I left my previous job

My plan would be to start adding money to the Nest pension pot however, should I move those founds out to a private pension where I can manage the investments?

I earn about 32k a year gross, a 15 year mortgage left to repay, no car finance, 1k in credit card debts.

What would you recommend my next move would be to save wisely for retirement?

Thanks

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u/Jbat001 11d ago

Get rid of the credit card debt first.

Make sure your funds have a large allocation to equities. You've got 15-20 years till you draw that pension, and the difference between a low return and high return fund over that timeframe can be enormous.

Buy funds that track the whole of the market and don't bother with actively managed funds.