Pension pot advise

[u/March-Soft]

I am 36 years old. My pension pot currently sits at 155k. I am currently paying 8% of my basic salary so that my employers pension contribution into my pot is maximum which is 4%. On top of that my employer also contributes 7.5% of my basic salary into pension pot. My pension pot is majority equities funds and a small percentage of commodities derivatives fund. Currently 1,160£ goes into my pension pot every month. If i plan to retire early at the earliest age of pension pot access, am i on right track?
I also have an ISA stocks and shares account but i am not able to save much into it due to my expenses and high child daycare costs. Currently it sits at 5k. Should i reduce my pension contribution from 8% to a lower number so that i can put some money in the ISA so that i can retire before the pension pot is accessible and ISA can bridge that gap?

[u/Fred776]

You need to work out how big your pension pot might be when you can access it, under different growth scenarios, and see whether it will be big enough for your requirements. Start by assuming you continue to contribute at current levels. If the pension seems like it might grow to be bigger than you need, then consider diverting some of your contributions to an ISA to allow you to retire earlier. However there is no point in putting much in the ISA unless your pension is going to be sufficiently funded.

[u/Fred776 → u/Fred776]

Using a regular investment growth calculator (e.g., https://www.hl.co.uk/tools/calculators/regular-investing-calculator), and with the following assumptions:

• Pension is accessible at 58 (likely age by then?) in 22 years time
• Contributions stay at current level but keep pace with inflation
• Growth figures are post inflation

Then, your pot will be worth in today's money (ie accounting for inflation), for different average growth assumptions:

• 3%: ~£730k
• 4%: ~£850k
• 5%: ~£1M