Blogging Advice: How To Start A Pension If You Are Self Employed

How To Start A Pension If You Are Self Employed

Hey blogger friends! Listen up! You need a pension!!! I only started mine a while ago and honestly, I wish I had done it sooner!!! So today, I’m going to share with you WHY you need to start a pension NOW and also HOW to start a pension if you are self employed! OK! Let’s go!

Why You Need To Start A Pension!

Honestly, this is a simple one, you want to be comfortable when you retire! You want to have enough money to live well and enjoy your retirement. Sure, you will get a state pension, but it’s not enough to live on, you need savings and / or a private pension too.

What’s The Difference Between Savings & A Pension?

OK, so I’m no money expert here and in some ways a pension and savings are very similar. They are both savings funds, however, there are a few major differences, firstly, you can be charged tax on savings, where as a pension will actually GIVE you tax relief on your savings. So, say you saved up £10,000 and keep it in your current account, you might find you are charged tax on that money. Where as that same money in a pension account would be instantly worth £12,000 thanks to tax credit AND you wouldn’t be charged tax on it AND it would be reinvested for you so that £12,000 will GROW – mine is growing at around 10-13% per year!!!!! Admittedly you won’t be able to access that money until you retire, but let’s be honest, you NEED some money to be out of arms reach so you dip into it next time you want a take-away! Am I right?!

How To Start A Pension If You Are Self Employed

If you have a job, it’s VERY likely you have a workplace pension and that is AWESOME, however, if you are like me and you are self employed, you will most likely need to think about starting a private pension instead. When I first tried to do this, I actually really struggled. At first I called the company who used to manage my workplace pension and I asked if I could restart it – they said no! It turns out, it’s not that easy! They suggested I found a financial advisor, which seemed crazy as I would have to pay that financial advisor and it might cost me a small fortune to set up a pension I was only going to pay £20 a month into. Honestly, I found trying to open a pension WITHOUT a financial advisor, harder than you would think! Read this post if you want to know more! 

Eventually…

I signed up to Aviva, who are a leading pension provider who my dad uses for one of his private pensions. I signed up and started paying in some money every month. It’s honestly SO much fun paying in money and seeing extra money go in because the government add to it. It feels good! However, one thing I will say about Aviva is it is a little trickier to set up because you have to decide how you want your money to be low, medium or high risk, or maybe you want to have some in cash and some in investments. I actually did it wrong, so I would suggest calling up the helpline – they are super nice and helpful! Even if you think you have set it up correctly, call them just to check!!!

Alternatively…

If you are self employed now but you had a job in the past which gave you a workplace pension, the you can transfer that money into a fresh pension and restart it! It’s easy as pie I PROMISE and that will be a great little starting point for your pension! Just head over to Aviva to set up a pension and give them the details OR head over to Pension Bee and they will find it for you, transfer it and you can start paying in again and watch it GROW! I have Pension Bee Refer-a-friend code which gives you a £50 for signing up – I get the same bonus as a thank you! In the past Pension Bee have only accepted new customers who already have an old workplace pension, but now you can be brand new to Pension Bee with NO existing pension and start an account. PLUS if you use my refer a friend link, you can get a bonus £50 for starting it – full disclosure, i get one too! If you are choosing between Pension Bee and Aviva then I would say both are great, but Pension Bee is a LOT faster and easier to set up, plus they show you your projected pension pot for your retirement age, so you know what you are working towards better.

Finally…

If you don’t think you have any spare cash to start a pension, please just start it anyway, you can literally pay in £10 a month and I promise it will start to add up and when you can afford to put more in, it will be set up and ready to go! Similarly, if you think you are too old to start a pension and you don’t feel it’s worth it, again, I PROMISE it is. Even a small contribution every month is worth it! Finally…. if you are freelance and your income changes every month and you are worried about committing to put more than you can afford into your pension every month, then you can always keep your contributions super low and then add in lump sums whenever you can afford it.

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I really hope this post is of help, please do let me know if you have any questions. I am always happy to help! Also, this post contains a Pension Bee Refer-a-friend link, it is not sponsored or endorsed by them, it’s just a customer refer-a-friend link!