@@JamesShack hi, downloaded Google drive like you said, open it up in Google drive, click on number, as it goes into the box, it's not letting me remove numbers, it says for view only, any advice
This is such an awesome calculator. I'm just starting out saving into a pension, and found the targets for saving pretty daunting, but this helps to break it down and gives me some pretty clear targets to focus on. Thank you so much!
My short answer is, I used to blame everything around me :) That shifted at age 35, which initially felt late. Now, at 44, I'm not far off from my goals. Admittedly, my income fluctuates but like you, James, I focus on earning more rather than investing more. After all, without lifestyle inflation, you're more likely to live frugally and save. I have no plans to retire; I love what I do. Yet, reaching my ultimate goal by 50 wouldn't be a bad idea. You'll hear my knock when I'm close to that target (hopefully) 🛎
Hey James, thank you very much for this! Suggestion to complement the tool: it would be interesting to have the target values for £30K and £50K, as going from £20K to £40K represents a 100% increase in annual expenditure and 50% from £40K to £60K
I have several pensions from former employers. Could you make a video looking at the pros and cons of combining pensions into a single scheme and/or using an investment company?
ICT is the best and I learned a lot and now having my own channel to teach what I learned + what I could add to by studying the price action deeply based on the main ideas got from ICT... I have started posting daily videos to review how the price actually moves and when you really understand this then it will be easy to catch the perfect entries and to get profitable by time, appreciating Michael as he made a big change in the way I see the market now and hopefully I can convey this knowledge as best as I can to those who will watch my content, thanks again to Michael and ICT for all this great content which is motivating many traders like me to grow day by day
Another fantastic video and a great calculator thank you! Crucial to the pension performance, an element of pensions I find tricky is deciding on a particular fund. Typical workplace pensions with limited fund options for example may offer a default diversified active fund with say 0.38% charges versus a passive global equity only fund with say 0.11% charges. It can be difficult to find the historical fund performance data beyond the 5 years given in the factsheets which can make it difficult to compare historical long term fund performance to help determine whether the difference in charges makes a significant difference.
Found you recently and really enjoy your videos - clear and actionable advice (…not advice). I would really appreciate if you could cover pension saving for a couple rather than just an individual - how much should I be saving for a joint annual pension income of e.g. £40k. I assume this would be different than a single person with £40k income due to taxes (or does this calculator calculate annual income before tax because future tax rates and thresholds are unknown?) Thank you.
Thankyou for the spreadsheet. May I ask if the calculations include state pension at any point? Looking at 20k PA scenario from age 61 which will be in 6 years time. If you could clarify if it includes state pension from 67 please. Also you mentionm in the video a life expectancy of 95 is there a way to change this to 85 or is it just a case of manipulating your retirement start date to reduce the number of retired years? I can see you have answered the state pension question for someone else, Thankyou
Exactly this. Something I’ve found very frustrating with all videos, calculators etc. on retirement planning and investment… All seem to discuss retirement income from savings/investments only. (Eg 4% rule) Been trying to find somewhere I could model retiring at 58-60, and having to fund all £30k of an annual retirement income until 67/68, at which point equivalent of £9.5k state pension takes reduces what I have to fund per year. Never managed to find anything that really clearly takes this into account.
Hi James, I would appreciate some guidance on how bond funds behave in a pension. If I buy a real bond and hold it to maturity I expect to get back my money and some interest, assuming that the bond does not default. But in a pension the holding is a fund and I don't know if the behaviour is the same. Does the value fluctuate as the net asset value changes or should I expect to get my money back, with interest if I wait?
What do you think about opting out of a pension and investing the money in the s&p500 ,risky I know but that's what I have been doing for the last 5 years ,so far gone from 0 to 60k in retirement pot,I do add extra ,but at this rate its compounding very fast
I presume you mean you're using a F.I.R.E strategy, prioritising early retirement but sacrificing employer contributions and tax relief available via pension?
The back test looked at 3 different rates, £20k,£40k and £60k. The results of which you can see on the third tab. So it depends on whatever you’re aiming for!
Great video and decent calculator. Is there any very rough rule of thumb to loosely calculate a DB pension scheme? Say for every £100 per month/£1200 per year, you are able to minus a rough amount away from the DC/Stocks and Bonds? Thanks again!
I predict that the pension lump sum with be fully taxed on 100% of it and anyone with a private pension will not be entitled to the full uk state pension. Therefore I bought property and self reliant.
Great video and excellent well presented calculator which I will download. Love the ending and the point about taking responsibility and working out, where you want to go and then try avenues to get there 👍
Hi James. Yet another great video. A special thankyou for the calculator, that helps a lot. Also it's great to hear you speak about Stephen Covey. I met the great man in the flesh back in 1996 in Toronto whilst serving as a missionary. He is and was a great man with such wisdom. Thanks for the content you put out James, it is a great blessing to many people.
Love this video James! Literally helping us all achieve our financial goals. Just wanted to check when you add the value of your current savings do we include everything e.g current pension pot values & all personal savings across various accounts
No slots for the consultation :( But do we have to watch the videos everytime if we're checking whether there's any appointments? A waiting list would be really helpful!
If you have more than one pension, a workplace pension and a private pension - should you calculate the amount you contribute to include gov tax relief as well? I am trying to figure out if I am meeting the required monthly contributions.
If you need to save 1000 per month, save whatever it takes, including your employer contribution, to get there, in a salary sacrifice scheme. If your employer pays say 250 of that, save 750. That 750 will include the money you saved by not paying tax and NI. So, as a basic rate taxpayer, it will only have cost you 500 (net salary or bottom line), to save 1000.
@@andreasmart7853 that is a real shame, and silly from their pov. They would also save on employer NI contributions due to reduced salary. It could be worth encouraging them, if you can contact the correct person/department.
Hi James.... can you do a video about what happens to your pension when you die? .... it really bothers me, and doesn't seem right, that if I was to buy an annuity the pension companies are giving annuity rates at about 3% pa equivalent return, but then end up keeping the pot when death occurs - when in reality all they are doing is paying you the investment return on your pot and keeping the capital - particularly bad as I can get 6%+ returns in an ISA stocks wrapper and keep the pot. Also could you explore the impact on state pension of COPE as the government info is very poor
So the calculator doesn’t allow for wage increases, just a flat number, start here finish there. Most folk won’t have the disposable income at the start of their careers but would have more towards the end. Of course, the longer invested funds should have had the longest/best growth but that would probably have been from meagre beginnings. TBH I wasn’t a fan years ago of pensions and the annuity only route, luckily I do have a reasonable pot having been part of a final salary scheme earlier in my life. Good luck to the kids of today.
Thanks James. it appears that I am in the ballpark of the contributions which makes me happier than i was previously. Just need to add another tenner on monthly and should be at my goal. very happy with the calculator you produced.
Great explanation. I’ve used your previous Google sheets model quite a bit and settled on what I’m doing for the next 10 years as far as pension contributions are concerned. After that I’ll likely change my contributions to more stocks and shares / ISA.
I would be nice to have another table added to predict what the value that money might worth in the future. So if I'm aiming for a target value of 20,000 in today's money what should my target value really be if I plan to retire in 20 years?
Ive always thought in a way with these calculators that theres no point in adjusting returns for inflation if you're also under the assumption that your contributions will also increase with inflation. People will calculate that they will invest for example £600/month for 30 years when in reality this figure should also go up with pay raises
Models like this assume your contributions increase inline with inflation. Returns should always be measured net of inflation. Otherwise it’s meaningless. A 10% return with 10% inflation and 10% increase in contributions is still 0% real return and a 0% real increase in contributions.
great video, really informative. I'm so glad I stumbled across your videos, I've been really trying to work out how much I should be saving, and this really helped me out. I had a question, I'm not sure if its a bit obvious, but say we did save the set figure every month, do we need to account for inflation and increase our monthly saving amount as time goes on in our investing careers?
In reality yes you would. But in this calculation because we’ve adjusted the growth rate for inflation you would need to save £X per month in real from now until retirement. In reality you’ll need to increase £X by inflation each year.
Another great Video James, always love the content. The calculator is also great - I'd be interest to see if you could build one that could give you a target stop working date as well rather than assuming you want to work until you retire ie I want my pension pot to be £1.1m for a £40,000 retirement income, what does it need to be at when I'm 40 (assuming no further contributions) to be on track for that at 58 for example
Hey James, tried to book a phone chat with you from the link on your about page, but seems there are no appointments for June or July and it won't go past July. Are you still doing them?
I'm saving approximately 35% of my annual gross income but it's tough to do with the current state of inflation. I re-check my budget every six months to make sure nothing is getting out of hand. Thanks for the calculator. The market losses have been brutal. I've been buying iBonds since the beginning of the year and much of my other bond holdings are STIPS so I've held up okay on the bond side but the stock side has made me want to jump off a tall building. :) I'm just watching it and hoping Vanguard has me allocated correctly on the index funds. On the smaller portfolio that I manage, I've just got a few companies I really believe in for future growth. I think BYD is going to be one of my top investments over the next ten years.
If it helps I've been dollar cost averaging bitcoin and that is brutally down but you just gotta stay true to your guns and see it as a discount bro! And with stocks you'll get dividend payouts so you are getting those cheaper now
Just found your channel and loving it! Just watched your rebalancing video... Assuming no fees, wouldn't rebalancing between assets with equal expected returns profit from rebalancing as much as possible? If different assets are outperforming at different times then the more often a rebalance happens the more times you get to sell high and buy low.... Or am I missing something?
Does the annual income include the state pension? If so people will need to remember to remove that from the total if they retire before state pension age. If not then they add it on at state pension age!
The back test does include one persons state pension. So £410k at 55 would maintain an expenditure of £20k throughout life. The state pension ends up paying for a lot of it.
Just subscribed on the back of this video, very helpful content, using the calculator just reinforced what contributions i'm making monthly are making a difference long term, big question will be how to get that actual return come retired, thanks
I put my numbers in, and the calculator says I could hit my target value 5 years ahead of my current target retirement date based on my current level of monthly contributions. That's reassuring!
Thanks a lot, really like your videos, clear and concise! Considering a retirement year of 2051, would you use the Life Strategy 80/20 or the Target Retirement 2050? I am using the Target Retirement 2050 at the moment but I am not sure it is the right choice. Thanks
@@JamesShack thanks. The calculator works well and confirms what I am doing is about right. Good news is that my wife is now working again and this will boost our savings and her pension. Great youtube channel.
Hi James, I wanted to ask your thoughts on seeking out a fund manager. I have come into a lump sum of near on £100k. I am aware that the vast majority of fund managers fail to beat the market. But I also am very impulsive. I cannot quite call it risk tolerance, but sometimes I carried away and other times, quite the opposite. They say a little knowledge is a bad thing. And as much as I can write here claiming "it is time in the market, not timing the market", I do not trust myself in all honesty. Is it worth seeking professionals to manage my funds. And what would an average investment firm in london charge? I would be very keen to hear your response. Just to warn, I will post this same message on a couple of your more recent videos with the hope it catches your eyeballs. Thanks.
The fact that you are already aware of your impulses means that you already know how to control it. There are robo advisors that will probably perform better than an actual fund manager but you are best not to put all of your money in one place. Keep researching and you'll be fine
@@karimj5268 hello Karim, Don't just invest in any random asset. Understand the asset and why it's worth investing in. You'd be surprised how little people know about their portfolio, i had 200K and i was able to grow that to 1.5 million in 14 months as a newbie. the expert who assists me is Lanngel Mark. *(you can look him up online)* We met at a trading conference and he accepted to trade for me and ever since I have had no cause to regret.
Thanks James. Like the sheet. Great feeling when looking at the sheet as shows I was roughly on track. Motivational boost knowing pension will growing besides this as i used my ISA numbers. Biggest danger is lifestyle creep and inflation imo. Plus dipping into that already accumulated pot gives disturbing results
James, can you please make a video about investing with high inflation? A lot of people draw comparisons with the seventies, but I believe it isn't quite the same scenario. I am curious to see what your analysis would show!
Depends on your risk profile! I am young and am seeing the bear market Asa big discount and making lifestyle changes to buy index funds, etfs and crypto at a massive discount! I guess the best actions to combat the inflation side of things is to try negotiate better pay, a promotion, extra work, new job, lifestyle and shopping changes. Investing is so hard to make profits atm as everything is the most uncertain it has been in a longgggg time. Gold hasn't even done well and it's meant to be an inflation hedge!
Legendary! many thanks James for sharing and teaching! I am using SIPP to save for pension. To withdraw money it has some tax restrictions. So does your calculator take those restrictions into account? or it is independent of any investment saving scheme? Thanks
Thank you for this tool Jack, very useful! Should I include the value of my home in assets? I understand this does not represent an active investment and is difficult to release, but with equity release schemes the value of your home does contribute a lot when you eventually need to move to a assisted living facility.
So the 20/40/60k expenditure is that including any sort of inflation calculation? Just wondering as one maybe happy with £20k expenditure now, but we may find that the buying power of £20k will be a lot less in say 30 years.
Hi James, another really really useful video, thanks again. Just a quick question, is the £20k/£40k/£60k calculations before or after tax? Apologies if you mentioned it somewhere and I missed it
@@JamesShack Great. Probably watched it before but I'll watch again as I've done already with a few of your videos. I'm basing my calculations on pension only while having lifetime ISA's, Vanguard funds and property as extras that I'm not accounting for as bonus extras
Good video. Will definitely be giving the calculator a go. You mentioned at the end some different investments you have been using for the last couple of years. Can you expand on what you have been going? They sounded positive
I’m really enjoying your videos. Your mindset is completely different to mine so it’s a real learning experience. I think I’m potentially too comfortable with risk. Out of interest what do you think the earning threshold is for someone in their 30’s to talk to a financial planner?
Take a look at this life expectancy calculator. Unless you have any preexisting or hereditary medial conditions, it's a good guide to go by. www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/articles/lifeexpectancycalculator/2019-06-07
What if you put that money in a Stocks and Shares ISA instead? Would you return be better? Also when you hit target retirement age, what is the tax rate?
If using salary sacrifice, you save on your taxable rate AND national insurance. So 33.25% at basic rate. An ISA is funded by money that has already had these deductions. £400 of the money going into an ISA, costs £400 of your bankable salary. That same cost to your bottom line, in salary sacrifice scheme, puts £600 into your pot. (Plus employer contributions) Not including employer contributions, your initial capital investment has been boosted by 50% to £600. So compound interest is on a higher initial value. £400 gaining 10%pa for 5 years is worth £644.20 (with no tax to pay) £600 gaining 10%pa for 5 years is worth £966.30 which is taxable. (25% tax free. 75% taxed at say 20% rate) £241.57 + (£724.73 - £144.94) £241.57 + £579.78 = £821.35 The tax will be less if you haven’t used all of your annual earnings tax allowance. More if your earnings exceed £50k. A private pension only gets relief on the tax. Not on the National Insurance.
Thank you for this, I did some guesstimating and scared the life out of myself. I'm getting the actual numbers shortly so hopefully less scary. I have a question... I'm planning on doing lots of the extra saving by upping my pension contributions. I've already maxed out the employer contributions. Would it be better to save elsewhere like a V lifestrategy instead of extra pension at this point? Thanks for your help, you have helped me start to get unstuck with future planning ❤️
If your work scheme is a salary sacrifice scheme then it will be marginally better to contribute to that because you also save on national insurance. You could also ask work if they will pay the NI savings they make by you upping your contributions into your pension. Many employer schemes allow partial transfers out so you can transfer out to another pension, that has better investment options, whilst keeping the employer pension open.
@@JamesShack this is great to know thank you very much for replying. I've been stuck on this for so long and it's scary not knowing what to do but your videos have really helped me get my head around it all and make actual changes! Thanks again ❤️
Hi James, I have been retired for 32 years, nevertheless I am fascinated by your videos. Can you please tell me if you think exceeding £85,000 in Vanguard is a reasonable thing to do.
Yes, many people and institutions have millions invested through their funds. They have very strong protections in place to secure client money from theft/collapse.
Basically because the full state pension from the age of 67 would account for nearly 50% of a pension income of 20k, but less than 25% of 40k. Also, the effect of the tax free allowance (£12,570) would mean that you would probably need to pay a lot more tax on the higher pension income.
Hi James, another great video! Have you any advice for a disabled person (mid 30’s) living on benefits due to being unable to work? Hence no employment based pension.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Have a go with the calculator and please let me know what you find!
bit.ly/3aRLRDl
Hi James, downloaded your spreadsheet, as I only got a phone, I can't edit the numbers to play with some figures, any help plz.
@@kellydewet629 you’ll need to download google drive on your phone. Then make a copy of it.
@@JamesShack hi, downloaded Google drive like you said, open it up in Google drive, click on number, as it goes into the box, it's not letting me remove numbers, it says for view only, any advice
@@kellydewet629 You then need to make a copy of the sheet. File > Make a copy
@@kellydewet629 Try this one: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-eQS7kRtM8Dmqn86ebfrghAhkFgxjhWwT_zstrDs5Eo/edit?usp=sharing
Thanks for the link to the spreadsheet. So much better than video alone.
This is such an awesome calculator. I'm just starting out saving into a pension, and found the targets for saving pretty daunting, but this helps to break it down and gives me some pretty clear targets to focus on. Thank you so much!
My short answer is, I used to blame everything around me :) That shifted at age 35, which initially felt late. Now, at 44, I'm not far off from my goals. Admittedly, my income fluctuates but like you, James, I focus on earning more rather than investing more.
After all, without lifestyle inflation, you're more likely to live frugally and save. I have no plans to retire; I love what I do. Yet, reaching my ultimate goal by 50 wouldn't be a bad idea. You'll hear my knock when I'm close to that target (hopefully) 🛎
That's great to hear. Especially that recognition about blaming things on everything but yourself - it's wasted every and won't change anything.
How would you take out the assumption of a full UK pension in the calculator?
This is one extremely helpful video. Thank you very much.
Thank you for the breakdown. Had a look through the calculator and feeling motivated as I may be able to retire earlier than expected!
That’s great to hear!
Hey James, thank you very much for this! Suggestion to complement the tool: it would be interesting to have the target values for £30K and £50K, as going from £20K to £40K represents a 100% increase in annual expenditure and 50% from £40K to £60K
Awesome calculator, thank you!
James - is there a way of working out different figures as well? Say 30k a year or 35k a year?
I like this vid. Good insight. I should have heard this years ago.
Thank you 🙏
Hey James! is this contribution is the amount of money we should be investing in a index fund per month?
A global index fund, or equivalent.
@@JamesShack and you recommend investing that money and at the same time adding a little bit aside? let's say £200?
If the growth percentage has been adjusted for inflation already...does that mean you will have more money than the target amount at the end?
I have several pensions from former employers. Could you make a video looking at the pros and cons of combining pensions into a single scheme and/or using an investment company?
Hi James, is the calculator still working? I've not been able to download it. Thanks much.
ICT is the best and I learned a lot and now having my own channel to teach what I learned + what I could add to by studying the price action deeply based on the main ideas got from ICT... I have started posting daily videos to review how the price actually moves and when you really understand this then it will be easy to catch the perfect entries and to get profitable by time, appreciating Michael as he made a big change in the way I see the market now and hopefully I can convey this knowledge as best as I can to those who will watch my content, thanks again to Michael and ICT for all this great content which is motivating many traders like me to grow day by day
James you're a hero
Another fantastic video and a great calculator thank you!
Crucial to the pension performance, an element of pensions I find tricky is deciding on a particular fund. Typical workplace pensions with limited fund options for example may offer a default diversified active fund with say 0.38% charges versus a passive global equity only fund with say 0.11% charges. It can be difficult to find the historical fund performance data beyond the 5 years given in the factsheets which can make it difficult to compare historical long term fund performance to help determine whether the difference in charges makes a significant difference.
Brilliant and makes think as I am 50 and would love £20 k per year
Brilliant James..thanks so much.
Found you recently and really enjoy your videos - clear and actionable advice (…not advice).
I would really appreciate if you could cover pension saving for a couple rather than just an individual - how much should I be saving for a joint annual pension income of e.g. £40k. I assume this would be different than a single person with £40k income due to taxes (or does this calculator calculate annual income before tax because future tax rates and thresholds are unknown?)
Thank you.
Use it twice, once for each of you.
Thankyou for the spreadsheet. May I ask if the calculations include state pension at any point?
Looking at 20k PA scenario from age 61 which will be in 6 years time. If you could clarify if it includes state pension from 67 please. Also you mentionm in the video a life expectancy of 95 is there a way to change this to 85 or is it just a case of manipulating your retirement start date to reduce the number of retired years?
I can see you have answered the state pension question for someone else, Thankyou
Exactly this.
Something I’ve found very frustrating with all videos, calculators etc. on retirement planning and investment…
All seem to discuss retirement income from savings/investments only. (Eg 4% rule)
Been trying to find somewhere I could model retiring at 58-60, and having to fund all £30k of an annual retirement income until 67/68, at which point equivalent of £9.5k state pension takes reduces what I have to fund per year.
Never managed to find anything that really clearly takes this into account.
@@Vincentjwhite James did a calculator previously that allowed you to do that. Go through his previous videos 👍🏻
Good work with the spreadsheet. In Oz if you're planning for the pension then you can't save to much, unless you retire early.
Hi James, I would appreciate some guidance on how bond funds behave in a pension. If I buy a real bond and hold it to maturity I expect to get back my money and some interest, assuming that the bond does not default. But in a pension the holding is a fund and I don't know if the behaviour is the same. Does the value fluctuate as the net asset value changes or should I expect to get my money back, with interest if I wait?
What do you think about opting out of a pension and investing the money in the s&p500 ,risky I know but that's what I have been doing for the last 5 years ,so far gone from 0 to 60k in retirement pot,I do add extra ,but at this rate its compounding very fast
I presume you mean you're using a F.I.R.E strategy, prioritising early retirement but sacrificing employer contributions and tax relief available via pension?
Thanks for this James, I may have missed this but what is the withdrawal rate on this example?
If you want to retire on say £20k a year then divide £20k by 12. And of course this assumes a drawdown rate of £20k/year from retirement to age 95.
The back test looked at 3 different rates, £20k,£40k and £60k. The results of which you can see on the third tab.
So it depends on whatever you’re aiming for!
@@JamesShack Thanks!
James you have made some beauty spreadies pal - great stuff.
Great video, James!
Glad you enjoyed it
Those subtitles at the start were a bit Charlie and the Chocolate factory!
Great vid as always
Great video and decent calculator. Is there any very rough rule of thumb to loosely calculate a DB pension scheme? Say for every £100 per month/£1200 per year, you are able to minus a rough amount away from the DC/Stocks and Bonds? Thanks again!
You should be able to calculate the income you will get from the DB pension and substract it from your target income. That's the way I'd do it :)
@@egccm3989 That is what I've assumed as well although it means our target income is between two of the options on the spreadsheet. :)
I wish you served here in AU
Great video and excellent spreadsheet.
I predict that the pension lump sum with be fully taxed on 100% of it and anyone with a private pension will not be entitled to the full uk state pension. Therefore I bought property and self reliant.
Theres a chance with BTL that future governments will tax them like crazy
Brillaint video, very relevant- was just talking about this very subject with work colleagues this week!!
Thank you!
*of your career
Great video and excellent well presented calculator which I will download.
Love the ending and the point about taking responsibility and working out, where you want to go and then try avenues to get there 👍
Glad you enjoyed it! Let me know how you find the calculator.
Cheers Jamigotchi!
Care homes of the world salute you sir!
Such a clear and easy to use calculator. Thank you James for your Excel wizardry.
You did great with the explanation👍
How do you edit?
Make a copy or download it
@@JamesShack Done it thanks 👍
Hi James. Yet another great video. A special thankyou for the calculator, that helps a lot. Also it's great to hear you speak about Stephen Covey. I met the great man in the flesh back in 1996 in Toronto whilst serving as a missionary. He is and was a great man with such wisdom. Thanks for the content you put out James, it is a great blessing to many people.
James, another great video, thank you. I'll have a play around with the spreadsheet, which I'm sure will throw up a few surprises!
Please let me know how you get on!
Love this video James! Literally helping us all achieve our financial goals. Just wanted to check when you add the value of your current savings do we include everything e.g current pension pot values & all personal savings across various accounts
Glad you liked it. Yes.
No slots for the consultation :(
But do we have to watch the videos everytime if we're checking whether there's any appointments? A waiting list would be really helpful!
If you have more than one pension, a workplace pension and a private pension - should you calculate the amount you contribute to include gov tax relief as well? I am trying to figure out if I am meeting the required monthly contributions.
Yes.
If you need to save 1000 per month, save whatever it takes, including your employer contribution, to get there, in a salary sacrifice scheme.
If your employer pays say 250 of that, save 750.
That 750 will include the money you saved by not paying tax and NI.
So, as a basic rate taxpayer, it will only have cost you 500 (net salary or bottom line), to save 1000.
@@slayerrocks2 salary sacrifice is not an option offered by my employer
@@andreasmart7853 that is a real shame, and silly from their pov.
They would also save on employer NI contributions due to reduced salary.
It could be worth encouraging them, if you can contact the correct person/department.
As someone living abroad without an employer pension this is incredibly helpful - thanks!
My God, easily the best video I have seen on this topic, the calucator is top draw, been playing around with the figures. Thank you so much
Hi James.... can you do a video about what happens to your pension when you die? .... it really bothers me, and doesn't seem right, that if I was to buy an annuity the pension companies are giving annuity rates at about 3% pa equivalent return, but then end up keeping the pot when death occurs - when in reality all they are doing is paying you the investment return on your pot and keeping the capital - particularly bad as I can get 6%+ returns in an ISA stocks wrapper and keep the pot. Also could you explore the impact on state pension of COPE as the government info is very poor
go to drawdown, more control and you can leave your pension balance on death to anyone you choose ie spouse, kids or even grandkids
@@wayneroberts2150 Agree…annuities are dead these days, by all accounts
Thanks for this James I needed the shake up. Great how palatable you make this! Keep going
239K at 65 gives 20K per annum until age 95. Umm
State pension covers most of it.
@@JamesShack Right got you
Hi there, just wondering if the pension lifetime allowance figures and taxation are taken into account on the spreadsheet? Thanks 👍
where are people putting their money to get them kind of returns? im in the Vanguard life strategy 100%.. is this the same thing?
The beck test I did was with similar portfolios to the Lifestrategy funds. So yes.
Hi James does this calculator take in to account pay rise increases to the monthly pension contributions?
No, it’s just telling you what you’d need to save each month to hit the target. It’s in a straight line. Assumes you’ll save the same each month.
So the calculator doesn’t allow for wage increases, just a flat number, start here finish there. Most folk won’t have the disposable income at the start of their careers but would have more towards the end. Of course, the longer invested funds should have had the longest/best growth but that would probably have been from meagre beginnings. TBH I wasn’t a fan years ago of pensions and the annuity only route, luckily I do have a reasonable pot having been part of a final salary scheme earlier in my life. Good luck to the kids of today.
Thanks James. it appears that I am in the ballpark of the contributions which makes me happier than i was previously. Just need to add another tenner on monthly and should be at my goal. very happy with the calculator you produced.
Great explanation. I’ve used your previous Google sheets model quite a bit and settled on what I’m doing for the next 10 years as far as pension contributions are concerned. After that I’ll likely change my contributions to more stocks and shares / ISA.
Great stuff, glad it’s been useful.
James this is brilliant thank you!!
Nah it’s not really you is it 😂😂
Nope!
I would be nice to have another table added to predict what the value that money might worth in the future. So if I'm aiming for a target value of 20,000 in today's money what should my target value really be if I plan to retire in 20 years?
Top quality content. Thank you.
No problemo!
Ive always thought in a way with these calculators that theres no point in adjusting returns for inflation if you're also under the assumption that your contributions will also increase with inflation. People will calculate that they will invest for example £600/month for 30 years when in reality this figure should also go up with pay raises
Models like this assume your contributions increase inline with inflation. Returns should always be measured net of inflation. Otherwise it’s meaningless.
A 10% return with 10% inflation and 10% increase in contributions is still 0% real return and a 0% real increase in contributions.
great video, really informative. I'm so glad I stumbled across your videos, I've been really trying to work out how much I should be saving, and this really helped me out.
I had a question, I'm not sure if its a bit obvious, but say we did save the set figure every month, do we need to account for inflation and increase our monthly saving amount as time goes on in our investing careers?
In reality yes you would. But in this calculation because we’ve adjusted the growth rate for inflation you would need to save £X per month in real from now until retirement. In reality you’ll need to increase £X by inflation each year.
And yes, this assumes you save the same every month from now until retirement. But we know in reality you’ll save less now and more in the future.
Another great Video James, always love the content. The calculator is also great - I'd be interest to see if you could build one that could give you a target stop working date as well rather than assuming you want to work until you retire ie I want my pension pot to be £1.1m for a £40,000 retirement income, what does it need to be at when I'm 40 (assuming no further contributions) to be on track for that at 58 for example
Hey James, tried to book a phone chat with you from the link on your about page, but seems there are no appointments for June or July and it won't go past July. Are you still doing them?
Nice, on track even with the current ongoing crash
If you have 60% in equity where is the other 40?
Bonds
Bonds, yes.
@@TheChelsUk Jennie Bond
I'm saving approximately 35% of my annual gross income but it's tough to do with the current state of inflation. I re-check my budget every six months to make sure nothing is getting out of hand. Thanks for the calculator.
The market losses have been brutal. I've been buying iBonds since the beginning of the year and much of my other bond holdings are STIPS so I've held up okay on the bond side but the stock side has made me want to jump off a tall building. :) I'm just watching it and hoping Vanguard has me allocated correctly on the index funds. On the smaller portfolio that I manage, I've just got a few companies I really believe in for future growth. I think BYD is going to be one of my top investments over the next ten years.
If it helps I've been dollar cost averaging bitcoin and that is brutally down but you just gotta stay true to your guns and see it as a discount bro! And with stocks you'll get dividend payouts so you are getting those cheaper now
Just found your channel and loving it! Just watched your rebalancing video... Assuming no fees, wouldn't rebalancing between assets with equal expected returns profit from rebalancing as much as possible? If different assets are outperforming at different times then the more often a rebalance happens the more times you get to sell high and buy low.... Or am I missing something?
Does the annual income include the state pension? If so people will need to remember to remove that from the total if they retire before state pension age. If not then they add it on at state pension age!
The back test does include one persons state pension. So £410k at 55 would maintain an expenditure of £20k throughout life. The state pension ends up paying for a lot of it.
Great book to quote from. I read it many years ago and it changed my life. Covey was a genius- another good video by the way. Keep ‘em coming
Enjoying the 🌞 a bit, mate? :)
Always!
Just subscribed on the back of this video, very helpful content, using the calculator just reinforced what contributions i'm making monthly are making a difference long term, big question will be how to get that actual return come retired, thanks
I put my numbers in, and the calculator says I could hit my target value 5 years ahead of my current target retirement date based on my current level of monthly contributions. That's reassuring!
Thanks a lot, really like your videos, clear and concise! Considering a retirement year of 2051, would you use the Life Strategy 80/20 or the Target Retirement 2050? I am using the Target Retirement 2050 at the moment but I am not sure it is the right choice. Thanks
Thanks for the calculator James! Can you explain why the present_value argument of the PMT function is negative? Thank you!
Because typically the function is used to calculate mortgages or loans. Which involved debt (-) and paying money away.
@@JamesShack thanks for explaining! It would be amazing if you could do a video about using these financial functions in excel/Google sheets!
Great video James, keep the content coming.
I have no idea how much to put away into my pension. I think I am putting away too much and this is limiting my cash savings.
Have a try with this calculator, or even check out the cashflow model I built
@@JamesShack thanks. The calculator works well and confirms what I am doing is about right. Good news is that my wife is now working again and this will boost our savings and her pension. Great youtube channel.
Hi James, I wanted to ask your thoughts on seeking out a fund manager. I have come into a lump sum of near on £100k. I am aware that the vast majority of fund managers fail to beat the market. But I also am very impulsive. I cannot quite call it risk tolerance, but sometimes I carried away and other times, quite the opposite. They say a little knowledge is a bad thing. And as much as I can write here claiming "it is time in the market, not timing the market", I do not trust myself in all honesty. Is it worth seeking professionals to manage my funds. And what would an average investment firm in london charge? I would be very keen to hear your response. Just to warn, I will post this same message on a couple of your more recent videos with the hope it catches your eyeballs. Thanks.
The fact that you are already aware of your impulses means that you already know how to control it. There are robo advisors that will probably perform better than an actual fund manager but you are best not to put all of your money in one place. Keep researching and you'll be fine
@@benfulford3943 robo advisors? I am not too familiar with this. Where does one find this and how expensive are they?
@@karimj5268 hello Karim, Don't just invest in any random asset. Understand the asset and why it's worth investing in. You'd be surprised how little people know about their portfolio, i had 200K and i was able to grow that to 1.5 million in 14 months as a newbie. the expert who assists me is Lanngel Mark. *(you can look him up online)* We met at a trading conference and he accepted to trade for me and ever since I have had no cause to regret.
@John fisher Lanngel Mark trades my stock, I live in California I recommend him.
@@veliadisrosasjr1647 bruh
Waaaa the spreadsheet model is super fun!! Thanks James! Bought the book as well 📖 I really need to buy you an iron 😬🤣😝🫣
Thanks James. Like the sheet. Great feeling when looking at the sheet as shows I was roughly on track. Motivational boost knowing pension will growing besides this as i used my ISA numbers. Biggest danger is lifestyle creep and inflation imo. Plus dipping into that already accumulated pot gives disturbing results
James, can you please make a video about investing with high inflation? A lot of people draw comparisons with the seventies, but I believe it isn't quite the same scenario. I am curious to see what your analysis would show!
Depends on your risk profile! I am young and am seeing the bear market Asa big discount and making lifestyle changes to buy index funds, etfs and crypto at a massive discount!
I guess the best actions to combat the inflation side of things is to try negotiate better pay, a promotion, extra work, new job, lifestyle and shopping changes. Investing is so hard to make profits atm as everything is the most uncertain it has been in a longgggg time. Gold hasn't even done well and it's meant to be an inflation hedge!
Extremely informative videos you produce. Surprised you don't get more traffic
Thanks. It’s growing!
Legendary! many thanks James for sharing and teaching! I am using SIPP to save for pension. To withdraw money it has some tax restrictions. So does your calculator take those restrictions into account? or it is independent of any investment saving scheme? Thanks
Thank you for this tool Jack, very useful!
Should I include the value of my home in assets? I understand this does not represent an active investment and is difficult to release, but with equity release schemes the value of your home does contribute a lot when you eventually need to move to a assisted living facility.
So the 20/40/60k expenditure is that including any sort of inflation calculation? Just wondering as one maybe happy with £20k expenditure now, but we may find that the buying power of £20k will be a lot less in say 30 years.
Yes it’s inflation adjusted.
@@JamesShack thanks, I saw you mentioned it in the other video. Thanks for great content.
Hi James, another really really useful video, thanks again. Just a quick question, is the £20k/£40k/£60k calculations before or after tax? Apologies if you mentioned it somewhere and I missed it
It’s £20k/£40k/£60k of expenditure. So after tax, in the test I used a taxable investment account.
@@JamesShack Perfect, and is this having not touched the 25% tax free amount or is that not taken into account at all?
@@gav2302 in the original video I show the comparable amounts require if all was held in a pension.
ua-cam.com/video/Jm6d7UdSCsk/v-deo.html
@@JamesShack Great. Probably watched it before but I'll watch again as I've done already with a few of your videos. I'm basing my calculations on pension only while having lifetime ISA's, Vanguard funds and property as extras that I'm not accounting for as bonus extras
Thanks James. Really useful and insightful video. The tool looks great. Thank you for creating and sharing it.
Good video. Will definitely be giving the calculator a go. You mentioned at the end some different investments you have been using for the last couple of years. Can you expand on what you have been going? They sounded positive
Investing in myself! Courses on editing & writing, coaches, buying equipment etc
very helpful super useful calculator
Glad to hear that
I’m really enjoying your videos. Your mindset is completely different to mine so it’s a real learning experience. I think I’m potentially too comfortable with risk. Out of interest what do you think the earning threshold is for someone in their 30’s to talk to a financial planner?
Take ownership of the future - that should be your slogan!
QQ: is the target how much I need to SAVE or INVEST monthly?
Invest.
Most people will reach retirement and die of cancer theses days, I'll stick a small amount away incase I make it to 70
Take a look at this life expectancy calculator. Unless you have any preexisting or hereditary medial conditions, it's a good guide to go by.
www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/articles/lifeexpectancycalculator/2019-06-07
What if you put that money in a Stocks and Shares ISA instead? Would you return be better? Also when you hit target retirement age, what is the tax rate?
The difference would not be that much greater. Here we're just doing high level calculations.
Tax rate depends on your income not your age
@@reggaethecat so you're saying you dont get tax on your pension?
@@limpep SIPP no as that money was already taxed(when earned). Company Pensions yes on withdrawal.
If using salary sacrifice, you save on your taxable rate AND national insurance. So 33.25% at basic rate.
An ISA is funded by money that has already had these deductions.
£400 of the money going into an ISA, costs £400 of your bankable salary.
That same cost to your bottom line, in salary sacrifice scheme, puts £600 into your pot. (Plus employer contributions)
Not including employer contributions, your initial capital investment has been boosted by 50% to £600.
So compound interest is on a higher initial value.
£400 gaining 10%pa for 5 years is worth £644.20 (with no tax to pay)
£600 gaining 10%pa for 5 years is worth £966.30 which is taxable. (25% tax free. 75% taxed at say 20% rate)
£241.57 + (£724.73 - £144.94)
£241.57 + £579.78 = £821.35
The tax will be less if you haven’t used all of your annual earnings tax allowance. More if your earnings exceed £50k.
A private pension only gets relief on the tax. Not on the National Insurance.
Thank you for this, I did some guesstimating and scared the life out of myself. I'm getting the actual numbers shortly so hopefully less scary.
I have a question... I'm planning on doing lots of the extra saving by upping my pension contributions. I've already maxed out the employer contributions. Would it be better to save elsewhere like a V lifestrategy instead of extra pension at this point? Thanks for your help, you have helped me start to get unstuck with future planning ❤️
If your work scheme is a salary sacrifice scheme then it will be marginally better to contribute to that because you also save on national insurance.
You could also ask work if they will pay the NI savings they make by you upping your contributions into your pension.
Many employer schemes allow partial transfers out so you can transfer out to another pension, that has better investment options, whilst keeping the employer pension open.
@@JamesShack this is great to know thank you very much for replying. I've been stuck on this for so long and it's scary not knowing what to do but your videos have really helped me get my head around it all and make actual changes! Thanks again ❤️
Hi James, I have been retired for 32 years, nevertheless I am fascinated by your videos. Can you please tell me if you think exceeding £85,000 in Vanguard is a reasonable thing to do.
Yes, many people and institutions have millions invested through their funds.
They have very strong protections in place to secure client money from theft/collapse.
@@JamesShack Thanks James
Thanks James - that’s really handy. As others have asked, would love to know how, or even if, it takes into account the uk state pension.
Why are the requirements for 20K at 55, £410k and 40k at 55 is £1.1M and not 2 x the £410k?. Many thanks
Basically because the full state pension from the age of 67 would account for nearly 50% of a pension income of 20k, but less than 25% of 40k. Also, the effect of the tax free allowance (£12,570) would mean that you would probably need to pay a lot more tax on the higher pension income.
I'll thank you on behalf of o.p. 😊
Hi James, another great video! Have you any advice for a disabled person (mid 30’s) living on benefits due to being unable to work? Hence no employment based pension.