After a little bit of advice I would like to be able to compare pensions.
A pension pays out 1/40th of my salary for every years service. For this I will pay 3.5%. So lets say for easy maths I earn £40k pa, so for every years service I earn £1k in pension (not contributions actually amount payable)
Now, how do I compare that to a scheme where you & employer put money in to a pension which buys shares? Ie. I pay 3.5%, employer pays 16.5%, so 20% of pa income is invested. Obviously you have to try to put a guestimate on how that will grow over the years (3%?)
Which one works out best? And how much of a difference is there?
Yes I know, go and see an expert, I will do when I get round to it, but I'd like to have a vague clue of what I'm asking them!