Consumer > Individuals > Contribution options
Contribution options
How you decide to make the contributions is up to you. To make this as easy as possible, we accept regular contributions, single contributions and transfer payments from any existing pension plans.
All contributions you make will initially be invested in the Core Investments. You can then choose to self-invest some of your retirement savings by moving them to the Self Investments.
Even if you are in your employer's pension scheme, you can still make contributions into the Pension Portfolio. This is a good way of topping up your retirement savings.
Regular contributions
You can make monthly or yearly regular contributions into the plan. These can be a fixed amount or increase each year in line with your earnings, the Retail Prices Index or at a set level of between one and ten per cent. This will help them to keep pace with your earnings and increase the final value of your pension.
The minimum regular contribution you can make is £100 per month or £1,200 per year. Contributions are made by direct debit.
Single contributions
You can make a single contribution of £2,500 or more by cheque. If you're already making regular contributions, there is no minimum.
Transfer payments
You may already have a pension with another provider or from a previous employment. If so, and the value is more than £2,500, you can transfer it into your Pension Portfolio. Again, this minimum doesn't apply if you are making regular contributions.
Transferring is easy - your existing provider will make the payment directly to us and we'll do the rest. Transfers aren't suitable for everyone though, and the existing provider may apply a penalty. So you should get financial advice before making a decision.
Contribution flexibility
Your circumstances will certainly change at some point - and when they do, you might want to alter how much you're paying into your pension. If your income goes up, you might be able to contribute more. You might inherit some money you want to invest. Alternatively, you may decide to take a career break and reduce or stop your contributions for a while.
That's precisely why we've built so much contribution flexibility into the Pension Portfolio. It lets you increase, reduce, stop or restart your contributions at any time, without penalty.
