Best of Question Time: Is 15% of my salary going in a pension enough? I'm finally debt free, what now? What should we call you?

**Martin Lewis** (0:00)
What they've done is absolutely within the Sad Fart rules.

**Robert** (0:02)
Every day that passes is a day that you could be closer to your debt-free day.

**Martin Lewis** (0:05)
It is not a hard and fast rule. Many people do not do it.

**Matt** (0:09)
I listened to the podcast and cried with relief that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

**Martin Lewis** (0:14)
I think you're inspirational, and I think you will help a lot of people by making this call. I hope I've helped you a little bit. Hello and welcome to the cunningly named The Martin Lewis Podcast. I do wonder what that's going to be about. And this is a special Best of Question Time episode where the curator of questions himself, Professor Sir Matthew Burnham Esquire, has chosen his favorite questions that you are Esquire's extremely savvy questioners have asked me on absolutely anything and everything open brackets within reason closed brackets. In this Best of Question Time episode, you've asked me, I'm 23 and saving 15 percent of my salary into my pension. Is that enough? My five-year-old TV is faulty. Can I get a refund? We also hear from Robert, who's finally debt-free after making poor financial decisions when he was younger, and wants to know what he should do now. I remember that and I love that one. Then we hear from Carly, who after hearing Robert's story on the podcast, decided to seek help with her debt. I love that one too. Plus, how we or you decided what we should call you when you come on the podcast. Play the theme tune.

**Matt** (1:32)
Isaac's emailed this one in to MartinLewisPodcast at pbc.co.uk. He just says Dear Martin, which I don't know if I'm happy with or not.

**Martin Lewis** (1:38)
I like it.

**Matt** (1:39)
Okay.

**Robert** (1:40)
Yeah. Is it because I've been off for so long?

**Martin Lewis** (1:41)
You've been off for six weeks. You're not gonna get the Dear Martin and Matt's when you decide to go gallivanting around.

**Matt** (1:47)
Anyway, he says I've got a question about pension savings. I'm aware of the general rule of thumb that to maintain a similar standard of living in retirement, you should contribute roughly half your age as a percentage of your salary into your pension from when you start working.

**Martin Lewis** (2:01)
Well, it's brilliant. That is my rough rule of thumb. Yeah, you take your age. So if you start your pension at 30, halve it, 15% of your total income, of your salary should be going into a pension to give you a decent income at retirement. It is not a hard and fast rule.
Many people do not do it, but it is a nice intuitive rule that helps and also makes the point very strongly. Start at 20, it's 10%, start at 30, it's 15%, start at 40, it's 20%. The earlier you start, the better. Do carry on.

**Matt** (2:32)
He goes, I'm currently 23, and I've just started my first job after university. I'm contributing 9% of my salary into my pension, and my employer is also contributing 6%. So in total, 15% is going in.

**Martin Lewis** (2:44)
Is that good? Very good. Brilliant. Well done, you.

**Matt** (2:47)
He says, what I'm not sure about is whether the half your age figure, so about 11.5% for me, refers to my personal contribution only, or the total including employer contributions. I'm trying to understand whether I should be increasing my own contributions. He then says, love the podcast. It saved me plenty of money since I've started saving.

**Martin Lewis** (3:06)
Well, wonderful, Liza, and it's so brilliant that you've listened and you've been thinking about your pension at such a young age. It's really important because the earlier you start putting money in the pension, the reason it's beneficial is you'll have it in an investment, but you effectively have that investment can compound over so many years. And I'm making this number up now. I used to have an actual figure, but I'm going to sort of make it up, so it's a conceptual, not a numerical idea. But for every pound you put in in your early 20s, you're going to have to put in 30 quid in your 50s to get the same result. So it's so worthwhile doing it early when you've got disposable income. Maybe you're living at home, I don't know. Now the general rule of thumb is about the total going in, so it includes your employer contribution. So you are over the rule of thumb. That is not me saying not to. It's brilliant to get a head start, especially at this age. If you do not need that money, don't lower your contributions.