Quote from: Smokin Joe on February 17, 2025, 07:03:51 PMQuote from: johnnycool on February 17, 2025, 11:34:56 AMQuote from: Saffrongael on February 09, 2025, 03:43:57 PMAnd we won't mention the pensions, that nobody in the private sector could afford to pay intoI was speaking to a former plumber who now works for a local council at facilities management and they contribute 19% of his annual salary to a pension pot.
That's unreal.
But is he financially better off overall?
These are made up numbers to explain what I mean.
what does he earn working for the council, 50k? If it was that number then 19% of it is 9.5k into his pension pot.
If he instead worked as a plumber as his own boss I would imagine he would earn at least the 9.5k that is going into his pension over and above his council salary.
I get that the level of stress and workload are probably different, but from a financial PoV I wouldn't think there would be too many tradesmen that would pack it in and go work for the council.
As part of an overall work / life balance I could see why someone would do it, but pension couldn't be the main driver.
Pension probably isn't the main driver and he ain't the fittest so no more kneeling on cold floors, hoking in and around tight spaces (plumbing that is) and the family are all up, but I was just pointing out there's no way he'd get that in the private sector unless he'd be on a bonus scheme where you could top up the pension at the end of the year and avoid the tax on the bonus!