Comparing the 9 to 5 Working Life Vs Investing in Property

Analysing where we are likely to end up if we work the 9 to 5 and pay into the average pension rather than taking control and investing in the property market for income.

Traditionally we are told to pay into our pensions and buy our own home and then live a happy life, but what if we actually took a moment to realise that just doing average is just not good enough when it comes to the point of retirement.

With the national average wage currently set at £27,600 a year, those who save the 8% minimum pension contribution would have to work until age 77 in order to achieve what is coined as the Gold Standard pension of two thirds of their pre-pension salary.

Even if you were to achieve the Silver Standard of half your pre-pension salary you would still have to work until you are aged 71 with no breaks.

This no doubt paints a rather bleak picture for most of you. Of course those calculations are based on today, who knows where the goal posts will be in 20 years’ time.

The idea of winding down as we get older appears for many as an unachievable ideal. If you are banking on your pension giving you a retirement of comfort it could be wise that you now, consider other alternatives to boost your savings so that you are ultimately taking control of your financial future and perhaps setting yourself up for a more ideal retirement.

Even investing in property can lead to a situation where you find yourself with the option to move away from employment altogether and become financially free and independent of relying on the need to actually go to work.

Property values are continuing to increase, bank savings rates are continuing their declines, pension pay-outs are falling but the buy-to-let residential market is booming here in the UK and perhaps now the market is primed for a stretch of growth.

An average rent is now £743 a month and with the population in the UK rising rapidly we are seeing internal migration increase along with people living longer. This means that currently an investor purchasing a property at the right price in the right area is able to see a good 9 to 10% NET from the rents whereas the return from a pension averages an abysmal 4.3%.

FJP Investment is a team of investment specialists sourcing a wide range of investment opportunities both in the UK and overseas, including buy-to-let property investments.

Alex Evans

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

Breaking Property News 7/5/26

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   The Hidden Economics of AI Agents: Why Businesses May Spend More Than They Ever Did on SaaS AI agents are rapidly being positioned as the next evolution of enterprise software. The problem is that many companies are still evaluating them through a SaaS lens…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

£15m property market accounts for 0.04% of all homes

The latest analysis from AgentWise has found that while more than 30,000 homes are currently for sale across Great Britain with an asking price between £1m and £5m, properties priced above £1m account for just 6% of all available housing stock, with the market becoming dramatically smaller and increasingly relationship-led as values rise. With so…
Read More
Home and Living

Beware of the underinsurance risk created by property alterations

Property owners are being warned that while alterations may well improve a building, they can also change its rebuild cost. Where works materially affect a building’s size, layout, specification or services, the amount it is insured for may need to be reviewed, as a matter of urgency, according to experts at RebuildCostASSESSMENT.com “It’s a common…
Read More
Breaking News

One in four prospective sellers pull plans to move

The latest research by GetAgent has revealed that a proportion of home sellers are rethinking their plans in 2026, with almost a quarter (24%) no longer intending to sell in the near future, while a further 27% say they still plan to move but are far less certain than they were at the start of…
Read More
Rightmove logo
Breaking News

Rightmove launches new marketing campaign to help movers see what’s possible

Rightmove, the UK’s largest property platform, is launching a new brand campaign designed to support agents by driving confident, better-informed home-movers to their properties.   Launching on 8th May, the multi-channel campaign targets all home-movers. It aims to inspire confidence to make their move, helping them to better understand what they can afford, using Rightmove’s…
Read More
Breaking News

Rural housing markets in full bloom

Rural housing markets in full bloom with price growth of up to 9.6% Countryside locations outperforming urban areas and the overall national average   As the country basks in spring sunshine, it comes as no surprise that new research from Yopa has revealed rural housing markets are enjoying hotter market conditions than their urban counterparts, with…
Read More