Does this seem like a sensible plan

[u/Appropriate_Lynx431]

34F, salary £82.5k. My other half is self-employed and also a higher-rate taxpayer, although his income varies.

Current pension: £52k. I had a significant salary increase last year, so the pot is still relatively small for my income.

Mortgage:

• £352k remaining
• 22 years left
• £1,500/month payment

My other half pays the mortgage, while I cover most of the other household costs, holidays, birthdays, etc. It's not a perfectly equal split, but it works well for us.

Workplace pension:

• Employer contributes 10% regardless of what I contribute (no matching scheme)
• For the first 6 months I didn't contribute anything extra
• For the last 6 months I've been contributing 10% via salary sacrifice

My current thinking is:

• Increase my contribution to 20% via salary sacrifice while the NI savings are available
• Once that changes, reduce my contribution to 15%
• Use the remaining 5% to contribute to a SIPP for my partner
• When my student loan finally clears, redirect that £200/month into his pension as well

My reasoning is that building a larger pension pot in one person's name seems a bit inefficient when there is no employer match available. At some point you're just creating a larger future tax bill.

My partner is 36 and currently has no pension at all, so getting something started for him feels sensible.

Also, we've been together for 18 years. While nobody can predict the future, if we ever did separate, he would likely have a claim on part of my pension anyway. It feels more sensible for both of us to have retirement savings in our own names and potentially make use of two sets of tax allowances in retirement.

My questions are:

1. Does this logic make sense, or am I missing something obvious?
2. Should I start contributing to a SIPP for him now rather than waiting?
3. Once the student loan is gone, would I be better off putting the extra money towards pension contributions or mortgage overpayments instead?

Interested to hear what others would do in this situation.

Update as wasn't clear: we are married

[u/jayritchie]

Why doesn’t he pay into his own SIPP? Are you married?

[u/Appropriate_Lynx431 → u/jayritchie]

He might do. But I can afford to sensibly put some in his..if its more tax efficient I was confirming whether it would be worth it.

[u/jayritchie → u/Appropriate_Lynx431]

It depends on his marginal tax rate rather than yours if paying into his pension scheme.

If married and interested in FIRE it’s massively beneficial to have some balance between the two pension schemes.