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Pensions Planning: The NUMBER
The NUMBER is how much income you need to "live comfortably" So What's your number? Very important for pensions planning, to know what you are aiming for. My Number? (for a couple) I calculated: £22,000 based on Food £5,000 Car/transport £5,000 Bills/Utilities £4,500 Holidays/Leisure £4,500 Clothing/Cash/Xmas/Other £2,000…
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Success Stories - Pensions
This is a bit of a light topic where the idea is to highlight what successes you had with your pension pots. Example - I contributed X and accumulated Y by Z year. Total appreciation was 'x' percent. Just trying to learn the following that could inspire a range of people - those with no pension, those who started late etc.…
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Acronyms etc..
Hello to all. As a fairly new forum user I would appreciate someone posting a key to the acronyms and arcane terms used when discussing pension issues. Thank you in advance.
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Pensions, Annuities & Retirement Planning Sticky
Welcome to the new Pensions, Annuities and Retirement Planning sticky! 👋 📖 Here are some Forum threads you may find useful (if there are any you think have been missed, please do let us know): * Can I cash in my pension? * Early-retirement wannabe * It's time to start digging up those Squirrelled Nuts!!!! 📝 And here's some…
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NHS pension
I have accepted an NHS job offer, and one of the questions on the starter pack says: 'Do you have any previous pension rights that you might be interested in transferring into the NHS pension scheme?' I would like to know what this means. As I have an old work pension (non-NHS on the Scottish Widow platform) and I was also…
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What do people think of Interactive Investor (ii) platform
FYI: This is NOT a request for financial advise. I would like to know what your experiance of dealing with "Interactive Investor (ii)" SIPP is I would specifically like to know how easy it is to draw down ad-hoc ammounts online. (I am a senior software developer so app or online is no problem) As I am NOT going to take my…
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NPI/Phoenix Life Offer
I have an old Pension originally taken out with NPI - With Profits Plan, that is now managed by Phoenix Life. Recently, I received a pre-announcement of an offer they were making to allow me to transfer out of the current fund with no MVR. Since the the MVR would currently be about half the value, this seems a good offer.…
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To defer DB pension or ..?
Hello I was made redundant this year, received a payoff and after a few months off have been looking for work which is proving more challenging than I thought it would be. I am in receipt of a DB pension of approx £10k per year - this could not be deferred. I could start to receive another DB pension of only approx £8.5k…
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Bold leap into retirement
Morning all, I hope you have managed to find some time for yourself in what can be a busy period. We have enjoyed spending time with family over the last 3 days, it’s a quiet one today, then off to visit more family tomorrow. I’m not planning anything wild for NYE, but have been really starting to think about what I want…
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Accessing funds
Hi, I work full time, age 72 and a half. I'm in the LGPS and recently enquired with them about taking a lump sum. They have said the only way to do this is retire, voluntary retirement, transfer to a different role on a lower grade or reduce my working hours by 40% which is equivalent to only working 3 days (this was only…
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Are you ReAssured?
This letter received from ReAssure following two online messages asking them to stop sending multiple copies of quarterly retirement account statements through the post:- We apologise that you have been receiving multiple statements. This is an automatic statement and we are unable to stop one without stopping both. We are…
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Nest pension
Hi, I am 58 and not sure how long I will be working at my current job as partners are likely to retire in a couple of years. I currently pay 5% and employer 3% into nest pension. I also add a small lump sum of £40 each month separately. I am wondering whether its worth really increasing my contribution to say 11% -…
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state pension - first part year
I'm getting very confused helping someone with their Self Assessment tax return and the state pension. Firstly, although everything seems to say the pension increased 6.4.26, it actually seems to increase the next full week, not mid week. In other words, if a pension is paid Thursday - Wednesday, the uplift is effective…
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Working out civil service widowers pension refund of contributions
Hi Hive Mind I am an ex civil servant who plans to retire in May 2026 aged 60. I am a deferred member of the pension scheme. From the MYCSP pension portal calculator I have a fairly good idea of my expected pension, however I have requested what my widower pension refund contributions will be (to no avail at present) I…
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Flexi Drawdown v UFPLS
Afternoon.. If my wife wishes to take £15k pa from her SIPP , does it matter if she uses flexi drawdown or UFPLS ? Is there any major benefit in using one over the other . Our initial thought was that we would use UFPLS for £15kpa (once a year but increasing with rpi), am I right in saying £3750 (25%) tax free element hits…
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Standard Life Pension - Lost group discount, now paying full fees
Hi all, I've been with my current employer for 9 years, and continued to contribute to the Group Flexible Retirement Plan with Standard Life I had been receiving a 0.45% discount this whole time and on a variety of SL Vanguard funds, but accidentally discovered the discount has recently gone and I'm paying the full 1%+…
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New Capita-run Civil Service Pension Scheme - problems (what a surprise!)
So, Capita have taken over the admin for the CSPS and their new website and members portal went live this week. I have just registered on the new portal and am not in the least bit surprised to find that the information available on the new portal is very scant and incorrect in terms of my length of service. With…
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Using inheritance to boost retirement - please sense check my plan
Hi there, My husband and I recently inherited £550K. Some context: My husband is 51 and works as a freelance creative. He previously earned an average of £40-50K pa, but for the past 4 years he has been caring for his Mum (who died in Feb 2025, leaving us the inheritance), and his income fell. During this time his income…
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Whole salary into pension
Is this right? In the scenario below, I am aiming to get maximum tax relief with my 'post tax contribution'. Using example figures for ease. Salary: £30,000 Salary Sacrifice: £10,000 Taxed income: £20,000* Post tax contribution: £16,000 - government adds £4,000 (20% of £20k) - making a total of £20,000. So even though…
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FIRE Girls Pension Diary - Aim High & Dream Big
10 year targets are set and I'm aiming high and dreaming big. :) A bit of background. When I was young I grew up with a family of 4 children, Dad worked and Mum stayed at home. We had very little material things or new clothes and I remember I was always dreaming of how I could possibly become a millionaire. So why not…
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Legacy DB Pension Being Removed – What Are Our Options?
Hi everyone, I’m hoping to get some independent views on a situation affecting a small group of long-serving employees. Our employer closed its Defined Benefit (DB) pension scheme to new entrants many years ago, with all new employees joining a Defined Contribution (DC) scheme instead. Existing members remained in the DB…
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Early Ill Health Retirement
Hi all I’m seeking some advice on whether I would qualify for early ill health retirement and whether it would be the best option for me. I’m 46 years of age and in March 2026 was diagnosed with a stage 3 brain tumour with a prognosis of between 5 and 7 years left to live. I’ve had surgery and radiotherapy and am due to…
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Does Increasing pension contributions reduce tax.
I'm hovering around the 40% tax bracket due to full time income and personal pension currently paying £12K per year. Through my employer I am paying into a pension which I will draw at the age of 68 (15 yrs time) at present my taxable allowance is on my pension and I am paying 20% income tax on my full time income. If I go…
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LGPS pre 2014
Hopefully someone will know a definitive answer to this question before my wife contacts her LGPS administrator and looks foolish. She is looking to retire in the next school year and has just received her annual statement from peninsula pensions. She joined the scheme in 2003 and has continuous membership. Her Final…
Got questions about boosting your state pension by checking your record with the Future Pension Centre and making voluntary National Insurance contributions?
751 discussions
6.5K comments
Most recent: Guide discussion: Voluntary n… by Haydn_T
22 July at 9:34AM
