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Retirement to Australia - help me achieve my goal
Hi, I'm new to this site and I'm hoping others can help me decide the best way to achieve my goal, which is to retire to Australia. The earliest that I can do this is at age 55 (I'm now 44). My current situation is: House owned outright - value £125,000 Savings £12,000 Regular savings £250pm into an ISA plus whatever is…
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Sorry, another S2P (SERPS) thread!!!
Hi, apologies first - I guess this subject has been done to death. But I would like to hear some people’s thoughts on this: I took out a private pension when I was about 22 (9 yrs ago!) - my then employer was also contributing into it. Anyway, I was contracted out of serps. I stopped paying into this pension when I was…
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AVC's Good or Bad
I have done a trawl through the posts in this forum and can't find much guidance. I am a member of a DC company pension plan. I contribute 3% and the company 12% and the company pays all charges. I also pay AVC's into this plan. I generally manage to put my 3K in a cash ISA. The question is should I continue with the AVC's…
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Flexible Option AVCs
I don't really understand what these provide but... "These contributions provide you with additional defined benefits based on your Final Pensionable Salary. You can pay a fixed percentage of your Pensionable Salary to the scheme on top of your regular contributions so that you can: - increase your pension at normal…
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End of 'carry back' rule deadline
It's the 31st January according to the Guardian: http://money.guardian.co.uk/pensions/story/0,,1687638,00.html The new rules Carry back is currently an option for savers with personal or stakeholder pensions, and by anyone with a retirement annuity contract, also known as Section 226 contracts, which was bought before…
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New FSA website on Pensions
FSA's just launched a new website that tries to clarify pensions for consumers. You can find the answers here for some of the simpler questions being posted on this Board: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/pensions/ Also, in case anyone's interested, you can obtain a forecast of your State Pension online:…
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pension plan - can anyone help?
we need advice about pensions please. my husband is 38 and works full time. there is no company pension and he has not started a personal plan either. In his last employment he paid into a company pension for about 4 years. This is now just sitting in a fund doing, I presume, nothing! We have 5 children aged 9 - 17 and a…
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Early retirement???
I'm only 31 so I've got a ways to go yet, but I'm 'hoping' to retire at about 55ish. I'm just wondering how I would go about it? I have a final salary pension from 3 years at my previous work and about 6 years of a final salary pension at my current work. Assuming that I'm still in the same job and final salary scheme when…
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Taking a lump sum
Apologies if this has been covered before, I did read anything that sounded relevant but could not see what I was looking for. My husband will retire at 65 in about 18 months time, having worked for the same company for 32 years. He has a final salary company pension that will give him about 33k, plus a reduced state…
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Transfering pension benefits after leaving an employer
Hello all, I am seeking some advice on behalf of a relative who has recently been made redundant. She has recieved a 'Statement of Leaving Service Options' which gives two options: 1) Preserved benefits - this gives a total value of the fund and I assume this figure will change if the money remains in the fund; 2)A right…
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claim Pension early or leave it alone, any advice
Sorry I don't know the first thing about Pensions or how they work any advice Please. I am 43, I worked for a company for 12 years,( age 17 to 29)When I had my first baby (age 29 )I couldn't return to work from maternity leave due to ill health so they finished me. After a while went onto Incapacity benefit. After about 5…
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FSAV mis-sell, now what?!
My friend had been missold a pension, as his advisor did'nt mention the in-house FSAV scheme. Anyway, long story short...., the FSCS stepped in & have awarded compensation. What i wanted to know is whether he should take the compensation, or take it to an IFA to decide whether to keep this pension, or move to another one…
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No bonus for three years
In 1984 I started a Norwich Union With Profits Retirement Annuity Section 226. For the last three years now, it hasn't earnt any bonus and I'm wondering whether to carry on paying the premiums until the end (another 5 years), or whether to make it paid up and put the premiums into something else such as a cash ISA. The…
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What to do with my previous pension
I am sure this question has been asked before, but I would appreciate some advice. I am about to move to another job which has no pension fund. I have been in the pension fund at my present firm for 3 years. I will be taking out a private scheme, would I be better leaving the money in my current pension scheme or…
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SIPP Advice & Thoughts
Hello. I've been lurking here a while. Interested to see the lively opinions generated on the topic of SIPPs. A little advice would be highly appreciated. My employer and I have been making payments into a couple of personal pension plans for quite a while now. The plans total around £100k plus an additional £30k of…
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Section 32 buy out with GMP
I have a Section 32 buy-out with GMP with Clerical Medical which matures at the end of March 2006. Would it be worth delaying taking this until after 'A' Day and would I then be able to take more tax free cash. What about if the 'pot' total is £16,000 and the GMP is £1,600 per annum? This doesn't seem a big enough 'pot' to…
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Buy annuity from Scottish Widows?
I have an unclaimed 'SERPS equivalent' pension which was accrued whilst I was working for a company which was not 'wholly contracted out' of the government pension scheme. I have already retired (aged 63) but not yet claimed this pension. Under the present rules I have to buy an annuity with it but I suspect that from…
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SIPP can I add these other pension funds?
Hi My OH has a SIPP already set up and hopes to retire early, on drawdown in about a year He also has an old FSAVC approx £5k an old pension fund with Norwich Union approx £4k and his Serps contributions held by Legal and General approx £45k Can these be transferred into the SIPP after A day? Or will he have to wait till…
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Probably one for an IFA but...
... thought I might as well ask here as well. I'm about to take a new job which offers a contributary occupational pension with contributions from me of 3% and from the company of another 3% therefore making 6% of my gross salary. I also have a rag-bag of old pensions with next to nothing in (a couple of thousand here, a…
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A Day changes to pensions
Got a very useful summary from Halifax today which highlights the main changes from 6th April 2006: What caught my eye was the explanation of how large pension funds can claim 'protection' against the tax charge. The 'lifetime allowance' will be £1.5m in 2006/07, £1.6m in 2007/08, £1.65m in 2008/09, £1.75m in 2009/10 and…
