-
31 & no pension…. eek – Martin has panicked me into action
I am 31 year old and have no pension…. eek – Martin has panicked me into action:money: – I am going to get one this week…. No I am really…. But I do have 5 years of Min cash ISAs – though I did want to put this towards a house deposit. I can afford to contribute £250 - £300 per month and have a lump sum of £3000 to start…
-
Cash versus Pension
The posts I've read on here always seem to suggest taking the maximum cash sum you're allowed when deciding on amount of pension v lump sum. I took voluntary redundancy but had only been with the company a couple of years so we're talking small amounts here so is the best bet generally to still take the max lump sum (about…
-
What to do with trivial pension fund?
Here's a conundrum that I'f like to know the answer to: An individual who takes a stakeholder pension out with a company that does not offer annuities and stops contributing before the fund has reached any significant value (Call it £1,000 for arguments sake) They are 75 years old, have to take it and already have anincome…
-
Added years
I have been for a while now paying an extra £100.00 a month to buy additional years in my Companys final pension scheme. However can anyone advise me that by doing this would I normally just get tax relief or would I receive a contribution from the employer. I already pay 6 percent in and my employer pays 11 percent but…
-
Scottish widows
I am in my early 20s and I am in Group plan with Scottish Widows and it has been suggested to me that I should go for the adventurous plan. I have been sent a booklet but there are a number of funds mentioned and I don't know which one to choose or whether I should choose more than one and which to go for. How should I go…
-
Annuities - "poor value at 75"
The FT Bad news for those caught in the annuity "trap" ".....the pretty poor annuity rates for those aged 75. Given that typical life expectancy then is about 11 years, you would expect the annual income from a £100,000 annuity to be comfortably in excess of £10,000. Return of capital on its own would give you more than…
-
Unsecured pension/income drawdown
Hi, please can anyone help? I have 3 private pension pots, £15k, £5k & £40k. I would ideally ( as I am now able to) withdraw 25% tax free lump sum from the two smaller pots but I don't wish to take an annuity at this time with the balance. My understanding from the changes to pensions that I should be able to do this.…
-
10 year plan
I am 39 now and want to retire at 50. I own a 250k house with no mortgage and have been using my ISA allowances for the last 3 years etc, and have about 40k in savings in ICICI along with some shares amounting to say 10k. I have just taken a new job with a pension arrangement of : 3% my contribution + 17% company…
-
At 57 are AVCs worth considering?
After being self-employed for 27 years I started working for the local county council (in education) for my last 10 working years. On starting 2 years ago I participated in the pension scheme and am now being offered the 'opportunity' to increase by my contributions with additional voluntary contributions. Quite simply,…
-
Should I? Shouldnt I? Pensions newbie
Hi all Right bit of background for you all. Im 29 and have been working in local government for 5 years, i started with the pension scheme but after 3 months, cashed in, as I was skint :o so I got a few hundred quid back. Since then ive been really pants with money, up till finding MSE. NOw I had thought about getting out…
-
Stakeholder Pension for children - is it worth it?
Hi, my first post here so please be gentle :D I am considering opening a stakeholder pension for each of my children but really am not sure if it will be worthwhile. I would really appreciate some advice. * I have 4 children aged between 18months and 15 years. All 4 kids currently have savings accounts and regular saver…
-
Need to tidy up my pensions
Hello all At the ripe old age of 40 I feel I need to tidy up my pension situation, apologies if these are frequent questions so please bear with me.... 1.I served in the armed forces for 10 years, but have moved several times since, does anyone know who I contact to let them know who/where I am, and when does this become…
-
State Pension Retirement Age for Women
I didn't realise this until toady, but the 'equalisation' of State pension Retirement Age (SRA) for women, from 60 to 65, will actually occur in the first five years of the decade 2010 - 2020! See here Ok, Ok I've been suckered by not reading the details of this change quite closely enough - and most affected women in…
-
Investment of savings
I hope to be 100k better of as a result of selling my home and moving into a mobile home. Part of the interest I would like to draw of on a monthly basis for living expenses. So I have a couple of questions I hope someone can help me with. 1) Would it be better put the whole amount into ICICI, or may be into 2 or 3…
-
pension numptie
Hi all, First post so excuse my very limited financial knowledge. In a nutshell, I'm 30, have no pension, work on a contract basis, and have realised I need to get my act together and start preparing for my retirement. My earnings fluctuate, and as I only intend to contribute about £100 per month to a pension for now but…
-
Pension contributions question
I am a member of my company's final salary pension scheme. As with many (most) schemes they are going to alter the conditions - changing the accrual rate, upping the retirement age - but if this means the scheme survives I can swallow it. This has provoked one unrelated question though and am hoping someone knows more than…
-
Redundancy Payment and tax...excess to AVC's??
Originally posted on "The Great "What to do in the event of redundancy" hunt" and reposted here on advice received in that thread, so please be gentle about the double posting.... I am currently at risk of redundancy (46 years old), and as a single postholder in a position that is not required in the new structure, expect…
-
CARE scheme, anyone have info...?
Hi my company have recently 'changed' our final salary scheme to a CARE / SMART pension. from what i can gather, i no longer contribute to the scheme, the company do on my behalf aswell as contributing thier usual 8.7%, but this is deducted from my take home pay, then put back on as a CARE adjustment. apparently, they are…
-
Redundancy Payment and AVC's
I am likely to become redundant by January 2007. The lump sum redundancy payment is likely to push a significant proportion of it into 40% tax. Can I make a lump sum pension AVC contributuon from the redundancy settlement that is liable to tax (i.e. that over £30k) to reduce my overall tax liability without the taxman…
-
Mis Sold Pension
I have been looking into my endowments with various 3rd parties to see if I could claim back on a miss sold endowment. Various people I spoke to told me I was not covered, as I had taken it out before legislation came in. How ever one of the companies asked me about my pension and told me it sounded as though I have been…
