Pensions, annuities & retirement planning

Archives for May 2021

Negligible Annuity - drawable?
I have an Annual payment of some £370 from Sanlam (yes, that is per annum) which I thought was the payment of a pension I had (originally with Merchant Investors). This is the only retirement benefit I have, other than State Pension and only about covers the cost of heating oil for 6 months! I asked if it was somehow…
Combining small pensions
I'm looking to combine a number of small pensions which I no longer contribute to into one Sipp mainly to reduce fees. I'm looking at the Vanguard Sipp as one option. What i'm not clear on does this work like my ISA and can I chose to invest the Sipp in a Vanguard Lifestyle plan. If so is this a good choice in the current…
Salary sacrifice benifits
Hello! Recently I started working in the new place and new employer has auto enrolled me into salary sacrifice scheme. I've read all the plus and minuses of it (especially related to taxes). But I still do not understand few things. Salary sacrifice is beneficial for both employee and employer (both are paying less taxes)…
Defined Benefit / Final Salary Pension
I have a Defined Benefit / Final Salary Pension from a job I was in for under three years nearly 40 years ago. The fund is just over £30K so I cannot take it as a lump sum. I have been told by the pension provider that if I want to get a lump sum I have to transfer it. I have other small pensions and in two years time I…
Nest pension increase but paying less?
My employer pension is with nest. I was currently paying 5% and employer was contributing 3%. I asked to contribute more and pay 10% instead of 5%. So in total with employer contributions I’d get 13%instead of 8%. Yet this month I’m paying less than last month. I do need to speak to my payroll about this but does anyone…
Exceeding the Annual Allowance
I am coming up to my 50th birthday soon so have started properly looking at my pensions for the first time, and trying to educate myself on the impending tax position. I have previously been a limited company contractor so always used up my maximum annual allowance of £40k as an employers contribution, and kept my…
NHS pension, leave before vesting period or wait
I have worked in the NHS for just short of 2 years and am considering leaving very soon. I have been told that I can have a refund of my contributions but would it be worthwhile to hang on until I reach the 2 year vesting period and defer the pension? Granted, it will be worth next to nothing, as I have been paying in for…
NHS Pension - Can Someone Please Help Explain Why I’m Suddenly Paying More?
Hello, I’ve been in the NHS for over 5 years now and I opted into the pension from the start. I noticed in my April payslip that I was now contributing 12.5% pension instead of 9.3% that I was contributing until then. The issue is that I haven’t had any increase in pay so I can’t have crossed the threshold for the higher…
SIPP for cash investments
I would appreciate some guidance please regarding my SIPP, which is with A J Bell and contains two fixed rate bonds, a form of investment I wish to continue in future.Are there any other SIPP providers whose costs would be lower than AJB and are there any particular issues with this type of investment in a SIPP - eg AJB…
Lost pensions
i have recently retired and have 2 employer pensions I can’t access. One company I know has gone into liquidation and the other has swooped pension provider. Any advise would be appreciated.
Self Employed and Pension
Any advice appreciated, this maybe very straightforward but thought I better check. I earn PAYE and also pay into a pension via work. However, I also do some freelance work, for which I am self-employed. I will put all of this income into my SIPP to benefit from 40% TR. If I am payed 1k next month, and put this into the…
What to do???
My partner is due his private pension with the pru next month when he is 55. He has just learnt about all the tax they will take off and then put him in a higher tax bracket. If he spends it all on something this year will his tax then go down? Can he take the 25% tax free amount and put the rest with his works pension for…
Can you transfer a pension into another, if that has already been placed in drawdown?
Basically this... Some background. Two DC pensions. One Aviva, the smaller of the two, and one with Aegon. The Aegon one has low charges. Can you put the Aviva into drawdown, and leave the transfer of the untouched Aegon one, until needed, and then transfer it to Aviva at some point in the future. Can this be either…
Foreign & UK pension advice
My wife whom is German had to work in the UK for some years for her parent company (a German Multinational), whilst in the UK she had to contribute to both the UK state pension and a new UK based private pension (Fidelity). We are in Germany now and her UK private pension is just sitting there as a lump sum. Given she…
Pension transfer woes
Hi all, I’m trying to transfer a pension I have with Aviva (worth around £50k) to another existing pension with Standard Life, with the aim of having a flexible drawdown option to use as I ease into retirement. My problem is that the Aviva pension has a Guaranteed Annuity Rate attached to it. This means I can’t transfer it…
So its finally time....
I've been posting regularly on this forum over the past few years as regards my AVIVA section 226 pension. Taken out in Feb 1988 for £100 a month my 60th birthday comes around this Oct and I've just received details on my pension, its value and its monthly pay-out given that it has GAR of 9.8%. I decided on taking 15% out…
State Pension
Just wondered i applied State Pension back February havnt had Entitlement Notice my Retirement date is 26.05.1955. Has anyone had this problem. I called them said Pending
SIPP - am I paying far too much?
I transferred out of a company pension a few years ago into a SIPP on the advice of an IFA. The SIPP is fully managed and fund is around £385k. My charges are (approximately): * Annual charge - £70 monthly * Ongoing adviser charge - £230 monthly * Disc. Management charge - £111 monthly The SIPP is performing well but the…
Any UK-based pension provider that accepts a transfer in of an offshore QROPs pension?
Thank you for reading this. I was wondering if someone could enlighten me. Is there a UK-based pension provider that can accept a transfer of an offshore QROPs pension? I was an expat with a QROPs pension, am now UK-based again, and the offshore provider is charging me extortionate fees that has resulted in a a significant…
Lifetime Allowance Planning
I am 51 and I am trying to plan so I don't risk falling foul of the LTA by the time I retire. I have a small DB pension from a job years ago which I am estimating will be between £2-5k pa (need to get an up to date forecast) so assume £100k for LTA purposes (£5k x20) plus a DC pot which is just under £500k from a previous…

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