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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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Trading 212 SIPP
I have a Trading 212 S&S ISA and cash ISA and and have just been reading they are supposed to be introducing a SIPP in the 1st quarter of 2025. It almost seems too good to be true that there will be no management fees just a 0.15% currency conversion fee (FX fee) for stocks and ETFs. If this is true then transferring to…
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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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SIPP payments and pension
Hi Everyone, Firstly a little background. I am 61, expecting to retire between 63 and 65. I have 2 X pensions and will obviously receive my state pension at 67. I will pay tax until the day I die but I'm not too upset about that. My wife is 10 years younger and employed in the NHS. If she (as expected) retires (or gives up…
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Pension pot drawdown
Carried out recent improvements to home and needed to access funds from my pension pot I needed to access £15000 to make payment and as a standard rate tax payer thought I would need to withdraw a £18000 gross. However it transpired that I would need to withdraw £25000 to meet my commitments and in doing so pushed me into…
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winter fuel payment - anyone planning around it?
not sure about this one. Currently winter fuel payment is universal, but for this year onwards it is being capped at 35k income. I think its per person so not measured per household. If you earn more than 35k it’ll be clawed back via tax code (fun, they’re enough of a PITA already thanks) I think even without change we’ll…
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When/If to do a Cash Lifetime ISA transfer to a S&S Lifetime ISA
Just after a bit of advice (or what you might do in a similar situation?) for retirement planning. I am self-employed and currently have both a managed Stocks and Shares LISA (around 30K) and a Cash LISA (7.5K) I am using for retirement as I am already a homeowner. I opened the Cash LISA when I had more cautious approach…
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De-risking Pensions
I am not too far from starting to think about retirement dates (c.5yrs) but having restless nights thinking about what might happen to my pension pot in the current geopolitical and economic context. Wars, corruption, AI bubble, chaotic governments etc. so much instability and just have a gut feeling there is something…
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DB Pension take lump sum or not?
My wife has an old DB pension.She has been offered a couple of options at the moment which are Full pension £12270pa or reduced pension of £9250 pa plus lump sum of £61560. She still has 8 years before she collects her state pension ,I'm already getting my state pension and have some small pensions which I will look into…
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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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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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UFPLS Pension taken in March
Hi, I'm thinking of taking my annual UFPLS withdrawal of £16500, in March 2027, and I'm hoping to avoid the P55 Tax reclaim by taking the money after 7th March rather than after April 6th, using nearly my whole years Tax free Allowance. I wont have any other income for the year, as i can subsidise my income until March 27…
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IHT 2027 Pension Changes: Using JLSD Term Policy vs Alternatives?
I'm looking for any critiques or pitfalls on a temporary IHT strategy I’m considering as I look out to the IHT changes from April 27. The Situation: The Estate: Expected to peak at around £2.5m when my wife and I hit age 60. Long-Term Plan: Draw down excess SIPP income to gift to the kids or move into ISAs, stopping…
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Is retirement boring?
After counting years/ months down, I find myself thinking retirement will be boring - I get bored when it's a long weekend like this one (Scotland got an extra public holiday for the football). I've therefore decided to stay on for a year or so. After renovations to the house and travelling, what else do retirees do? I…
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Teachers Pension Help
Hi, new starter in the TPS and very confused! I am 45 and would like to retire at 65. I would like to contribute additional payments to enable me to do this with a reasonable annual pension. Having looked at the TPS website I have read about ‘Buy Out’ and ‘Faster Accrual’ but am still none the wiser about my best way…
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Help think tax code is wrong after pension drawdown
This year my estimated earnings are total £42914. This includes £9473 taxable pension drawdown (excludes 25% tax free bit) My tax code was S12750L (includes uniform allowance). I paid £2741 tax on the pension drawdown which was emergency taxed and should have been £1989. I filled out the hmrc form to get the refund P53Z -…
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Tax year for deferred State Pension one-off arrears payment
My wife reached State Pension age after 6 April 2016. She has deferred her state pension by 2 years. She can claim 12 months of the deferred pension as a one-off arrears payment. In which tax year would the tax for the one-off arrears payment fall, the year of the claim, or the year when the pension entitlements accrued?…
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Help with Gretel. 0 matches
Hi, I'm trying to find a pension. I was a contractor for a short time around 20 years ago. I used a company (Can't remember the name) to do my tax, national insurance and a pension. I signed up for Gretel to try and find the pension but Gretel has found nothing. I thought it would find something, Even the pensions I…
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Company say no pension, despite paper proof?
Hi. I wondered if anyone could advise on this. My wife worked for a short time (18 months) at a company in the 1980s. She still has a paper letter advising that she would be enrolled into their pension scheme. We’ve contacted the company who say they can’t find any record of her in the scheme - despite our paper proof. Can…
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LGPS Value
Hello, I have what I hope is a fairly simple question and I wonder if anyone might be able to help answer it. I have a LGPS and I left that job in August 2025 but I rejoined through a new employer in September 2025. I have yet to "merge" the two schemes together but can do as they are both LGPS 's. I am actually…
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Definition of when a pension ceases to be 'deferred'
I applied for a CETV (Cash Equivalent Transfer Value) for my Civil Service pension on 8th December 2025. This was for the purposes of obtaining a Financial Order as part of divorce proceedings. I had previously advised Civil Service Pensions, on 12th November 2025, that I wished to start claiming my pension when I reached…
Got questions about boosting your state pension by checking your record with the Future Pension Centre and making voluntary National Insurance contributions?
751 discussions
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Most recent: Aged 72, didn't claim state pension at retirement age as NI credits Missing by Brie
16 June at 5:32PM
