-
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…
-
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.…
-
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.
-
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…
-
Redundancy Payment Methods into a Company DC Pension?
Hi All I’m looking for a bit of clarity regards to how an employer pays redundancy into a DC company pension. My employer is offering to pay a defined amount above the tax free £30K, from my redundancy settlement pay, into my current company DC pension. This is good news apart from the payment method they are choosing to…
-
car purchasing in retirement
looking at info on what others are doing/plan to do regarding funding car replacement during retirement. We’ll likely drop to one car next year which will need both to be sold as her’s is too small and mine is too big for the other to drive :) so how to finance. logically we should estimate how long we keep cars for and…
-
I have been left a £50,000 inheritance, I want to add it to my pension pot.
I have just turned 64, I have a part time job earning £1,200 per month and a small HM Forces pension and a little savings. I also have a personal pension with Aegon and have a pot in the £40,000's. I have just been left a £50,000 inheritance and I want to add this to my pension pot. Seems like a straight forward thing to…
-
Early-retirement wannabe
I would like to create a topic (don't see it at the moment - other than the NUMBER thread). Who is aiming for early retirement (or who has retired early already)? When did you begin planning and what drove the decision? What is the strategy for getting there? How much of a relative decline in income are you prepared to…
-
Class 2 not offered although fulfil the criteria ??
I have lived and worked abroad from end 2000 to current year with two periods of unemployment. Prior to moving, I worked in the UK for 13 years and up to 6 weeks before my move to France (because of searching for a place to live in France and organising house sale and removal in the UK). I sent my CF83 beginning March 2025…
-
State Pension and tax code 2026/27
Couldn't make my mind up if better in the Cutting Tax board or here but decided here. New tax codes are arriving for 2026/27. If on the full new state pension it should show 51 weeks of new rate of £241.30pw plus 1 week of old at £230.25pw. Total should therefore be £12,536. Assuming no other deductions/allowances, tax…
-
SIPP “Notional split”
I expect this has been asked multiple times but please bear with me seeking clarification. I have a SIPP. Let’s apply some easy numbers to it for the sake of calculation. I have £400k in my SIPP and am due to retire. I initially want £25k as a tax free lump sum. So I need to crystallise £100k to get my £25k TFLS. Am I…
-
What to do with old contracted out pension?
Hello. I'm seeking views on whether it makes much difference which pension to access first in the following scenario. My wife will be retiring shortly (turned 60 in 2025). All the pot figures given below are approximate for ease of calculation. All three of the pensions happen to be with Aviva and allow the usual options…
-
Drawdown plan
Please can you critique my drawdown plan? 1: Basic needs are covered by partners defined benefit pension plus an Index Linked Bond Ladder covering between retirement and State pension age. 2: Nice to have’s, holidays new cars etc etc are to be covered by a SIPP pot plus S&S ISA’s (x2 one for me one for my partner) 3: We…
-
I asked ChatGPT to simplify and sort out my investments
I have been looking at sorting out the isa/pension investments for me and my OH as they are currently across 3 providers (Vanguard - OH, interactive investor (me) and L&G (me) (ex-employer master trust in drawdown). Total approx £1m and not really used for day to day as decent DB in play. My allocation for the last 5 years…
-
Providers that preserve protected pension age on transfer in?
Hi all, I'm about 3 years away from retiring and I've discovered that my main DC pension with Aviva (a TK policy) doesn't provide FAD. I'd need to contact them every time I want to make a withdrawal apparently. However, it does provide a protected pension age of 55 which will be really useful. Aviva's fees aren't super…
-
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…
-
AVIVA FUNDS
I have my retirement fund with AVIVA, all of my fund prices update Monday to Friday around 6-7pm and consist mostly of shares My question is when my fund prices update does it relate to the ftse/dow share prices the day before or before that or do they relate to live prices at that time ?
-
Small pots v ISA ?
Hi. I have a couple of old small pension pots of no more than 5,000 pounds. I am 58. Would it be feasible to take my amount tax-free and put it in a cash ISA as he's doing little or nothing where it is. Not very pension wealthy or pension wise so will be interested in opinions. Many thanks
-
Looking to boost pension and not pay tax on savings
Im a 56 self employed carpenter and have £10800 in a people's pension. I have £20000 in ISA £53000 in cahoot savings account £15000 in RBS current account I have a further £45000 coming soon for inheritance. Im thinking of topping up my pension to get more tax free savings Is this the best option for me thanks
-
Did DWP ask you to pay voluntary NIC
If you claimed your state pension after 2016, the DWP may have illegally asked you for voluntary NIC to increase your qualifying years. The DWP limit contributions in the years prior to 2016 to 30 years. This is against the Pension Act 2014, which says that 35 or more qualifying years earned prior to 2016 result in a full…
-
Mortgage, pension dilemma
I’m 65 in December and currently planning to work until 67. I took out a small mortgage just over 2 years ago for £50k, there is currently £29k left to pay at £968 month, the rate is 5.85% I have savings which I’m considering to use part to pay the mortgage off. The money that I’d be saving monthly on the mortgage I’ll…
-
The Pensions cashback and incentives discussion thread
Lots of coverage on incentives for current account switching, but none that I've seen for pensions. I kind of get it - bank accounts are a well oiled process, don't involve long waits, differing paperwork requirements, and potentially large sums needing to move. But given that the demographic of this board is made up of a…
-
claim tax relief on pension: impossible! I need a professional...
Dear all, I've been trying to claim tax relief on my pension contributions for month with no luck. I've followed this page: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-tax-relief-on-your-private-pension-payments after having contributed some considerable extra amount to my private pension for 3 years (within the tax-free allowance…
-
Private pension withdrawal for pensioner with only State Pension income: tax return / emergency tax?
My mum is 68 and has around £3,600 in a small Vanguard private pension. Her only income is: The full State Pension (which counts as taxable income) [EDIT: £11,973 per year as a single woman] Personal Independence Payment (PIP) (which does not count as taxable income) She has no other income or pensions, no pension credit,…