Pensions, annuities & retirement planning

I am a retired pensioner receiving a state pension and also 2 company pensions built up in the 1990's with 2 different 'big' companies. This question relates to these 'commercial' pensions. I have recently received correspondence from the pension scheme of one of these companies regarding the conclusion of their GMP…

hi all I utilise a Financial Advisor to fully manage my sipp, he does all of the fund selecting and purchasing of same, what would you expect the fees to be on a 850k portfolio

Hello everyone I am looking for any experience / advice on leaving pre 55 based on a current (scheme year 24-25 and scheme years 25-26) period of higher earnings due to a temporary promotion. My classic length of service (post McCloud judgement) will be 28 years 171 days and I am a Classic member. So my pensionable…

Need help again I’ve previously asked a similar question but still confused. Especially after speaking to WTW. I’m 55 and want to release the 25% tax free lump sum from my WTW workplace DC pension I would like to use part of the funds to pay for home renovations before finally leaving my employment. But importantly want to…

I have an old Pension originally taken out with NPI - With Profits Plan, that is now managed by Phoenix Life. Recently, I received a pre-announcement of an offer they were making to allow me to transfer out of the current fund with no MVR. Since the the MVR would currently be about half the value, this seems a good offer.…

I have accepted an NHS job offer, and one of the questions on the starter pack says: 'Do you have any previous pension rights that you might be interested in transferring into the NHS pension scheme?' I would like to know what this means. As I have an old work pension (non-NHS on the Scottish Widow platform) and I was also…

I'm filling out the Civil Service retirement application form, which is straightforward, however in 2017 there was a bulk transfer into Defra, in my covering letter I am including details of that and the protections i have with the rule of 85 (ie. part of the pension was transferred into Nuvos) it is the pre 2008 Nuvos…

How do you manage/utilise yours? Having retired a couple of months ago have been living on my final salary and bonus payments in the interim but now need to think about what's next. The overall value of my main DC pension has been largely static from when I retired hovering between £740 / £750k (nice problem I know). If…

Hi, I am 58 and not sure how long I will be working at my current job as partners are likely to retire in a couple of years. I currently pay 5% and employer 3% into nest pension. I also add a small lump sum of £40 each month separately. I am wondering whether its worth really increasing my contribution to say 11% -…

so my HR department continues to mess up what should be a straightforward salary by not declaring medical insurance in a timely manner so my latest tax code is now 8111 for the rest of the year - hopefully sorts itself out by April next year anyway - am I right in thinking if my allowance is 8111 my basic rate band remains…

It would be amazing if you could do a section on nhs pension scheme, it is seems to be very different from.other private pensions.

Hello, first post here, as I noticed some great advice on Civil Service pensions in the forum. I would be grateful for any thoughts or experience on my current dilemma as to when to claim my preserved civil service classic pension. Here's the situation: I turned 60 this year, so am eligible to claim my preserved Classic…

This letter received from ReAssure following two online messages asking them to stop sending multiple copies of quarterly retirement account statements through the post:- We apologise that you have been receiving multiple statements. This is an automatic statement and we are unable to stop one without stopping both. We are…

Hello I was made redundant this year, received a payoff and after a few months off have been looking for work which is proving more challenging than I thought it would be. I am in receipt of a DB pension of approx £10k per year - this could not be deferred. I could start to receive another DB pension of only approx £8.5k…

Hi, I work full time, age 72 and a half. I'm in the LGPS and recently enquired with them about taking a lump sum. They have said the only way to do this is retire, voluntary retirement, transfer to a different role on a lower grade or reduce my working hours by 40% which is equivalent to only working 3 days (this was only…

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…

Hi all, I've been with my current employer for 9 years, and continued to contribute to the Group Flexible Retirement Plan with Standard Life I had been receiving a 0.45% discount this whole time and on a variety of SL Vanguard funds, but accidentally discovered the discount has recently gone and I'm paying the full 1%+…

Hi there, My husband and I recently inherited £550K. Some context: My husband is 51 and works as a freelance creative. He previously earned an average of £40-50K pa, but for the past 4 years he has been caring for his Mum (who died in Feb 2025, leaving us the inheritance), and his income fell. During this time his income…

Is this right? In the scenario below, I am aiming to get maximum tax relief with my 'post tax contribution'. Using example figures for ease. Salary: £30,000 Salary Sacrifice: £10,000 Taxed income: £20,000* Post tax contribution: £16,000 - government adds £4,000 (20% of £20k) - making a total of £20,000. So even though…

Hi everyone, I’m hoping to get some independent views on a situation affecting a small group of long-serving employees. Our employer closed its Defined Benefit (DB) pension scheme to new entrants many years ago, with all new employees joining a Defined Contribution (DC) scheme instead. Existing members remained in the DB…