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NHS Redundancy, Tax and Pension
I am 61, taking NHS redundancy on 31 March 2026. I will get 24 months salary as my redundancy payment. Unfortunately, as I will have earned my full salary by then the redundancy payment will be taxed at 40%. Is it worth buying additional pension in the 2015 scheme now before the redundancy to reduce my tax bill which seems…
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Natwest Cushon - Willis Towers Watson (WTW) occupational pension
Hi. I have an occupational pension with Natwest Cushon. It rises the same rate as comparable to 1% interest. I was thinking of transferring it to a SIPP which pays 3% interest. However, Cushon is being bought by WTW; should I wait to see how WTW fairs? thank you for any help
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Another question about directors' pensions and the "wholly and exclusively" thing
When HMRC uses the expression "wholly and exclusively for the purposes of trade" in relation to pension contributions made to employees or directors of limited companies, what does it in fact mean? It clearly cannot mean "this contribution must make profits for the company". If that were the case every contribution would…
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Kids pensions
Hoping someone can help. We have already maxed out JISAs for our children and are now thinking about starting pensions for them to spreed their future benefits. I understand the principal and that £2800 can be added per year with tax relief. Really just wanted to ask some advice on where's good to start one for them, one…
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Emergency fund within pension advice
Hi folks, I plan to retire fairly soon and my pension will essentially be invested in two parts, one to facilitate growth and one as an "emergency fund" to call on when the growth part isn't performing well to guard against sequence of returns risk. I have no other savings. I plan to use flexible drawdown so both parts…
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37 years old - My current situation and savings/retirement plan
Hi, I wanted to make this post about the journey I've been on in the last 15 years and how throughout the journey there are many times where I've felt off-track and wondered when will be the day I can see that my saving/retirement planning is beginning to work for me. It is a long thread and is meant to help others who may…
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Using inheritance to boost retirement - please sense check my plan
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…
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NHS 1995 pension - confused!
Third party question so sorry if its lacking in detail, my cousin has worked in NHS since 1988 and in a recent conversation it seems he thinks he can only take his pension without reduction when he is 65 (currently 58). I thought he would have three separate parts to his pension: 1988 - 2015 1995 scheme which is final…
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Tax Free Lump Sum Question
Hi I wonder if I could get the benefit of the forums wisdom around TFLS' Using hypothetical numbers: If i had 1 million in a SIPP and took £17430 of the £250000 TFLS available this year plus£12570 of of the crystalised pension as well (so an income of £30000 but no tax) I would leave £232570 TFLS available to take in…
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Retirement sense-check 2026 and bridging the gap
Time for my annual stocktake; I have a discussion with my financial advisor next week about bridging the 60 - 65 gap after proposed retirement at 60, but if anyone has any comments about where to focus my efforts for that, I'd be grateful for them. Age 55 Income £61K Plus £4-5K taxable interest this year (likely to…
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Doing it myself - Current portfolio
I’m starting to manage my crystallised SIPP, which is on the Fidelity platform. I’m 70, I have been drawing down £13,500 gross pa keeping my total income (from state pension and DB schemes, just under the 40% tax rate. My spouse, 74, has old state pension and a small DB pension totalling £12k pa. We have combined assets of…
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I've moved overseas - what to do with State Pension
Hi all, I know the info is probably somewhere on the main website or on this forum but I haven't had much luck finding it. I'm looking for advice. Here is my situation - As of 1st April 2025, I left the UK and haven't contributed to National Insurance. Before that I contributed for 14 of 17 years (since 2007-2008), missing…
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Mid-30s and starting to think about retirement
Hi! Don't let the username fool you, I joined this forum as a TwentySomethingGirl with a first mortgage, and 10/11 years later all that's happened is it's increased! Anyway, I'm now 35, husband is 36 and we're starting to be in a position to think about retiring early, at least earlier than state pension age, if it even…
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Defined benefit or defined contribution pension? Confused!
I am due to start a new job at the beginning of January and have been given the choice of 2 pension schemes which I need to decide on before starting; I know very little about pensions and have never been given the choice of schemes in a job before, so I am quite confused about which would be best for me. Tried to…
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Lump Sum Payments
Hello, Sorry, not much of an expert on finances or pensions, but I am due to retire in a few months. I currently have 3 different pensions, all based on current or previous employment. Having been in housing tied to my employment for the last 30 years, I am looking to buy a house which means maximising my capital. So my…
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Can’t be bothered with work any more
Age 45 Got 890k in my dc pension 40k in a Lisa 10k in a cash isa 40k in a s&s isa my missus (age 40) has 190k in a dc pension + Lisa , plus she work local government so is building a CARE pension That’s more than enough for our retirement, I’m pretty miserable in my job, while it’s well paid I almost don’t need the money…
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Pensions- consolidate or not
Hoping someone can give me some ideas of what is best to do, and how to best go about tackling pension/retirement planning please. Any comments very gratefully received Currently I am aged 34 and have: Scottish widows private pension-set this up when 19, contributions scale in line with inflation each year. £59k here…
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Consolidating multiple pensions- do I need to pay for advice?
Hello, having had a portfolio career- I have multiple pensions from a variety of providers including Teachers Pension and Nest, as well as Scottish Widows and Standard Life, amongst others. Would it be to may advantage to consolidate these and if so, am I best paying for advice?
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CSPS: Using Scheme Pays to pay a tax charge; what to think about?
Hi all, This is my first pos. I've got a tax charge on my civil service pension CSPS for this year of £3000, which I can either pay from my own funds or use the Scheme Pays to pay it. I'm keen to check that I'm thinking properly about it all before making a decision and finding it very hard to get anything resembling…
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Merged: Another question about directors' pensions and the "wholly and exclusively" …
This discussion has been merged.
Got questions about boosting your state pension by checking your record with the Future Pension Centre and making voluntary National Insurance contributions?
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Most recent: State Pension Forecast and Buying Years by DRS1
20 February at 8:13PM
