Pensions, annuities & retirement planning

The wife transferred her final salary pension to Standard Life several years ago, using an IFA. Other than responding to requests for flexible drawdown (once or twice a year) and making sure there is enough cash to pay his (and other) fees he doesn't appear to do much. It's still in the same investments as day one. They…

My wife and I retired a couple of years ago, her at 57 and me at 59. We both have final salary pensions that are tripple locked, her currently £16k and me £25k pa. The lump sums we received have dwindled; we cleared the mortgage, replaced our kitchen, changed a vehicle and had solar panels / heat pump installed. We top up…

I am not working and have a small Standard Life pension pot. I withdrew 25% tax free last year, I am leaving the rest of the money 13k invested. Can I add £2880 to the pot each year and be given tax relief up to £3600 even though I have no earnings? Thank you

Can you top up Sipp and then put it straight into drawdown without incurring any penalty from HMRC? It just seems a bit cynical to me. I made an employer contribution of 25k from my Ltd Co on 8th of April. I made a personal contribution of £2880 a month ago. I made another employer contribution of 5k today. Can I put the…

Back in the 2021 budget the government announced it would tackle the low earners net pay scheme tax anomaly, now called the Low Earner's Pension Payment. The anomaly was that low earners in a 'net pay' scheme (i.e a workplace pension scheme used by many employers where pension contributions are deducted from your salary by…

Say that I have SIPP above the old LTA (Life Time Allowance). Also say that I crystallise enough to receive the maximum tax free cash - I believe that it’s called the LSA (Lump Sum Allowance = 25% of old LTA). The crystallised amount less the LSA is put into a drawdown pot by my SIPP provider (AJ Bell), for later…

I'm getting very confused helping someone with their Self Assessment tax return and the state pension. Firstly, although everything seems to say the pension increased 6.4.26, it actually seems to increase the next full week, not mid week. In other words, if a pension is paid Thursday - Wednesday, the uplift is effective…

A friend asked me to post this, and if any of you lovely people could offer any thoughts; Does a full withdrawal from a New Zealand KiwiSaver scheme by a UK-resident individual, who became UK resident in September 2019 and has never received UK tax relief on KiwiSaver contributions, constitute taxable foreign pension…

I turn 55 a week before the pension age increase on 5th April 2028. I’m looking to move my DC pension of £600,000 to a provider with a slick, well defined process to claim the TFLS and crystallise the whole pot before the deadline. Note that it doesnt matter if there are delays in receiving the TFLS as long as I can claim…

I've just recieved my annual statement from Aviva, and I'm paying 1% charges on a £30k pot, so it was just under £300 in charges blast year. I'm surely better transfering it into my sipp, with AJ Bell, which looks like it's 0.5% charges. Am I missing anything? I've never transfered a pension before. Ty

Hello I used the tool below to check my state pension age. Check your State Pension age - GOV.UK It is stated as 15 May 2027. Does this mean the state pension will be paid from this point on? And does it follow that for the 2027-28 tax year I will receive only about 46 weeks state pension? I am enquiring as I claim…

I am in my 20s and have recently started working for a local authority. I’m a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and contribute a percentage of my salary into the scheme. I’ve been offered the opportunity to join a Shared Cost AVC (salary sacrifice AVC). From my understanding, contributions can benefit…

promoted by a random Reddit thread about avoiding 40% tax, I wondered what the effective rate was when considering both personal allowance and 25% TFC. I farmed it off to chatGPT as I was musing during my lunchtime and I thought the info was useful to post for those taking drawdown up to the top of basic rate your effect…

Hi all, I am in the NHS Pension which is linked to state pension age so will receive both at the same time if I retire at 68. I would like to retire at 60 or go part time which is in 15 years. To be able to do this I need to have savings/a plan to cover this gap. Due to historical part time working when my children were…

Hello In mid October I will be 66. I have a small pension about £9k. My provider has stated I can take 25% tax free, so £2,250. This leaves behind £6,750. The provider is offering an annuity of £394.97. "No guarantee period, no increase, paid monthly in arrears without proportion, no dependents income" Is it better not to…

Hi. I am in the process of buying an annuity from Scottish Widows through my financial advisor. The process of bringing three personal pensions together from three different companies has been going on since May of this year and the communication from Scottish Widows has been appalling. My advisor has made a written…

In the past, I have lost a substantial amount of money by several FCA authorised firms “going bust” due to fraud perpetrated by the directors of the company and their associates. All of them had lots of webpages about separation of client assets, what would happen should the firm go into administration etc etc and it all…

Hello In mid October I will be 66. I have a small pension about £9k. My provider has stated I can take 25% tax free, so £2,250. This leaves behind £

Hi all Just a quick question. Is it risky to purchase more than one annuity with the same insurance provider? Not sure of any protection / cover that may exist if the insurance company gets into difficulties? Again, thank you in advance

I been in contact with Aviva believing I could simply start withdrawing a regular monthly sum from my pension but was told this 'old style' pension doesnt allow this.i asked if I could move it to something within Aviva that WOULD allow regular withdrawals and was told again NO but I could try transferring to other…