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Tax free withdrawals
I intend to stop working next April 2026. I will then have 30 months of full tax threshold (£12570) available to me before my state pension kicks in. I'm considering opening a new SIP and funding £16,800 (£21000) next month and same again next March 2026. I will then withdraw the £42k at £16750 per month for 30 months.…
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Best SIIP
Hello all, i currently have my pension account with Aviva through my employer. the annual management charge is at the moment £9.4 a month and that will increase as the amount invested grows. i am thinking of transferring my work pension to a SIIP where i have also more investing options like a wider range of funds, and…
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SJP pension withdrawal timescales?
Need some advice on how long it takes SJP to get pension lump withdrawals. The last few times when I have requested withdrawals it has taken anything from 15 to 23 working days to complete. I have had to keep chasing SJP on where the request is in their process and furthermore at finalisation of the process I have to sign…
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Access number for Government Gateway
I set up my Government Gateway account years ago. And use the app nowadays. Every so often you need to enter a 5 digit number to access your account. This is currently sent to my landline number as a voice message. How do I go about changing it to my mobile number? Also it gave me the option to have the access number sent…
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That crept up on me ..
Looks like I'm in a fortunate position compared to a lot * Full NI contributions * Half a dozen private pensions including a contracted out and a final salary (NRD 60) * Approx 6k pa (less state pension deduction) from final salary scheme - which I've not drawn from yet so will be backdated 51 months lol * Approx 250k in…
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NHS pension - Tax relief on additional payments
Last year i made some additional payments (APs) to my NHS payments. I split it into two payments, one lump sum and one in 12 month installments taken from my salary. But i am in the dark about the tax situation. The NHS pension website suggests that you can claim tax relief on lump sum APs by completing a self assement tax…
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St. James' Place - Pensions - Am I stupid for being concerned?
I’m looking for opinions on whether my concerns are valid or not as I’m not experienced in pensions or investments. An advisor from St. James’ Place contacted me on LinkedIn, mentioned that they work with ‘my colleagues’ and offered a free initial review into whether they can help with my financial planning. For context,…
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Contracted Out Deduction (COD)
Hi, In my weekly state- pension calculation I have a COD of £20.95p /week I earned from an employer's or personal pension scheme for the period between 6th April 1978 and 5th April 1997. I am confused as for most of this period I was working for overseas companies and was paying Class : 2 National Insurance. I would…
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Setting up a new personal pension - help me choose!
I took redundancy at the end of December and I would like to maximise my pension contribution for the current tax year. Since so can no longer pay into my old workplace scheme I need to choose a new pension provider and scheme. i have calculated (with a lot of help from this forum!) that I have £12.5k of my 2024/25 salary…
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Bonds question
Prior to the Truss mini budget, I believed that bonds were a safe place to place wealth into (particularly as company pension schemes tend to rebalance in favour of bonds as retirement age approaches). I recall that just after the infamous fiscal event, there were concerns pension funds were being wiped out by the rapid…
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Accessing 25% tax free lump sum
Hi, I've done a lot of reading on this and I think I've got this figured out. Just wanted to confirm with you all. I've just turned 55. I have a few defined contribution pension pots at various pension companies (Aviva, Legal and General, Royal London etc) that I accumulated over the years while working for multiple…
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Pension Tracker
I am looking for an app or even a spreadsheet to track the values and chart the progress of my various personal pension plans in the one place. Bonus points if it can include the state pension as well. Does such a thing exist?
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Growth assumptions in your models/spreadsheets
Interested to see how others do their growth modelling and what numbers they use for things like global equity funds, UK property, Gold, Bonds, etc. Up to now my modelling has simply used plug-in single figures for different asset classes, and I've been using conservative values. I am modelling the next 30 years (ages 56…
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TFLS across DB & DC Pensions
Hi I currently have both a DB final salary and a DC Lifesight (AVC's) scheme through my current employer. I have the option when I retire (I'm 54 and can take my DB benefits from 50) hopefully soon to transfer my Lifesight funds back into my DB part to fund the TFLS. Currently this is about £285k and I would select the…
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Retirement flat
All I want to say is think twice, actually think more than that if you are thinking of buying a retirement flat. Having going through the process of selling my parents it’s an awful process. Hard to sell, the bills go up and up, the fees are ridiculous and just been given a £10,000 sinking fund fee. They lost so much money…
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LGPS pension account modeller and early retirement deductions
Hi all, I'm a long way from retirement (32yo) but want to make sure I understand the LGPS correctly. My salary is circa £65k and I contribute 8.5% from my salary into the LGPS. I joined the LGPS at 24 and would like to retire at 60 with 36 years service. I also pay into a SS AVC to reduce 40% tax and plan to take this in…
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State pension forecast, does this mean what I think it does?
My wife's just left her job. She has 4 years to go to get to pension age and doesn't intend to carry on working. Her forecast on the gov site give her weekly/monthly forecast and says, 'You cannot improve your forecast any more.'Does that mean that she doesn't have to carry on paying NI through voluntary contributions, or…
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Advice needed on choice of IFA
I'd be grateful for any advice that can be offered by those more expert than me regarding the choice I have between two different IFAs for initial investment advice and ongoing advice on my DC pension pots. I'll be 60 this summer and am aiming to retire then, with the option to do bits of freelance work if I need to. I…
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Help
Hi all So i have worked all my life and unffortunately had to retire due to ill health in 2020. My NHS pensions restricts me from earning any more than the LEL(£6,398 currently) so National insurance will not be deducted from my earnings ever. I know there are 3 ways to get national insurance credits. I cannot afford to…
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R85 pension
I am 60 years old. I have worked part time in schools for 25 years and have a LGPS. It has been agreed that I can reduced my 3 days working week to 2, and reduce my 52 weeks to a 38 week contract with my wages being paid over 12 months. I have spoken to pensions dept about taking Flexible Retirement and I would be covered…
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Most recent: Help! HMRC State Pension Topup Callback by SVaz
16 October at 11:48AM
