more FSAVC advice, please..

pittaway

apologies if this subject has been 'done to death' already, but i have a fairly straightforward question.
i opened a with-profits FSAVC with friends provident in Sep 95. i paid into it monthly until several years ago, when i stopped for a variety of reasons. it currently has a value of just 3418 pounds. the plan matures in 20 years, when i plan to retire.
reading several comments on this forum to the effect that FSAVCs are no longer considered the pariah of the pension world, i've lately been considering reinstating it. friends provident tell me the maximum i can contribute is 66.67 pounds/month (i used to contribute 50/month, and the difference was tax relief). situation slightly complicated by the fact i currently live/work abroad, and i suspect this imposes restrictions on contributing/available tax relief.
the alternative i'm considering is establishing a SIPP from abroad.
what should i do with my friends provident FSAVC?

DavidLaGuardia

You must be eligible. In order to pay into any form of pension plan you must be one of:
1. UK resident
2. A Crown employee (or spouse/registered civil partner of crown employee)
3. A non UK resident subject to tax on relevant UK earnings.

Even if eligible, In most cases I fail to see the point of FSAVCs instead of a personal pension (or Inhouse AVCs/purchase of additional years if good guaranteed benefits are on offer). There would have to be some outstanding feature of the orginal contract you have to convince me such as a guaranteed annuity rate.

dunstonh

reading several comments on this forum to the effect that FSAVCs are no longer considered the pariah of the pension world

You have read that about AVCs. Not FSAVCs, which no longer exist. FSAVCs are now personal pensions.

pittaway

i believe i am non-resident, although i do pay tax on income i earn from a rental property in the UK, and submit annual UK tax returns. does that mean i am then eligible?
i do have other pension arrangements (both in the UK and abroad) - this is literally one of those 'should i do anything further about this?' dilemmas..
much appreciated

EdInvestor

There is no point in contributing more to it as you won't get tax relief* and it's in a moribund With profits fund.If it has no guarantees attached (ask) and you have any other private (non company) pensions, it may be worth amalgamating them.However no doubt it will be subject at the moment to an MVR exit penalty, so you may prefer to wait until markets recover before reviewing it again.

DavidLaGuardia

pittaway wrote: »

i believe i am non-resident, although i do pay tax on income i earn from a rental property in the UK, and submit annual UK tax returns. does that mean i am then eligible?
i do have other pension arrangements (both in the UK and abroad) - this is literally one of those 'should i do anything further about this?' dilemmas..
much appreciated

Property rental income is unfortunately not "relevant" (i.e. earned) income which is retricted to employed earnings or earnings from a profession or trade etc.