made redundant can i live off 170k.

srg751

ive just been made redundant at 54 with little hope of a job in the forseeable future. I claim £60 a week jobseekers allowance, have a pension pot of 35k and £135k in savings. Can someone please advise me on how to invest this money to enable me to have some income. My mortgage will be paid off later this year but even then I will still be left with an annual shortfall of 9k Any advice would be appreciated.

SavingSteve

Have you looked into how much of an annuity you can purchase with your pot?

opinions4u

It's a decent sum of money but you need to make it last a hell of a long time.

See an IFA.

Your needs are more complex than just sticking it in a fixed rate savings account and earning £250 a month in interest.

kitschkitty

If you have savings how long will your JSA claim last/be valid?

McKneff

£35K should bring about £40 per week if it is all used for an annuity

srg751

A few weeks ago I was looking forward to retiring at 60 with a decent pot. now it seems that pot will just have to be used to get me to state pension or until ime re employed. Beginning to wonder wether to If id'e be better off taking the lot into ladbrokes for an afternoon.

dunstonh

170k @ 5% (which is still achievable) = £8500 a year.

Lokolo

dunstonh wrote: »

170k @ 5% (which is still achievable) = £8500 a year.

I would love to see you try and live off that Dunston

CluelessJock

dunstonh wrote: »

170k @ 5% (which is still achievable) = £8500 a year.

Pray tell, where is 5% available?

opinions4u

CluelessJock wrote: »

Pray tell, where is 5% available?

I don't think he means the local high street bank.

Which is the reason why I posted above about seeing an IFA to resolve this.

Primrose

Firstly, have you used up your ISA allowance for this year? You probably do need to get some advice from an IFA but time is running out to use your ISA allowance so its advisable to tuck at least £3600 cash away as you could possibly become a taxpayer again in the future and the the interest would tax free. Possibly the other £3600 of your allowance could be used buying a good quality Corporate Bond like Perpetual Corp Bond before the tax year runs out on April 5th. (Or put the whole £7200 in a Corporate Bond). Once that is done, you have a little more time to consider all suitable options. £7200 tax free of your £135K savings isn't much but is still worth grabbing. I imagine that the problem with buying an annuity at 54 is that you will get very little for your money because it could possibly be having to fund you for a very long time. Don't ask your bank for advice. They will only recommend their own products and you will almost certainly have better options from an independent source.
You don't mention your family circumstances. Would letting out a room in your house be an option for making up some of your income shortfall as around up to c £4000 can be earned from this route without it being declared. . You don't mention what work you were doing before you were made redundant. Do you have any specialist skills which would allow you to go freelance? Could you advertise in your local paper to do some gardening, decorating, household maintenance, etc? Also you may not want to be too hasty in converting your pension pot and savings into buying an annuity. Once that money has been converted it's taken a one-way journey and if you then find yourself re-employed there's a possibility that your salaried income combined with any pension income could push you into a higher tax paying bracket which you won't be able to shake off until you stop working again. Sorry I don't have any other immediate suggestions. It's a tough time to be out of work.