unusual situation and contracted out of s2p, need some advice

happyhero

Hi I am 48 and a few years ago when I was on a decent wage I chose to contract out of serps/sp2 but I stopped working in 2005 and decided to live from my savings which I have got to a reasonable level with some lucky share dealing in the past. These savings are within ISA's and I have no income but live from this money for the time being at least.

At the moment I have no intention of going back to work and rather choose to work on my home while I can.

I paid into a BT pension for 25 years and then into a Standard life pension from about 2002 to 2005.

I did send off for one of those pension forcasts and found out that I had just reached 30 years. I phoned up about this and cant remember the exact details but was told that, that would give me a full state pension so I need not pay any more national insurance payments, as the amount required will be changing to 30 years anyway in about 2010.

Anyway getting back to the subject now, all I would like to know is, is there any need for me to do anything with the paperwork I get from Standard Life every year saying that I am still contracted out and do I wish to contract in?

I mean I have no income and pay no payments into any pension now, so would it make any difference whether I was contracted in or out?

I suspect it makes no differnce unless someone can tell me otherwise and remember it has always been a torterous decision to make as there never seemed a clear answer whether to contract in or out when I was earning.

Any help appreciated.

Paul_Herring

Anyway getting back to the subject now, all I would like to know is, is there any need for me to do anything with the paperwork I get from Standard Life every year saying that I am still contracted out and do I wish to contract in?

If you're not earning enough to be required to pay further NI, then it's irrelevant/academic whether you're contracted in or out since the only difference between them is whether you get any NI rebates paid into your pension.

If you're not paying NI, you'll get no rebates either way.