NHS Pension??

kazmac_3

Hi all...just wondered if anyone is able to offer me advice on pensions....I am currently paying into and NHS pensions and have been for the past eight years.....approximately 175 per month. On the grand scle of things, how does the pension rate against others, i.e: Should I change, and also, am I better off to apply this money towards my mortgage and pay that off a number of years earlier?? Thanks in advance!

dunstonh

Hi all...just wondered if anyone is able to offer me advice on pensions

This site is not authorised to give financial advice. We are happy to discuss things though and give some pointers to help you find the information for yourself.

On the grand scle of things, how does the pension rate against others,

Its a Govt scheme. For those in it, its one of the best and safest you can get. Those not in it (like me) are the ones who will be paying your pension.

Should I change, and also, am I better off to apply this money towards my mortgage and pay that off a number of years earlier?? Thanks in advance!

Absolutely not.

kazmac_3

Didn't realise my wording would get me nto trouble !
I consider myself suitably chastised!!!

Thanks for your guidance however! The world of pensions confuses me and I am the first to admit that seeking other's out who do have the expertise is far better than blundering my way through!

Your comment about paying my pension, can you explain?! Told you I was useless at this type of thing lol!

dunstonh

Didn't realise my wording would get me nto trouble !
I consider myself suitably chastised!!!

Not what I meant. I was just making sure you realised that we can't give advice here. There is no consumer protection and sometimes you see some completely wrong answers given so would be daft to act on everything here on the assumption it was good advice.

Your comment about paying my pension, can you explain?! Told you I was useless at this type of thing lol!

You pay into your pension but it is not invested. The Govt will be giving you a pension based on your years of service. So, if you do 40 years you will get half your pensionable salary (which is usually your basic pay without overtime or similar). You also get some lump sum benefits on top of that. It is the taxpayers who pay your pension making it one of the safest around (and hence my little comment about me paying your pension).

If you were to look at a personal arrangement (such as a stakeholder pension), to get the sort of benefits, your £175 would need to be increased to the region of £750. That is how good your pension is. I would love to have your scheme available to me. As would most others.

kazmac_3

The muddy water is getting clearer dunstonh!! Thank you very much for answering my questions....I am now only at 'idiot' level where pensions are concerned, (previously at cretin level)!!!

I am also shocked but relieved at how big the difference would be in changing.....only a small thing but you have made a shattered, bored, underpaid nurse a little happier as she skips off later to night shift! :T

EdInvestor

underpaid nurse..

Part of the reason for this is the gold-plated pension.

Check out the state of the retired women you and your family know.

Many of the widows will be trying to scrabble along on an annuity that pays 50% of what they got when the husband was alive.As everyone is well aware, the costs of running a house, and car, paying heating bills and council tax, is only half for one person what it would be for two - Not! :rolleyes:

The ones that stand out in terms of having a comfortable old age are the teachers and the nurses, both getting their own work pensions from the Government and the state pension as well. They have enough.

Now you know why.

wattapain

But nurses do earn their pensions in the long term - I'm afraid I get a bit p***ed off when I hear peoplle say 'I pay your pension in my taxes' & ' I wish that pension was available to me'!
Well it is actually - all you have to do is go work for the NHS as a nurse - (lots of other names for it - ie s*** shoveller!! ' etc.
Also don't forget you have the added advantage of working weekends ( no choice - on a rota) bank hols - Christmas Easter etc, etc.
All for a wonderful salary (not).
Afraid I don't know what they start on , but I know that when I recently retired , after working in the service for 30+ years and paying contributionss for 25+ of them, in my last year - opting to work most weekend and BH's in order to boost the final salary - I earned around £36000 gross, a salary DH has said a decent IFA 'wouldnt get out of bed for' . and that's a top G grade - a senior midwife, the highest you can go without moving into management.
And this now brings me around 11k pension.
I'm not complaining - i know how big a pot you'd need in a private pension to get that, but please don't tell me I don't deserve it!! :mad:


As the saying goes - you pays your money...
Terri

ReportInvestor

Don't worry Terri,

The government, of whatever hue, will eventually reduce you future entitlements to bring them more into line with the private sector whose pensions are collapsing around their ears as we speak.

Is it right that you can only get a guaranteed pension by working for the public sector?

It will be a 2013 election question.

margaretclare

EdInvestor wrote:

The ones that stand out in terms of having a comfortable old age are the teachers and the nurses, both getting their own work pensions from the Government and the state pension as well. They have enough.

Ah no. Not the case. Can't speak for teachers, but I was in the NHS myself for nearly 3 decades. And I was laughed at numerous times by different colleagues. Once they'd qualified they chose to keep their hours below full-time so that - at that time - they could stay outside the NHS pension scheme. They wanted the money in their pocket then, you see, didn't want to pay into the pension scheme, the culture at that time was that a married woman depended on her husband for everything, including pension provision! This applied even when they were earning good money (for the time) and doing very responsible jobs.

Same with the state pension. I've read that only 17% of retired women actually get the SRP in their own right. A minority - and I'm in that minority. Again, colleagues who got to know what I was doing laughed at me. They were paying the married women's reduced contribution - again, they wanted the money in their hand now and not at some future date.

I'm aware that the option to pay that reduced contribution ended on 6th April 1978, but those who were paying it were allowed to continue. They are just the women who are coming up to retirement now, or are in the early years of retirement.

EdInvestor, all those women did have the CHOICE - but they exercised that choice in the wrong way. And they're just the ones who are facing decades of poverty now. Often, the husbands that they thought would 'support them' for the remainder of their life, are no longer around, for whatever reason.

Thank God I didn't let all those mockers influence the choices that I made!

Margaret Clare

EdInvestor

EdInvestor, all those women did have the CHOICE - but they exercised that choice in the wrong way. And they're just the ones who are facing decades of poverty now. Often, the husbands that they thought would 'support them' for the remainder of their life, are no longer around, for whatever reason.

It's a pity that they missed out on good schemes like the NHS, teachers, Local Govt, civil service ones, that's for sure. But I can really understand women whose instincts tell them to steer clear of pensions.The whole system is stacked against them - from annuity rates to the rules on the state pension, which are particularly discriminatory. And pensions are so hard to understand most people ( not just women) can't really determine if they getting fair treatment.

In general a woman would have been more sensible in the past to keep her eyes fixed firmly on the marital home - and that may still be the case, given the rise of property prices and the invention of equity release type pension income.

kazmac_3

So nice to see someone battling the nurses' corner for a change! :j

You are of course correct, nursing has a huge shortage and I'm sure many people will be rushing to be recruited now they realise all the nightshifts, low wages, cleaning of orifices etc etc etc is all for the 'gold' pension at the end of it.

However, the reason I entered nursing was to help people and because I velieve its a vocation.....I wasn't even aware of how good my pension was until I posted on the board!!!!!

Nuff said!