Opt out of SERPS/S2P?

pro_bono

I hope this is OK to post this question here, but having looked at this forum yesterday and checked last night re my own state pension forcast of two years ago my Additional State Pension currently is almost £50.00 per week. My question is this. what happens to this accrued sum after April:
Does it contiue to grow until my retirement (March 2020)?
Does it stay at today's level?
Does it get lost in a government £140.00 a week proposed flat rate pension?

Or as usual have I not understood what has been talked about in the previous posts. Apologies if this has already been explained in the above.

xgingerx

Hi, think im in the right place now, I'm concerned that I opted out of SERPS 20 years ago, I'm 40 this year, I have had a reasonable job since 1996 and been on 30k plus a year but my pot says I only have 5k in it? Does this sound right after 20 years of work ? Im confused and would like your thought ? Also any advice ref serpsreview company ? Thks

jamesd

pro bono it'll continue to grow, no way to know yet about how the £140 plan will affect it.

xgingerx, ignore serps review companies, they are out to exploit people who don't know any better. Contracting out when you were 20 is within the age and date ranges when it was expected to make people better off so you wouldn't have a claim.

Contact the HMRC Contracted Out Helpline and they will tell you who has been getting the contracted out payments, if anyone.

If you were self-employed or in a workplace final salary pension scheme that would normally eliminate payments into your contracted out pension pot for as long as that applied. Self-employment because there aren't any contracted ot pensions to send, defined benefit pensions because it's normal for those to go into the work pension instead.

tigger74

I opted out some 21 yrs ago and had an eagle star policy which is now zurich.

I left it in real terms for yrs. My interest is i want to move this to a better place and earning a return as no interest has been paid in all these yrs.But no charges either as were upfront in first 5yrs.
i believe that the protection is being lifted this yr so when this is the case can i transfer to my normal pension fund that is not protected?
si.

kittycat69

i remember opting out 20 years ago, didn't understand it then and dont understand it now either!! have lost all my paperwork too :-(

will have to give that helpline a call i think

dunstonh

i believe that the protection is being lifted this yr so when this is the case can i transfer to my normal pension fund that is not protected?

There is no protection. The name of contracted out benefits is called protected rights. You can transfer it now or later. The abolition of protected rights has no impact.

tigger74

dunstonh wrote: »

There is no protection. The name of contracted out benefits is called protected rights. You can transfer it now or later. The abolition of protected rights has no impact.

Im sorry that is my mistake i did mean protected rights.

Can this fund be transfered to another policy that isnt protected?
or do i wait till the rules change as would give me more choice,s

i have a standardlife stakeholder fund, and a aviva standard pension, being fair all of these have been neglected for some yrs.im considering transfering the lot to the aviva policy as an option i have 15- 20 yrs left to grow this lot really.

Having looked the serps opt out(protected rights) policy has no charges to transfer only set up costs of a new fund as i have been told by zurich.

These policies were stagged when setup as in had a one off cost plus a percentage stagged down to zero taken in commision by the mortgage advisers over 5 yrs, and then charges wise to manage is only standard life with 0.8 charge a mnth.

si.

dunstonh

Can this fund be transfered to another policy that isnt protected?

Yes, with the exception of some occupational schemes.

i have a standardlife stakeholder fund, and a aviva standard pension, being fair all of these have been neglected for some yrs.im considering transfering the lot to the aviva policy as an option i have 15- 20 yrs left to grow this lot really.

Both of these existing plans can probably be improved upon with modern plans.

jamesd

Yes, just wait until the rules change because that reduces some minor extra paperwork. The old ones probably also are worth moving to something more modern.

vwyob

I'm really confused. I'm now 42 and was pushed into opting out when I was 17. Nothing was explained but we were all assured it was the thing to do. At 17 I just did it. Guys in suits were saying its the done thing, what was I supposed to know. It was with Norwich union (Aviva).

As I am aware my NI contributions are going to them. Can I still opt back in? Should I opt back in?

I just googled the state pension which is around 107 quid a week. But I have had a letter from Aviva saying at 65 my payments by todays standards will be 178 quid a month!!

I'm utterly useless at paperwork (dyslexic) and panicking a lot.

My friend typed this out for me.