Should I opt out of teacher's pension?

cyclonebri1

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

No? .
..... .

Yes, he meant "no"

cyclonebri1

kimbo790 wrote: »

How rude!! Can I please thank those who have posted helpful replies - can I say to those that have posted extremely rude ones that you have no idea what my health reasons are - as a nice commenter pointed out. I did not say that my health reasons were 'stress'. Unfortunately it is a lot more serious than that, although those of you that jumped down my throat and made assumptions seem to have made your own decision that I am crying off work because I find it too difficult. This is not the case and I do not understand why, when I came on for pensions advice I got lifestyle advice/abuse.

Maybe when some of you people out there join 'the real world', you will realise that sometimes people have more serious things to deal with than 'being a bit stressed at work'.

.

METHINKS THERE WAS ONLY 1 "RUDE" poster, maybe labelling that as "those" could be deemed confrontational

I did not come on this forum to be abused and judged - I came on to ask for advice. I shall be marking the offensive comments as abuse.[/QUOTE]


Then take your own advice and treat others fairly:T

ViolaLass

Is it just me or are some posts disappearing? I'm getting really confused by this thread.

kimbo790

Just wanted to say - to cylonebri1 - that some of the preceding posts have been deleted. Believe me - the posts I was referring to were extremely nasty. Unfortunately, the post where I complained still exists - and now it looks like I was complaining about nothing!!

Thank you very much for the comments - these really are a great help and have given me a lot to think about.

cyclonebri1

kimbo790 wrote: »

Just wanted to say - to cylonebri1 - that some of the preceding posts have been deleted. Believe me - the posts I was referring to were extremely nasty. Unfortunately, the post where I complained still exists - and now it looks like I was complaining about nothing!!

Thank you very much for the comments - these really are a great help and have given me a lot to think about.

No worries, this stuff often happens and all that is left to be seen is the reaction and not the cause. Take care. :beer:

KMK

Please ignore the rude, unhelpful replies. I am a retired teacher. I taught in state schools for almost 40 years and I know how stressful the job can be. I had surgery for cancer 20 years ago and going back to teaching after that was very difficult. People outside teaching underestimate how much physical stamina you need to do the job, never mind the mental strength.

There was an interesting programme on Radio 4 about teachers in training who had been in other employment, banking, management etc and they all said that they found the job exhausting, quite low paid compared to their previous salaries, but ultimately rewarding because of the moral purpose of the job.

As for teaching not being in the "real world", in my time I had to deal with issues of incest, child neglect,family breakdown, addictions, criminal behaviour, disruptive behaviour, as well as teaching an academic subject for most of the time. If that isn't the "real world", I don't know what is.

I now draw a fair pension which I truly believe I have earned over the years. I knowingly chose a job without perks like profit sharing, expenses, bonuses and other benefits, so I have never envied those in the private sector who do benefit from such perks. However it is galling to be pilloried, along with other public sector workers, for being in receipt of a FS pension.

So whatever you decide to do in the future, good luck! I also hope that your health issues are resolved.

Bigsmak

purch wrote: »

:rotfl:

When you get out into the 'real' world, I expect you will find working 48 weeks a year will be a tad more stressful.

My girlfriend is a Teacher. She leaves the house at 7.30 and gets home at 7.15pm. She has dinner (which I make) then has more work to do marking homework and preparing for the next days class (cutting out things, laminating.. it takes time)

I think that teachers work very, very hard and have a huge emotional attachment to their jobs as well. They worry about kids who come in unwashed or smelling of smoke. They get calls at 9pm saying that *x-child* hasn't come home from school. They know that some of the parents are Alcoholics and some of the kids are beaten.. But there is only so much they can do and social services take a lot of time to respond...

I think your view of how stressful teaching can be is outdated and not helpful.

PS - the teachers pension scheme is one of the best there is and I would always advise not to come out of it.

level200

bendix wrote: »

No. No. No. NOOOOOOO. Nein. Mais Non.

Nope. Don't do it. Don't be daft. No way jose. Not a chance. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Get the message?

What are you trying to say?

Wobblydeb

Okay ..... perhaps some (very rough) sums might help? [NB - I am not a financial advisor so this maths may have errors!] Say you're earning £30,000 per year, and you're going to stay for another 20 months before leaving.

Over 20 months you would pay £3,600 into the scheme before tax. This equates to about £2,400 less in your pocket after tax and NI if you hadn't paid into the scheme.

The scheme would guarantee you an equivalent income upon retirement of £833 per annum if you left on a salary of £30k, which will increase each year for inflation, plus whatever other benefits accrue alongside it.

While it might not sound a lot, to replace that 20 month's worth of pension with a private one, you would need a pension pot of about £18,100 at an annuity rate of 4.5%. If you choose to leave the teacher's scheme how are you going to replace that "lost" investment into your pension? Unless you end up working somewhere which offers the same pension scheme (which is getting less and less likely) then you will need to put away far more than you are asked for by your teaching pension.

It also doesn't sound a lot because (at a guess) you're comparing it to your current earnings. It sounds a lot more when you think of it in addition to the c£4,500 from your 9 year's of contributions + £5,000 government pension....

I have 13 years of final salary schemes under my belt, but left in October, moving to work for a small company that provides no pension. Now that I have finally started to learn about pensions, I realise how valuable those schemes are. I am having to put away a LOT of money and (fingers crossed) make good investment choices to get a similar outcome to staying in the local government pension scheme. BUT... I would not change the decision to leave the job that paid into the local government pension scheme. Life is too long to stay in an unfulfilling job just for the pension scheme.

cyclonebri1

Wobblydeb wrote: »

Okay ..... perhaps some (very rough) sums might help? [NB - I am not a financial advisor so this maths may have errors!] Say you're earning £30,000 per year, and you're going to stay for another 20 months before leaving.

Over 20 months you would pay £3,600 into the scheme before tax. This equates to about £2,400 less in your pocket after tax and NI if you hadn't paid into the scheme.

The scheme would guarantee you an equivalent income upon retirement of £833 per annum if you left on a salary of £30k, which will increase each year for inflation, plus whatever other benefits accrue alongside it.

While it might not sound a lot, to replace that 20 month's worth of pension with a private one, you would need a pension pot of about £18,100 at an annuity rate of 4.5%. If you choose to leave the teacher's scheme how are you going to replace that "lost" investment into your pension? Unless you end up working somewhere which offers the same pension scheme (which is getting less and less likely) then you will need to put away far more than you are asked for by your teaching pension.

It also doesn't sound a lot because (at a guess) you're comparing it to your current earnings. It sounds a lot more when you think of it in addition to the c£4,500 from your 9 year's of contributions + £5,000 government pension....

I have 13 years of final salary schemes under my belt, but left in October, moving to work for a small company that provides no pension. Now that I have finally started to learn about pensions, I realise how valuable those schemes are. I am having to put away a LOT of money and (fingers crossed) make good investment choices to get a similar outcome to staying in the local government pension scheme. BUT... I would not change the decision to leave the job that paid into the local government pension scheme. Life is too long to stay in an unfulfilling job just for the pension scheme.

I agree with every single word of you post except for the highlighted last sentence.

For some, this is a premium worth paying, only the individual can decide??????????????????/