releasing money from pensions

markywill

I have 2 pension,s 1 company pension and 1 private pension and both only have a small amount paid into them.Also they have had no payments paid into them for the last 5 years. As they are going to be worth nothing when I come to retire, is there any way to remove the money from these pensions, without transfering them to another pension.

dunstonh

As they are going to be worth nothing when I come to retire

what makes you think that?

is there any way to remove the money from these pensions

No.

...we got to Tuesday this week without someone asking. YAY... Please, if a board guide is reading, can we have a sticky on this subject please (ideally one of the threads that details the subject more )

Loughton_Monkey

Yes, OP, I'm afraid you have hit the 'jackpot' in terms of asking one of the most frequent, and basic questions. A pension is a pension. Something to do with saving for retirement!

You cannot 'cash it in'.
You cannot sell it.
You can, if you elect, choose to emigrate to one of the 'correct' countries that allow QROPS transfers, live there for 5 years, and then take it out more flexibly, but the proceeds would probably not cover your air fare.

One option is to sit there and wait until you are 60, and hope that the value of both pensions do not exceed £18,000 at which point you can take the full amount as cash under 'triviality' rules, provided you continue not to take out any extra pension that might take you over that limit.

But I would certainly not recommend this option as this forum tends to be about retirement planning - not to be confused with 'how not to plan for retirement by avoiding pensions'.

bendix

markywill wrote: »

I have 2 pension,s 1 company pension and 1 private pension and both only have a small amount paid into them.Also they have had no payments paid into them for the last 5 years. As they are going to be worth nothing when I come to retire, is there any way to remove the money from these pensions, without transfering them to another pension.

Excellent question, and one I've not heard asked before.

Frankly, I don't believe dunstonh and Loughton's replies below. What do they know about anything? One is an IFA and part of the great pension scam, and the other is already retired and probably a bit doolally in the head.

So, I'd like to hear more opinions. Genuinely independent ones please.

And I shall not read any of them until I hear the response I want which, of course, is that it's my money, I want it now, and the companies are thieves for not giving it to me.

So let's get this thread back on track, shall we?

RichandJ

bendix wrote: »

Excellent question, and one I've not heard asked before.

Frankly, I don't believe dunstonh and Loughton's replies below. What do they know about anything? One is an IFA and part of the great pension scam, and the other is already retired and probably a bit doolally in the head.

So, I'd like to hear more opinions. Genuinely independent ones please.

And I shall not read any of them until I hear the response I want which, of course, is that it's my money, I want it now, and the companies are thieves for not giving it to me.

So let's get this thread back on track, shall we?

:rotfl:

Priceless. Make this the sticky.

sonnythecat

how charming you all are.

what a kind and friendlyt welcome to a newbie.

God forbid any of us should ask a stupid question....

bendix

sonnythecat wrote: »

how charming you all are.

what a kind and friendlyt welcome to a newbie.

God forbid any of us should ask a stupid question....

It's not a stupid question. It's a tiresomely predictable and all-too-frequent question which anyone with an ounce of gumption can find the answer to on this forum because it has been asked 3,472,413 times, including once - in the dim and distant past - by a trainee dunstonh.

Bigsmak

sonnythecat wrote: »

how charming you all are.

what a kind and friendlyt welcome to a newbie.

God forbid any of us should ask a stupid question....

Hi and welcome to the board. Please excuse the other people here and their responses as they haven't had their medication yet. The posters here can be very very helpful on most subjects but unfortunately you happened to pick a question that is asked about 10 times per week. We are asking for a sticky at the top of the page as it is a common question.

Few things,

How old are you? (it matters)
What is the current value of all the pensions you have?

Also - why would you want to take money away from your retirement pot? Unless you have loads of cash or property sitting around people don't realise how little money they will have when they retire. At the moment you would get £97.50 a week from the gov't which would just about cover my Sky TV, Petrol, Insurances, council tax and heating bills for the month and maybe a few other bits and bobs, but not my rent or important things like food.

I think what you should do (based on my limited knowledge of your situation) is work out what you would need to have as an income when you retire, and think about putting more money into your pensions so that when you are older, you can pay for things like food and heating!

I'd ask if your present employer has a company pension scheme.

Hope this is a little more helpful.

bendix

Bigsmak wrote: »

Hi and welcome to the board. Please excuse the other people here and their responses as they haven't had their medication yet. The posters here can be very very helpful on most subjects but unfortunately you happened to pick a question that is asked about 10 times per week. We are asking for a sticky at the top of the page as it is a common question.

Few things,

How old are you? (it matters)
What is the current value of all the pensions you have?

Also - why would you want to take money away from your retirement pot? Unless you have loads of cash or property sitting around people don't realise how little money they will have when they retire. At the moment you would get £97.50 a week from the gov't which would just about cover my Sky TV, Petrol, Insurances, council tax and heating bills for the month and maybe a few other bits and bobs, but not my rent or important things like food.

I think what you should do (based on my limited knowledge of your situation) is work out what you would need to have as an income when you retire, and think about putting more money into your pensions so that when you are older, you can pay for things like food and heating!

I'd ask if your present employer has a company pension scheme.

Hope this is a little more helpful.

I hope you pay more attention to your clients' personal details than you do to this thread, otherwise you could end up giving financial advice to someone who didnt actually ask for it.

Bigsmak

bendix wrote: »

I hope you pay more attention to your clients' personal details than you do to this thread, otherwise you could end up giving financial advice to someone who didnt actually ask for it.

I know they didn't ask for it. And I also realise (after re-reading the thread) that the person I quoted wan't the OP ooooooops - But people not saving for retirement is one of the things I get really annoyed about. All I actually said was 'think about putting more money away' as it is something that everyone should think about.

This month I am trying to be more like House and just stop beating around the bush and tell people what they actually need to hear. So far I'm one day into this and I haven't been punched yet!


If anyone else doesn't want any advice - just ask!

bendix

Bigsmak wrote: »

This month I am trying to be more like House and just stop beating around the bush and tell people what they actually need to hear. So far I'm one day into this and I haven't been punched yet!

You mustnt do that. It's not polite on MSE. MSE only wants people who are warm and cuddly. When someone comes on here with no pension provision, we're much more likely to get warm hugs if we say 'there, there, it's all going to be ok', than if we give them a sharp dose of reality.