NHS pension and International Private Pension

markov_spirello

Hi all, I'm 29 and qualified as a doctor in 2008 with £14K of commercial loans and £18K of student loans. I've paid off the former and have now moved to New Zealand where I'm working for a year. I plan to return to Europe to do a PhD and am looking at the US or Germany to train as a neurosurgeon after that. My student loan is still festering back home. Other than that, I've no debts or assets and am renting a flat in Wellington.

I have 2 years of NHS pension contributions and opted to leave it be this year as there is a possibility I may end up working in the NHS again one day (perhaps 30% chance) and they're a pretty good deal. However, I've subsequently read in the news about the changes being made to the NHS pension and it doesn't look quite so rosy any more.

So I was thinking about starting an international private pension - something fundamentally portable that I can start paying into now and flexible enough to cope with me moving around the world for 1 - 5 years at a time during my career. I've looked around on the internet but would be very grateful if anyone here with experience of such a product could give me some pointers. I'm thinking about using my NHS contributions to start the new pension.

I'm a British citizen and left the UK in 2010. I'm unlikely to return for anything other than holidays for at least four years.

Thanks for your help!

Tim

Cook_County

Tim - How does New Zealand tax you currently on the value of your onshore NHS pension plan?

How would the US or Germany tax you on the value?

How would any of these 3 countries tax you on an international plan?

dunstonh

I've subsequently read in the news about the changes being made to the NHS pension and it doesn't look quite so rosy any more.

So far you have read speculation. Not reality. Some of which will end up being correct but some of which will not.