Can I cash in my pension?

atush

And Flora, how are you saving now for your retirement?

Do you have other pensions/ISAs or something?

mania112

flora65 wrote: »

Many thanks for this information - put in layman's terms, however, i have a question. I am unable to pay into my pension (opted out of serps '86) and am watching it disappear every year (it's now only £4000) and probably won't have any left by the time I'm 55. What can I do?

Why are you unable to pay into a pension?

In what way does your existing plan 'disappear'? Charges too high? Fund choice (could be in a cash fund if it really is decreasing each year, anything else would have ups and downs)?

atush

In ref to 263, and IRA is an Individual Retirement Acct, an american product a bit like a personal pension. It has tax advantages.

flora65

in the last 8 years it has gone from £8,500 down to the £4,000. The pension was with another company and was increasing well over 15 years, it was then taken over and the pension has decreased on average £300 each year over the last 8 years.
I am unable to work full-time now and cannot afford to pay into the pension.

dunstonh

flora65 wrote: »

in the last 8 years it has gone from £8,500 down to the £4,000. The pension was with another company and was increasing well over 15 years, it was then taken over and the pension has decreased on average £300 each year over the last 8 years.
I am unable to work full-time now and cannot afford to pay into the pension.

Neither figure is consistent with what you would expect. Get them reviewed.

atush

They must be invested in something extremely risky/unwise/ I agree get it reviewed.

Like everyone, our pensions took a hit in 2008/2009 but then recovered fairly strongly then took another smaller hit/recovered. Prior to that they were making money. Our small wp pension made money during that period as did our larger one invested in gilts/bonds only. So I cannot see, other than super high charges or risky investments, that yours should be so bad- going down for the last 8 years every year the same.

But, what can they do? Would they have to pay to have it reviewed?

They might have a case against whoever touched/changed it last but how will they know if they can't afford a new IFA on fee basis? Could they go straight to an umbudsman (after writing to the company who advised and invested asking about the poor performance?

phills61

i am 51yrs old, and recently been diagnosed with addisons disease. i also am now suffering with depression. is it possible to take any of my personal pensions early. i have an abbey life pension and a scottish widows pension, both frozen. i also was in social services for around 10 yrs, and i presume that is also frozen. thanks, phill

opimus

Is there some way I can transfer my pension funds to an offshore carbon credit company which my friend owns?

dunstonh

opimus wrote: »

Is there some way I can transfer my pension funds to an offshore carbon credit company which my friend owns?

Only if you are silly.

atush

And you need better friends than scammers.