Retirement income planning for a couple?

nicknameless

xylophone wrote: »

A cheapskate!:D better not mention this to her or she might be off tomorrow!

Is it possible for your partner to increase her contribution to her existing pension? Would this bring an increased employer contribution?

She loves carrots - what can I say?

I don't think it would but will double check.

xylophone

She loves carrots

But diamonds are a girl's best friend...;)

maggieann155

hi
just a thought as its not mentioned in your post,
that your property is jointly owned ?
solely owned and not married - problems for partner on death of owner!!

wishing you both all the best in your quest for early retirement.
can recommend it !!

nicknameless

maggieann155 wrote: »

hi
just a thought as its not mentioned in your post,
that your property is jointly owned ?
solely owned and not married - problems for partner on death of owner!!

wishing you both all the best in your quest for early retirement.
can recommend it !!

Thanks Maggieann. Our property is jointly owned.

Had never thought of early retirement as a possibility until recently. Just trying to come up with some sensible options to pursue at the moment, whilst acknowledging that nobody can predict the future, and seeing how we can balance the here and now, with what hopefully will be a significant future together.

We don't have enough time together at the moment with work and so the number one goal is to facilitate more of that asap.

The ring on the finger thingy is bloody annoying TBH. We are more committed, stable and long term than many of the married people around us who've split, have poor relationships etc.

Bennifred

nicknameless wrote: »

Thanks Maggieann. Our property is jointly owned.

Had never thought of early retirement as a possibility until recently. Just trying to come up with some sensible options to pursue at the moment, whilst acknowledging that nobody can predict the future, and seeing how we can balance the here and now, with what hopefully will be a significant future together.

We don't have enough time together at the moment with work and so the number one goal is to facilitate more of that asap.

The ring on the finger thingy is bloody annoying TBH. We are more committed, stable and long term than many of the married people around us who've split, have poor relationships etc.

You could just pop to the Register Office for convenience....:)

rpc

nicknameless wrote: »

The ring on the finger thingy is bloody annoying TBH. We are more committed, stable and long term than many of the married people around us who've split, have poor relationships etc.

You may be but, romance aside, you have chosen not to enter into the legal and financial partnership that marriage is. You can have the romance without getting married (that is down to the couple) but you cannot have the same legal status without getting married. It costs a couple of hundred quid and you don't even have to wear a ring...

gadgetmind

Being married has a lot of advantages where it comes to moving assets between you for investment purposes.

Anyway, my private/group pensions are fairly healthy, so we're now putting £2880 net (£3.6k gross) into a SIPP for my wife. We're also doing our S&S ISAs each year, which aren't as tax efficient but which will allow flexibility for early retirement.

We're also accumulating unwrapped share holdings that generate dividend income, and these are all in my wife's name.

jamesd

nicknameless wrote: »

My only worries are the lack of flexibility with pension pots and how much value is achieved via annuities.

Pension are just a tax wrapper, like ISAs but different properties. You don't need to buy an annuity, you can use income drawdown instead. After starting income drawdown a spouse (but not a partner) can inherit 100% of the pension pot into a pension pot of their own, else there's a 55% tax charge to take it outside a pension pot.

You can address some of the pension issues by starting income drawdown at 55 and reinvesting the lump sum elsewhere, while directing the income into more pension contributions to accumulate another tax free lump sum. Pension contributions for her might be a good use for some of the lump sum.

zygurat789

I think there may be a bit of a problem here.
You don't mention any figures but I think you should assume you die at aged 65 and then do a budget for your partner, her income will drop considerably but her expenses by a much smaller percentage. When I first did this I was quite surprised by the result and we started saving to provide a higher income for the one who did not have the good final salary pension. This also ensured that total income was split evenly between us, avoiding any potential higher rate tax

nicknameless

Wow thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions.

Looks like it would be simpler to tie the knot then! I will see how the financial implications work to persuade her of that.

Zygarut789 - interesting point. Have just checked and my nominated partner (needn't be my wife) would get 50% of my final salary pension if I die after retirement.

One thing I'm not clear on - if I built additional pension in my name with 40% tax relief, and this would be transferable 100% to my partner (soon to be wife perhaps if need be :rotfl:) should I die, why would there be an incentive to build up additional pension in her name instead? If I died she gets the benefit of 40% tax relief in accumulating this pot vs 20% in her name, and if I live the drawdown would still only be taxed at 20% (so no difference to if it had been in my future wife's name).