📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Join LGPS for 56 year old.....worth it?

Options
Hi guys looking for some advice please.

Not sure whether to opt into this or not ???

What would you do ?

Times are hard for me and I could really do with the £38 pension contribution in my pocket now but am I being very short sighted?


I am told that if I made that contribution to the scheme for the next 9 years until retirement based on my current part time hours and pay I would receive a pension of arround £1200 gross per annum.

Not a fortune really and I am seriously considering not opting in.

Is it worth it for such a short space of time left to me on part time hours?

Any advice much appreciated

TIA


«1

Comments

  • jem16
    jem16 Posts: 19,626 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    aries1 wrote: »
    Hi guys looking for some advice please.

    Not sure whether to opt into this or not ???

    What would you do ?

    I would join immediately otherwise I would be chucking away an employer contribution of around 15%.
    Times are hard for me and I could really do with the £38 pension contribution in my pocket now but am I being very short sighted?

    You are as it works out at £30.40 after tax relief.
    I am told that if I made that contribution to the scheme for the next 9 years until retirement based on my current part time hours and pay I would receive a pension of arround £1200 gross per annum.

    Not a fortune really and I am seriously considering not opting in.

    You would be mad to opt out. It will cost you £3283.20 so in less than 3 years you have got back what you paid in.
    Is it worth it for such a short space of time left to me on part time hours?

    Very much so.
  • JoeCrystal
    JoeCrystal Posts: 3,335 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 14 April 2013 at 4:35PM
    Yes! It is. Your salary might rise as well and that will improve the pension income. It is also indexed-linked for the rest of your life.

    If I want to get £1,200 per year, RPI linked within the personal private pension scheme and took tax free lump sum, I would need a pension fund of £35,000 and IF I am lucky with the investments and such. That work out as £324 per Month.

    Suddenly, that £38 looks a great bargain.

    Cheers,
    Joe

    EDIT: Corrected per month to per year. :) Thanks gizmo111 for pointing that out.
  • CLAPTON
    CLAPTON Posts: 41,865 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    yes join

    paying in peanuts and getting a very decent return
  • patanne
    patanne Posts: 1,286 Forumite
    Join - your 65 year old self will be extremely grateful.
  • gizmo111
    gizmo111 Posts: 2,663 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    JoeCrystal wrote: »
    Yes! It is. Your salary might rise as well and that will improve the pension income. It is also indexed-linked for the rest of your life.

    If I want to get £1,200 per month, RPI linked within the personal private pension scheme and took tax free lump sum, I would need a pension fund of £35,000 and IF I am lucky with the investments and such. That work out as £324 per Month.


    Suddenly, that £38 looks a great bargain.

    Cheers,
    Joe

    its £1200 per year not per month!
    Mama read so much about the dangers of drinking alcohol and eating chocolate that she immediately gave up reading.
  • bigadaj
    bigadaj Posts: 11,531 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    gizmo111 wrote: »
    its £1200 per year not per month!

    Just a Minot typo, the other numbers are broadly correct. To pay in thirty quid a month and then get a hundred out, probably drawing for twice as long as paying , actually more than twice as long, is a hell of a deal, no investment would even come close.
  • gizmo111
    gizmo111 Posts: 2,663 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 14 April 2013 at 5:36PM
    bigadaj wrote: »
    Just a Minot typo, the other numbers are broadly correct. To pay in thirty quid a month and then get a hundred out, probably drawing for twice as long as paying , actually more than twice as long, is a hell of a deal, no investment would even come close.

    I agree - LGPS is still probably the best there is - but £1200 a month would be lovely.
    Mama read so much about the dangers of drinking alcohol and eating chocolate that she immediately gave up reading.
  • hyubh
    hyubh Posts: 3,726 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    aries1 wrote: »
    Is it worth it for such a short space of time left to me on part time hours?

    Yes! Along with what the others have said, according to my back-of-an-envelope calculations, you will also benefit from the contribution bands going against actual not whole time equivalent pay from April 2014 - i.e., you'll probably drop down a band from 5.8% to 5.5% (if your current band isn't 5.8%, then you couldn't have quoted the correct figures - 1200 / 9 x 60 = 8000; 38 / (8000 / 12) = 0.058 = 5.8%, near enough).
  • bigfreddiel
    bigfreddiel Posts: 4,263 Forumite
    i was 48 when i joined a similar scheme - civil service classic - i transferred other pensions which bought 18 years approx

    Now i'm on £950/month after tax - joining the scheme was best thing I ever did

    regrets - not buying more say £50/month would have been easy

    hope that helps

    fj
  • Thank you everyone for your helpful replies....it seems then that I should join up and think of the long term benefits.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 351.2K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.7K Spending & Discounts
  • 244.2K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 599.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177K Life & Family
  • 257.6K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.