buying extra defined years

sheffield_lad

Hi guys/girls.

I am currently in a defined company pension scheme where I pay 9% in for a pension of 1/67th. I am currently 44 and have been in the scheme for 4yrs.

I want to pay more in to improve my pension or retire earlier, my company mention I can buy extra years but apart from that is vague on how to do so.

My Question is would it be worthwhile buying further years and generally if a company offers this is there a time limit or max amount I can buy or can I buy them later in life?

Or is there a better way to improve my pension?

I do have a previous employers pension (last transfer value update was 2007 was £21,000), which estimates will give me a pension of between £4560-£16040 not sure if this is best left.

hyubh

sheffield_lad wrote: »

my company mention I can buy extra years but apart from that is vague on how to do so.

My Question is would it be worthwhile buying further years and generally if a company offers this is there a time limit or max amount I can buy or can I buy them later in life?

There is no 'standard' way of doing added years, and indeed, it isn't especially 'standard' to have an added years option in the first place (e.g., the LGPS, while final salary, removed its added years option for all but historical cases in 2008). In other words: you need to provide some numbers as to how the added years option works in your pension scheme. Presumably you were given a scheme booklet or the like when you joined...?

bigadaj

Buying years from your company could well be a good idea, you would need to check how much you need to pay in for what return to confirm.

There's no reason why you can't set up your own pension, SIPP or personal pension, and manage this by yourself.

Is your old pension defined contribution or defined benefit. If benefit then probably best left where it is, if not then you would need t get details of charges and investment options to determine if you could get a better deal.

sheffield_lad

Hi guys thanks for the info I will give the pension dept a call next week. Chhers

quotememiserable

If there's any company left allowing people to buy extra years I'll be amazed. If they do allow it you to buy extra 67ths then I'd say buy as many as you can afford - it almost too good to be true.