MSE News: Budget 2014: Radical reforms to give greater access to pensions savings

matty17r

Thank you Deneb for clarifying this. I took, like Flachau, was a little confused about the £12000 income.

kidmugsy

gadgetmind wrote: »

...
Or at least they will be if the "grown adults can't be trusted with their own money!" brigade don't mess things up.

I'm broadly in favour of the changes, but I do have reservations. They are not that "grown adults can't be trusted with their own money!", they are that ""grown adults can't be trusted with my widow's money" once they've blown their own and start demanding that she be taxed to support them.

I lived in Australia when "double dipping" was common i.e. doing just that.

guiltrip

As I am easily confused, I need an answer please...my work pension forecast at present for my retirement in July 2016 is a lump sum of £19000 and £60pw pension...what difference do these changes make to me as I don't know what the 'pension pot' is.....

System

gadgetmind wrote: »

Or at least they will be if the "grown adults can't be trusted with their own money!" brigade don't mess things up.

Hard to put that jinii back in the bottle now though.
Hardly an election-winning strategy for any party now to try and withdraw what has so temptingly been promised.

gadgetmind

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

Hardly an election-winning strategy for any party now to try and withdraw what has so temptingly been promised.

What's encouraging wasn't just that the intention to maybe tweak things was announced, but that we were told in loud and clear soundbites that there would be no caps and no compulsory annuities.

The wording of the Freedom and Choice consultation document is also pretty unambiguous, but it does all just seem a bit too good to be true!

gadgetmind

guiltrip wrote: »

what difference do these changes make to me as I don't know what the 'pension pot' is.....

That's perhaps because you don't have a pot as such. It sounds far more like to have a final salary (aka defined benefit) pension rather than defined contribution.

However, using a quick rule of thumb, it would cost you about £80k to buy a pension like that if you had to use a pension pot.

atush

kidmugsy wrote: »

I'm broadly in favour of the changes, but I do have reservations. They are not that "grown adults can't be trusted with their own money!", they are that ""grown adults can't be trusted with my widow's money" once they've blown their own and start demanding that she be taxed to support them.

I lived in Australia when "double dipping" was common i.e. doing just that.

I agree.

I am broadly in favour, but I do have reservations.

jordisonforbes

bigadaj wrote: »

Is there any special reason you shouldn't have to pay for your care in old age?

Hi, if you accept the annuity, and have money each week/month/year from it, and you needed to go into care, then that amount of income would be counted in and used towards your care. When you die(sorry) your pension would stop anyway, if you take it as a lump sum, yes it will be used to pay for your care, but when you die if there's any left, then that is still your asset. around here it would cost around £500 a week for care, so it would depend on the size of your pot, and the length of time you live. If you have poor health and do not expect to live long, you should look to see how much that would increase your annuity anyway. Hope this helps,

jordisonforbes

carolinerunner wrote: »

I may be being paranoid but it occurs to me that if I have easier access to that pot of money, it might be taken into account (and taken off me) by my local authority when it comes to assessing how much I would have to pay for care in old age. Anyone got any thoughts?

Other than that I think it's the only good thing I can think of that Osborne has ever done for me.

if you check out my response jordisonforbes on page 6 , this was ment to answer your question, sorry i,m new to this

bilbo51

guiltrip wrote: »

As I am easily confused, I need an answer please...my work pension forecast at present for my retirement in July 2016 is a lump sum of £19000 and £60pw pension...what difference do these changes make to me as I don't know what the 'pension pot' is.....

Further to gadgetmind's answer above, for completeness: if it IS a final salary/direct benefit scheme as it sounds like, then the changes announced in the Budget will not affect you.