Personal Pensions

lumpyspacewriter

Hello!

Looking for advice about a Zurich pension where I paid £10 a month plus employer contribution.

Last September I was awarded a tax free studentship to complete a PhD, paid monthly for the next three years. I left the job and as expected, the pension came to a close and a letter came from Zurich indicating two choices:

1. Refund of my contributions = £181.27
2. Transfer of total value of plan to a new plan = £666.86

Not got a clue where to start but I'd like to continue paying into a pension, plus future me can do more with £666+ than current me would do with £181. Having looked at Zurich's personal pensions, they seem to start from a minimum contribution of £150 a month and that's too much for my monthly budget.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? I'm 28, renting with no debts and I'd like to keep it that way and give myself a bit of security for the future.

Any advice really welcome. Thanks and Happy New Year!

xylophone

Transfer to a stakeholder through Cavendish?

http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/pensions/

dunstonh

Most personal pensions have minimum contributions at around £100pm plus. Stakeholder pensions have a £20pm minimum and that would realistically appear to be your best option.

lumpyspacewriter

dunstonh wrote: »

Most personal pensions have minimum contributions at around £100pm plus. Stakeholder pensions have a £20pm minimum and that would realistically appear to be your best option.

That's definitely more in my price range, Thank you! :T

lumpyspacewriter

Reading about this now - thank you so much I never would have found this!

saver861

Does anyone know if there is a minimum period which a personal pension policy can be kept?

Presumably anyone over 55 can take out a policy and, as they are over 55 can draw on it whenever they wish. However, I presume insurance companies providing the policy would have a minimum period that the pension needs to be held and contributed.

atush

Some companies allow immediate vesting personal pensions where you pay in this tax year and can withdraw from the next- or even during the same year.

PS if you have a question, it is best to start your own thread.

dunstonh

Does anyone know if there is a minimum period which a personal pension policy can be kept?

24 hours is the minimum and that only exists due to admin.

AlanP_2

OP - My son is in the same position as you as he has also just started a PhD and is paid via a tax free Bursary, coincidentally he also has a small DC pension pot from his "year in industry" whilst doing his first degree.

This may not apply to you but could be worth investigating.

In addition to his PhD research he will be spending an amount of time working for the Uni as a Lab Instructor for undergraduates for which he will get paid.

It will be a lot less than his Personal Allowance (£500-800 pa) so he won't pay tax on it but it does mean he is entitled to join the USS pension scheme and can contribute out of those earnings.

We haven't looked into the details yet as he has only just been sent through details on the lab work but it does open up the option of building a pot and transferring in the small pot from his previous employer.

Not sure how (or if) he can reclaim the Tax Relief and /or NI relief as he won't be earning enough to pay either of those which is one of the main advantages of pensions in the normal sense.


Any possibility of "non PhD" employment for yourself?

JasonPr

Remember, if you have no earnings, you can still pay up to £2,880 per tax year into a personal pension and get up to £720 "tax relief" from the government.

See section "If you don’t pay Income Tax" at https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-your-private-pension/pension-tax-relief