Taking lump sum payment

dunroving

mgdavid wrote: »

Whilst you are still employed it is an employer-sponsored pension scheme so you have to go with the flow and follow their rules. At retirement you can transfer the Pru pot into your SIPP.

That's interesting. Presumably I could take some as tax-free cash (there is provision to do this under the employer linked AVCs and USS pension pot) and if there is any left in Pru, transfer to a Fidelity SIPP rather than leave with the Pru or use to buy additional final salary pension?

mgdavid

sorry, I missed that you have a mix of DB and DC pensions. It's usually madness to transfer out of a DB scheme. My comment only refers to a DC scheme.

dunroving

mgdavid wrote: »

sorry, I missed that you have a mix of DB and DC pensions. It's usually madness to transfer out of a DB scheme. My comment only refers to a DC scheme.

It's OK, you didn't miss it - I hadn't mentioned it until the last post. Don't worry, I have no intention of transferring out of the DB scheme! (it's USS).

My original post was only about having several DC pots and how straightforward (or even possible) it is to take the 25% of total pension value (across all pots and value of DB benefits) from one (DC) pot.

In my case I was thinking that if I have/open a SIPP with Fidelity, for example (I have ISA investments with them currently, and am thinking of doing so currently, to give me more choice of investments - Pru has rubbish choice, but so far doing OK), I'd rather take any tax-free lump from Pru.

USS is linked with Pru, which enables me to take all/most of my Pru DC pot tax-free, if it consists of 25% of the value of (USS DB + Pru DC value). If I end up with Pru being worth more than 25% I'd rather take the rest as tax-free lump and be done with Pru at that point (it will have served its purpose, so to speak).

I'd rather not end up with money left in the Pru at retirement, because of the poor choice, and would rather not reverse-commute to USS benefits (I think that is feasible), though if the commutation rates were OK I'd consider it. However, it now looks (previous post) that at retirement I could move any leftover Pru capital to Fidelity ...?

Hope that all makes sense!