LTA - FIxed protection or some other strategy

madeinireland_2 · 23 March 2015 at 8:04PM

Guys,

I'm hoping one of you will be able to help me with a dilemma.

There I was moving along quite nicely towards a pension with a glidepath around the £1.1m to £1.2m mark when along comes the chancellor who pulls the rug from under me. What do I do now ?

My situation

DB scheme currently around £22k with lump sum of £66k and an associated AVC of some £200k split £150k in all share index and £50k in cash equivalent fund. I expect to retire around 12 months from now at 55 and defer the pension until 60 by which time the pension would be £34k and lump sum £102k. The intention was to convert some of the lump sum to more pension (£1000 = £49) and thereby free up the AVC sum to be taken totally tax free. I have assumed no growth in the AVC as I will soon start to withdraw it 25% per year Out of shares into the cash fund - ready for retirement.

I also have a SIPP of some £95k which I intended to take the TFLS from when I am 55 next March and then use the money to live on till I am 60 although I have other cash sums in ISA's as well. The SIPP is currently in cash only as I didn't want to risk a crash so close to starting to take it.

I also have the strong possibility of getting a redundancy payment of about £55k - the amount over £30k I was also going to put into pension but now I'm not sure.

So should I apply for fixed protection to the £1.25m or is there a better strategy to minimise any tax. I presume in the deferred state my pension can continue to grow as a result of less actuary reduction and CPI as I would not be making direct contributions.

Let me know if you need to know any more.

Good ideas and thoughts appreciated.

I know I am much better off than most but it is annoying that pensions keep getting mucked around with by successive governments - how can anyone plan?

Thanks...