Early Retirement Advice?

bowlhead99

r_i_c wrote: »

Whatever happens, I still need some advice please on re-investing the SIPP if that is the best thing to do, when I do retire in say another 10 years?

Well, when you retire in another 10 years, you have a choice of how to draw and reinvest your SIPP, or to just keep it invested as it is. If you are in the middle of a busy and stressful time right now, excuse my being blunt but there does not seem to be much point running back and forth to hospital writing to forums on your kindle to enquire about how to reinvest a SIPP in ten years time. Calm down and come back in five or ten year's time if you like.

In the meantime, you will hopefully not need to access the pension if you find work. But are you aware that a SIPP is a relatively complex type of investment product which has a lot of different choices about what assets can be held in it? The S.I. stands for self invested and so the onus is on you to ensure it is performing adequately. If you think you may need to draw out a portion of it in the next few years you should probably think about holding some lower-risk assets in it, so it doesn't all decline 30% right before you choose to cash some of it in.

There are other types of personal pension (i.e. not S.I. ones) which, if you are not looking for advanced and complex investment choices, may be cheaper in terms of annual running costs.

The last thing I want to do - had no intention of considering as a carer - was to draw on my SIPP (ie. in a 'lump sum') which I think the government has made easier for people to do?

They have made it easier for people to do that yes.

Previously if you had some minimum ongoing level of fixed income from a defined benefit scheme (like a teacher pension) you were allowed to draw on your personal pensions in a flexible way. They have now made it easier so anyone can access their personal pensions in the flexible way. But just because they have made it easier for you to do something you had no intention of doing, doesn't mean you should now go and do that thing which you had no intention of doing.

I mean, you had no intention of drawing the pension and no intention of going back to being a teacher or taking another type of job. Now your circumstances may change, so money may need to come from somewhere. But if the choice of the money coming in is from your own personal small (finite) pot of investments, or from someone else who will pay you for services performed, I would keep the pot of investments intact and growing, rather than spending them on living now and suffering in 20+ years' time,

Bazofts_Revenge

Having been in the situation of giving up a well paid career to being a carer and then having that role end suddenly and the need to find a job and have 3 pets to look after I know fully well what the OP is going through. First the Job Centre staff can sign you off as sick while you are going through bereavement I chose to just get out there and it was through an old School Friend I found my current employer in a totally different field. My main point for post however was your comment that you would be happy to stack shelves. Please for such roles edit your CV and remove high paying or skilled jobs as they will rule you out straightaway expecting you to move on as soon as something better comes along. You will not be lying just not telling them everything. I would have been happy for a job like that within walking distance of my home but I couldn't even get an interview.

r_i_c

Many thanks to all.

Afraid I am still on the emotional roller-coaster. Mum's pet is adorable but how do you explain where her mistress is? It is heart-breaking, as if a seriously ill relative were not heart-breaking enough.

That's my first thought. I would stay in the family home - for the pet's sake, until it passed on - then sell up. I would find something local to hopefully address the basic fuel bills, outgoings, and so forth.

Just can't think further than that at the moment - it is all so sudden my head literally spins with it at times - thought I was going to pass out in hospital today: emotional roller-coaster. On the positive or bleak side of life I somehow think the end of this week may be definitive, if not sooner so.

Will save posts. Many thanks again and for this forum which always gives good advice.

xylophone

Will you be able to draw your deferred teaching pension at 60?

Do you know how much this will be?

r_i_c

xylophone wrote: »

Will you be able to draw your deferred teaching pension at 60?

Do you know how much this will be?

Thanks. I guess so - but it's best not to retire, is it not? I mean, I don't have to retire at 60. Unless there is a 'semi-retirement' option which might help me run the old home and look out for mum's dear pet?

Impossible to look at figures while I am going through the gut-wrenching day-by-day, moment-by-moment experience of hospital visits - relative seriously ill - all my practical energy is expended in that direction at the moment.

Eco_Miser

Frankly, the only reason you should be thinking about pensions and the like at the moment is to take your mind off your mother's illness, for which you have my deepest sympathy.

To the best of my knowledge there's nothing to stop you drawing an occupational pension, and working elsewhere.

Trixi

For a retired teacher there is always the option of private tuition. I started this when supply work proved unreliable and it's a decent extra income.

You seem to be floundering a little but I think you need to focus on what matters right now - coping with your shock and being there for your mother. You will be able to sort the rest out when it happens. There will be options available and there will be time to sort it all out. For now, take it one step at a time.

xylophone

https://www.atl.org.uk/Images/Pension%20guide.pdf

Is your NRA (the age at which you can draw your pension without actuarial reduction) 60?

If so, you would be expected to draw it before claiming means tested benefits?

Vortigern

r_i_c wrote: »

Sorry if this is the wrong forum category: I couldn't see one for pensions?

It's called Pensions, Annuities & Retirement Planning

If you click the above link you'll get better advice on pensions.

You have 3 pensions, but you need to find out what they are worth, when they will pay out, and whether you should take them early.

Teachers Pensions - click the link, register on the site and get an up-to-date forecast. The TP site will also tell you if your normal retirement age (NRA) is 60 or 65. If your NRA is 60 I believe you have to draw your TP at that age - you can't defer AFAIK. If your NRA is 65 you may be able to draw it sooner, but at a reduced rate. This is best avoided if possible.

State Pension - again, click on the link and get a forecast. Your SP will be payable under the new rules applying from April 2016. You may be disappointed to find that it's not the "flat-rate" that you may have read about in the press. You will almost certainly have a contracted out deduction due to your teachers pension. The good news is that you should be able to boost your SP by continuing to work.

You can access your HL SIPP now if you wish. You may need to schedule the payments to avoid taxation.

Take all your pension questions and quotations to the Pensions forum. There are some experts there.

atush

Yes, there is a pensions forum. Go up to the main forum list (it is just under this one) or in essential money,

In any case, use your DC pension if you want to retire before your teachers pension pays out in full as it is valuable and gets reduced by abt 5% for every year you take it early. Take it 5 years early ad there goes 25%.


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