I don't understand!

50Twuncle

coyrls wrote: »

Your £6,250 is the equivalent of the 25% tax free lump sum. You will not have to pay tax on the £6,250, all of it (not just 25%) will be tax freee.

If you were in post on 1st April 1987 - You are entitled to RESERVED RIGHTS pension payments - which increases your tax free lump sum allowance to over £40k !!
Not that that effects the OP but may affect other readers.....

freccle

50Twuncle wrote: »

If you were in post on 1st April 1987 - You are entitled to RESERVED RIGHTS pension payments - which increases your tax free lump sum allowance to over £40k !!
Not that that effects the OP but may affect other readers.....

Why does that not affect me as I was in post then? (Not being greedy, just wondering)

seven-day-weekend

OldBeanz wrote: »

Be assured that all children love Disney whether Land or World. You will enjoy it as well. Spend it with your grandchildren and enjoy the money rather than letting it fester, "just in case". It will make up for the 12 years of misery earning your pension.

I would not have enjoyed either Disneyland or World when I was a child, and would hate it even more now.

My son, however, at 35, would love to go

I personally think it is a tremendous waste of money, but heigh-ho, that's my choice.

If this is the only savings you are likely to have then I actually think it is unwise to spend it in this way. It's always good to have 'rainy day money'.

If however, you have alternative savings and don't need the money, then go and enjoy.

50Twuncle

freccle wrote: »

Why does that not affect me as I was in post then? (Not being greedy, just wondering)

Because your lump sum is smaller than the "normal" tax free limit anyway....

50Twuncle

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I would not have enjoyed either Disneyland or World when I was a child, and would hate it even more now.

My son, however, at 35, would love to go

I personally think it is a tremendous waste of money, but heigh-ho, that's my choice.

If this is the only savings you are likely to have then I actually think it is irresponsible to spend it in this way.

If however, you have alternative savings and don't need the money, then go and enjoy.

Wrong - it is irresponsible of you to try to tell someone else, of whom you know absolutely nothing - how to spend their own money !!
If they want to spend it all on chocolate - then it is down to them... How dare you try to tell someone how to spend their own money !!
Sorry - I am incensed

seven-day-weekend

50Twuncle wrote: »

Wrong - it is irresponsible of you to try to tell someone else, of whom you know absolutely nothing - how to spend their own money !!
If they want to spend it all on chocolate - then it is down to them... How dare you try to tell someone how to spend their own money !!
Sorry - I am incensed

I think it is irresponsible if it means that they then have to claim means-tested Benefits.

Maybe I see too much of this on the benefits board - people coming into money and thinking 'how can I spend/hide/otherwise dispose of this money so that I can still claim Benefits'. (I don't mean the OP is doing this.).

I'm sorry if I upset the OP, didn't mean to, thought I was offering friendly advice. It came over wrong and I will edit my post accordingly.

greenglide

I've been to Florida many times and appreciate there's so much more to it than Disney but then again if we weren't taking the children we wouldn't even bother with Florida at all, it would be a Far Eastern cruise.

This would imply that the OP is not entirely unaware of what she is considering so who are we to criticise?

I am not aware of any mention of means tested benefits before this?

We have been to the USA multiple times, both without and with children both to Orlando and elsewhere - we enjoyed it all. Disney and other theme parks are brilliant but the best bits have to be Grand Canyon and Niagara!!!

margaretclare

Well, I don't know. It seemed to me that the OP was asking for advice. I can see SDWE's point of view.

At our age DH and I frequently get other people 'telling us how to spend our own money' i.e. telling us we should go on this, that or the other type of holiday rather than the type that we prefer. Really, they're telling us the type of holiday they prefer and want us to conform to the stereotype of 'what we should be doing at our age'.

I went to Florida once, to visit my half-sister. What I was living through at that time in real life was 'stranger than fiction' and I had no need of any more fiction or fantasy. It did occur to me that the Disney holidays might be a big disappointment to some. It was at the time of the foot-and-mouth epidemic here and we queued up for ages and ages to be admitted to the USA. Children were tired, crying 'when do we get to see Mickey'? They'd been told that Mickey and Minnie would be meeting them on landing and instead, they got immigration officials quizzing their parents as to when they last visited a farm?

I was offered many times the chance to visit any of the Disney attractions but I declined. What I did want to see was Cape Canaveral, formerly Cape Kennedy. That was absolutely fascinating. Apart from the history we've lived through, it's also a huge wildlife reserve. Bald eagles, alligators, you name it.

Children are not all alike. Some may like the Disney attractions, others may not.

For me, if I was coming into £6K (which I am, end of this month) I would spend some of it on a memorable holiday but I wouldn't dream of spending the whole lot. With a husband in uncertain health - like DH and me - one never knows what is around the corner and a bit of extra money is always useful.

agarnett

Am I the only one who is questioning in my mind the possible inconsistency of 12 years service in a civil service pension 25 years ago but only £6K and £200pm to show for it as a final salary pension ? presuming a 60ths basis (no idea if that's right for CSPS), £200 pm x 60/12 suggests £1000pm as a revalued final salary.

It is possible of course that the OP was very modestly paid or on low hours, but I am just a little surprised that the £200pm entitlement mightn't be a bit more than that ?

We don't know of course if the 25 years ago was the beginning or end of service or somewhere in the middle. I can see that the pension revalues along with CPI now, but as background, RPI over the past 25 years has increased about 115%.

Does anyone who is more familiar with civil service schemes have a view of whether the numbers look current revalued figures or more like some other historical figures ? I am not familiar with what format of information the Civil Service sends out to deferred members.

Apologies to freccle if the exact revalued figures are well understood and are confirmed as quoted - just didn't want you to be underestimating what might have actually been a more rosey tint to put on those 12 miserable years

Edit: Ah, actually having dipped into http://resources.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/YCPBE.pdf which someone kindly linked to earlier, I see that it isn't 60ths but 80ths. And the lump sum is probably exactly 3 x the annualised pension? Apologies if my musings have distracted ... !

atush

WDW or Universal for that matter, can be a huge amount of fun. I am sceptical about the 'haters'.

I prefer Florida's white sand beaches, but that doens;t mean I am not still a kid at heart- just took my 3 boys age 20-24 to US with me.

However, I would not have spent 6K on it, from my pension. In a family crisis.