Budget - Green paper on pension contribution tax relief

Snakey

Nope, I actually thought it was 58 for me. I have a vague recollection of looking up my new State pension age when it originally came in and it was 67 plus such-and-such a number of months (eight?) so I just rounded it up for my post (and took off ten years). I must've dreamt that though, because when I checked just now on the government website it says I can have my State pension on my 67th birthday. Small potatoes some might say, but good news nonetheless. Unless they change it again, of course.

Did anything else get published after that consultation in March 2014 about the change to the private pension access age? I don't recall seeing exactly how it was going to be calculated or what the transition rules looked like in detail.

robin61

gadgetmind wrote: »

Well, quite. I feel rather guilty about this "Allright Jack" attitude, but what else can I do? MPs and civil serpents are on generous DB pensions, and are clearly uncomfortable with the concept of people saving their own money to pay for their own retirement. I feel very sorry for those who'll be hit harder by this ongoing attack on private pensions than myself, but until it actually affects any of those making these crazy decisions, the attacks will continue.

No need to feel in the least bit guilty if we do happen to come out of it ok. We are not responsible for any of this and if we don't do everything possible to look after ourr own interests nobody will do it for us.

nicknameless

AlwaysLearnin wrote: »

Ah, I see, it was a general point rather than specific to Snakeys own circumstances (which I assume is still 67/57 for a current 43 year old?)

I thought as a current 43 year old will be 55 in 2027 and this is a year before the change in pension age that they would still have access to a private pension at 55? Am I wrong?

AlwaysLearnin

Sounds right actually.

Who says pension rules are complicated....

Snakey

I think they're tapering it in, Nick, although I haven't seen anything about the proposed "new rules" since the condoc. I'm working on the assumption that it's always going to be "ten years before you get your State pension" and if it turns out to be earlier than that then I'll be happy.

nicknameless

Snakey wrote: »

I think they're tapering it in, Nick, although I haven't seen anything about the proposed "new rules" since the condoc. I'm working on the assumption that it's always going to be "ten years before you get your State pension" and if it turns out to be earlier than that then I'll be happy.

Would be nice to have a more concrete idea. I am 43 and the missus is 44 and private pensions are a large part of our plans!

Paul_Herring

Even the newspapers can't seem to agree..

25 February 2015: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-2967477/Pension-age-increase-axed.html

Plans to increase the minimum age at which you can take your personal pension from 55 to 57 appear to have been dropped.
At present, savers can take their pension when they reach 55. Last year the Government announced plans to increase the minimum age in line with rises in the state pension.

So when the state pension age becomes 67 in 2028, the age at which you could take your private or company pension was going to rise to 57.

Pension minimum age: At present, savers can take their pension when they reach 55

This change was expected to be included in the Taxation of Pensions Act, which has just received Royal Assent - but it’s not there.

15 Apr 2015: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/special-reports/11537512/Cash-in-your-pension-at-55-You-may-have-to-wait-till-70.html

Amid the ebullient welcome when pension freedoms were announced last year, the small print buried in the Budget notes on the private pension age was largely ignored, although readers of these pages would have been alerted.

It said access to your own money - self-invested personal pension or company scheme - while rightly being made much easier, would also be later. Five or 10 years below the state pension age was the initial suggestion.

The Treasury, just a few months ago, opted for a more electorally palatable five years, starting in 2028. From then, the private pension age will rise to 57.

Because from then your private pension age will rise with the state pension age, the following applies.

If you're aged age 36 to 44, you get your money at age 58. For Generation Y(ish), those from 23 to 35, the magic number is 59. For anyone younger, it will be at least 60.

Unfortunately these are the best-case scenarios. There is good reason to believe the reality will be far gloomier.

Snakey

Now they have the opportunity to bring in a completely new system, they might decide it's less hassle to quietly throw last year's condoc in the bin and keep the old rules unchanged (but no new contributions to old-rules pots). This would have the advantage of keeping "old people" such as ourselves, who are more likely to vote (and to vote Tory), happy. We can but hope.

kidmugsy

Paul_Herring wrote: »

Even the newspapers can't seem to agree..

25 February 2015: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-2967477/Pension-age-increase-axed.html


15 Apr 2015: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/special-reports/11537512/Cash-in-your-pension-at-55-You-may-have-to-wait-till-70.html

The Tel has a likely error: they must have mean "an electorally palatable 10 years".

Paul_Herring

More shockingly (and this is just a suggestion, not actual or currently expected policy) Michael Johnson (Centre for Policy Studies) in a report entitled Some Suggestions for the New Pensions Minister:

Rapidly increase today’s private pension age of 55 (scheduled to rise to 57 in 2028) to 60 in 2024, i.e. by a year every two years, commencing in 2016. In addition, the DWP should consider preparing people for a retirement age of 65 by 2030-35. Such a move would focus minds on longer working lives, commensurate with the significant rise in life expectancy over recent decades.

The meddlers just can't help themselves. Not only have the government restricted my expected state pension, we have think tanks wanting to further restrict my private pension!

All a policy like that is going to do is encourage me to STOP contributing to a private pension and put it elsewhere where I can access when I want, not when ivory tower intellectuals decide I may access it.

(In fact I'm half-way along that path at the moment; still contributing to private pension, but saving more elsewhere for retirement.)