Shortly to become a "pensioner"

OldBeanz

The other curse of us 50's children is forgetting things from 20 years before never mind yesterday�� But do enjoy your pension.

lisa110rry

Thank you Oldbeanz. It may buy a few ice creams and days out (at the weekend of course as I shall still be working). The lump sum will be handy for works to the house.

dreaming

I was 60 last year and received notification of local govt. pension due to me from my service with county council 1974-79. I had sort of forgotten about it but was forwarded (by DWP) a notification to contact council as I had moved a couple of times since then. I did ask to take my cash as lump sum under trivial commutation but as I had taken a lump sum from latest company pension when I retired at 58 (following voluntary redundancy) it was deemed to be over the Lifetime Allowance, so I had a small lump sum of just under £500 (I bought some new garden furniture) and now receive monthly pension of just over £11. This gets paid on 25th of the month which is, I believe, payday for county council employees here. It may not be much but the way I look at it is that it pays for my car insurance.
I hope you enjoy your 60's as much as I am.

lisa110rry

Thank you dreaming! I think I will enjoy my 60s and the £88 or so per month I will receive will indeed go on ice creams and days out as I have no grandchildren and son and his lovely wife live abroad! The 25th is the day after my birthday, and also pay day for my job so if it does come in then it will be very convenient to transfer all surplus to savings.

It really is amazing that you completely forget about these little pension pots as you get older.

xylophone

I was 60 last year

Have you obtained a New State Pension Statement?

It would seem that your starting amount will be less than the full amount (as you will have been contracted out) and you might wish to consider voluntary contributions up to your state pension age to increase your state pension?

https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/overview

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/application-for-a-state-pension-statement

mark1959

I'm a pensioner at 57. I retired last week and I don't feel old. [most of the time]

lisa110rry

Good on you Mark!!!!! Congratulations!

dreaming

lisa110rry wrote: »

Thank you dreaming! I think I will enjoy my 60s and the £88 or so per month I will receive will indeed go on ice creams and days out as I have no grandchildren and son and his lovely wife live abroad! The 25th is the day after my birthday, and also pay day for my job so if it does come in then it will be very convenient to transfer all surplus to savings.

It really is amazing that you completely forget about these little pension pots as you get older.

Well, to be honest I hadn't actually forgotten it but when I left local govt. in 1979 I took out my superannuation contributions to buy baby stuff (the reason I left). I thought that meant that I would no longer receive a pension but obviously I was wrong.

xylophone wrote: »

Have you obtained a New State Pension Statement?

It would seem that your starting amount will be less than the full amount (as you will have been contracted out) and you might wish to consider voluntary contributions up to your state pension age to increase your state pension?

https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/overview

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/application-for-a-state-pension-statement

Ha! the gov.uk site apparently can't verify my identity so I have to apply for pension forecast by post. When you say I will have been contracted out I'm not entirely sure what this means. I returned to work in 1991 (after leaving council in 1979) and worked paying full NI since then until 2013. I took my company pension then, which is enough for all my bills and living expenses (I'm a very cheap date), and I have the £11.79 a month from council, plus £23 a month from another "forgotten" pensions which I started with my ex when he was self-employed and he signed over to me on divorce. So plenty of "ice-cream" money. I own my own house outright, and had solar pv fitted a few years ago. The tariff from that covers my annual gas and electric bills. I don't go on holidays as I hate travelling but I run a car and spend far too much on plants, but I consider myself to be quite comfortable at the moment. I really ought to sort out pension forecast but the sun is shining and the garden bench beckons.
ETA - actually after posting decided to ring the gov helpline after all and got straight through to a very nice woman who will send me the details I need "in the next 3 weeks" - so thanks for the kick up the bum - another thing ticked off. She said the website was "very temperamental".

lisa110rry

Did you get it sorted dreaming?

The next stage has arrived for me, had a letter yesterday telling me my pension would be paid on the last banking day of each month, wonder when the lump sum will hit? For some reason, I start to feel a little depressed every time I think about getting a pension, I don't feel a day over 50!

greenglide

For some reason, I start to feel a little depressed every time I think about getting a pension, I don't feel a day over 50!

I have been receiving my LGPS pension for 5 years now as there wasnt an option to defer it after age 60 even though I am still in full time employment (only till the end of next moth though).

I make no distinction between the sources of money (after all it is all the same) and a larger amount is going into AVCs to fund a PCLS from my current pension.

I expect the cessation of work to be the big change, not the source(s) of income.