Old Abbey National DB Scheme guide

sandsy

Some DB schemes refuse to tell members the revalued benefit - I know my administrator refuses to tell me. But if it was £2440 in 2004, it will be around a third higher now.

liviboy

hyubh wrote: »

I really wouldn't just assume the worst, as doing so speciously makes transferring out sound a better idea than it really is. I'd suggest she requests an up-to-date statement of where her preserved benefits currently stand.

Likewise, I can't have been the only one who spluttered when reading the line 'to put aside any fears she has been dealing with any dodgy things...she was introduced to the idea of an investment in car parks (Overseas and Domestic developments)'. 'Introduced', 'investment in car parks', 'overseas' - blimey, if that was a scam, minus points for the scammers being quite so cliched.

Maybe a fault of mine but I think yore focusing far too much on the words I wrote.

Introduced - meant she was talking with her brother who told her about an investment he had made (can you give me a more appropriate word than introduced to an idea??)

Car Parks - it's a bit more than that and it is all above board. One of the car parks involved was being built at Gatwick Airport. I'm not entirely sure how it worked but essentially you paid for a space and then received a percentage of the rental income on that space for X amount of years (which is your return) plus you then received back your initial investment after the same period of years. Regardless my uncle had invested in this and is confident of his investments and had simply been speaking to my mum and put her in touch with the same people who he had dealt with. It has now been advised against for pension purposes because of a number of reasons, including that the overseas property works are unregulated, so she wouldn't be investing in this anyway. The IFA has done his job in this as far as I'm concerned.

My mum still works in financial services in the USA and I'm fairly confident she understands risk, scams, etc.

She is going to request up to date benefit statements, etc. Just so she absolutely has the figures.

I think for the purpose of this thread you need to remove this idea of a "dodgy" or "scam" investment as she is no longer looking at investing in such a scheme but instead the IFA suggested a SIPP MAY be a way to go forward but mum hasn't heard any more yet.

To be honest this thread is more to do with mum looking to see exactly what her benefits are if she keeps the DB pension and if there is any way to enhance that, perhaps as said earlier, through a commutation amount.

bigadaj

liviboy wrote: »

Maybe a fault of mine but I think yore focusing far too much on the words I wrote.

Introduced - meant she was talking with her brother who told her about an investment he had made (can you give me a more appropriate word than introduced to an idea??)

Car Parks - it's a bit more than that and it is all above board. One of the car parks involved was being built at Gatwick Airport. I'm not entirely sure how it worked but essentially you paid for a space and then received a percentage of the rental income on that space for X amount of years (which is your return) plus you then received back your initial investment after the same period of years. Regardless my uncle had invested in this and is confident of his investments and had simply been speaking to my mum and put her in touch with the same people who he had dealt with. It has now been advised against for pension purposes because of a number of reasons, including that the overseas property works are unregulated, so she wouldn't be investing in this anyway. The IFA has done his job in this as far as I'm concerned.

My mum still works in financial services in the USA and I'm fairly confident she understands risk, scams, etc.

She is going to request up to date benefit statements, etc. Just so she absolutely has the figures.

I think for the purpose of this thread you need to remove this idea of a "dodgy" or "scam" investment as she is no longer looking at investing in such a scheme but instead the IFA suggested a SIPP MAY be a way to go forward but mum hasn't heard any more yet.

To be honest this thread is more to do with mum looking to see exactly what her benefits are if she keeps the DB pension and if there is any way to enhance that, perhaps as said earlier, through a commutation amount.

The rental of car park airport spaces is a well known scam, it could be that your uncle hasn't checked or tried to realise gains but he will find it difficult if not impossible.

Some versions pay initial returns but act as a classic Ponzi scheme, paying a small percentage to keep the illusion up.

liviboy

bigadaj wrote: »

The rental of car park airport spaces is a well known scam, it could be that your uncle hasn't checked or tried to realise gains but he will find it difficult if not impossible.

Some versions pay initial returns but act as a classic Ponzi scheme, paying a small percentage to keep the illusion up.

Listen, I'm not here to defend such investments hehe! I was fairly certain it sounded a bit too good to be true. That being said, my uncle isn't an idiot and I'm sure he did his research etc and what will be will be.

I'm very happy it was advised against and I think that comes across in my posts above where I'm very much trying to see how to make better use of her defined benefits if at all possible. I'm no expert or advisor but as some of you will know from my last posts I've taken a bit of an interest in pensions (my own TPS scheme and my wife's employer's DC scheme).

The old sayings are usually right but my mum is still interested in being able to get her hands on her pension's CETV and investing it in a way that works for her. If she lost the lot it wouldn't be the end of the world - she has got some quite attractive pension savings coming to her!

liviboy

For those interested:

State pension estimate:

30 years of contributions, worth £130.19 a week currently.

Now this is where it gets tricky. The site says if she pays an additional 7 years of NI she will get the £155.65.

She has the option to pay £4726.80 in voluntary NI to make up missed years going back to 2006-2007. Would paying 7 of these years increase her SP or would it only work if she paid voluntary NI for April 2016 onwards?

xylophone

Does you mother have her statement of deferred benefits which should have been issued to her when she left in 2004?

liviboy

xylophone wrote: »

Does you mother have her statement of deferred benefits which should have been issued to her when she left in 2004?

She doubts she still has it. It would have been somewhere but probably lost in the move :-)

xylophone

See https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/512799/your-state-pension-statement-explained-dwp042.pdf

Is a COPE amount shown?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/70380767#Comment_70380767

See post 359.

xylophone

See also http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-3535618/STEVE-WEBB-Buying-ups-paying-missing-NI-boost-state-pension.html

liviboy

xylophone wrote: »

See https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/512799/your-state-pension-statement-explained-dwp042.pdf

Is a COPE amount shown?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/70380767#Comment_70380767

See post 359.

Thanks for this.

I'll need time to work out the calculations (I'm on a phone so not the easiest to type).

Her COPE amount was roughly £9.55 give or take a few pence (can't log back in at the moment).