22 Foxhole East

f0xh0les

Work email has still not appeared - I take it I will have no work for Spring.    Oh well, will keep on decorating then.

KajiKita

Hmmm …. Time to take your (not insignificant) skills elsewhere then?

KK

f0xh0les

It is a really lovely job, with really nice people.  It is such a shame, but I need to be realistic here. 

I have glossed the top floor.  I hate bannisters and railings. Seriously.  Not fond of skirting boards either now! I will know tomorrow if these are enough.  It does look good though.

DH replaced the broken paddle in the washing machine, via the sump pump hole, and two loads in it is still working fine. £8 fix.

DH is asking me questions about him paying into a pension for me - but I don't know enough about it to be able to tell him if it is a good idea or  not.... 

badmemory

I can answer that - It is & the sooner the better - get the first lot in before the end of the current tax year 5th April if at all possible.  Your earnings for the year or 3600 which ever is the greater.  Less 20% actually because whichever platform you use adds the 20% tax to make it up.  If nothing else it adds to your combined retirement income & it could make a difference to the total amount of tax you pay.  Also if you use draw down you can leave the remains to the boys.

mark55man

Always a good idea to plan for the future and a pension is generally a good way financially.  For example you get the 20% tax relief on contributions just so long as your earned income was taxable, not whether your actually paid any tax on it.  ie if your personal allowance is 12500 and you earned 13000 you can contribute 13000 gross (13000*0.8) net and get the rebate even on the 12500 you didn't actually pay any tax on.

Your funds are interchangeable so although you DH may see it as him paying it in - really he should transfer to you then you pay it in.  Finally, if you end up taking the pension in years were you don't have any income then you can take about 16K out without tax - ie £12500 of which is your PA and 25% of that is your tax free lump sum.  So a bit of work and investment now, could end up with a better balance in retirement.  

I'm not an expert but a talented amateur so I'm pretty sure the above is fine.  I would check on the pension board - they are experts, very helpful and not all millionaires.  That said many pension advantages work best for people on Higher rate earnings so ISA/LISA may also work for you,  Or it may be best for your OH to dump the money into his pension - you need to do some maths about works out best for family f0xh0les

Cornish_mum

Hi Foxholes,

I would also say that paying into a pension in your own name is a very good idea. I would suggest posting your situation on the pension board and the experts there will be able to offer some pointers. 

Key things that would be helpful to post are.

Your current state pension situation, any old pension schemes you might have, your planned retirement age and your current age (as the last two help with understanding your timescale). 

If you want to do some reading this book about pensions is excellent IMO. As it takes you from basic principles through to deep understanding in one volume and is properly evidence based. https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/How-to-Fund-the-Life-You-Want-by-Robin-Powell-Jonathan-Hollow/9781399404600

LadyWithAPlan

I built myself a spreadsheet of monies coming in eg when SP kicks in ,
i have a DB at 60 etc
and  I did a rough calculation of what my current SIPP is and did the 4% drawdown on that - all to get an idea of my future income on pensions - on a monthly basis - 
you could do a parallel one  with your husband as well to see where you are at as a couple - including age differences etc so when your OH SP kicks in vs yours etc -  it’s approx especially if you ignore tax initially but it does give you an aim of ‘oh at present when I hit 60 etc I will have x coming in ‘

tax advantages on being married /pensions I don’t know much but making sure you at least add  the minimum of £2880 in each before April 5th even if you are not working 

You can put 100% of your income into a SIPP each tax year up to the maximum of £60,000, which includes personal contributions, employer contributions and tax relief. 

Anything above this amount will not be eligible for tax relief.  

If you aren’t working, you can contribute up to £3,600 a year, equating to £2,880 from you and £720 in tax relief. 

If you are working, and your employer wants to contribute to your SIPP, they can, either by cheque, direct debit or BACS.  

There’s no limit to the amount an employer can contribute besides the £60,000 cap for tax relief. 

f0xh0les

Currently I have  absolutely  ZERO,  - before kids I worked through temping agencies, some of those were 12/18 month gigs ( oh so temporary!) but it was before temp agencies had to pay you things like holiday pay, or any kind of benefits at all,   so I am so looking forward to 23 years time when I might be eligible for SP, if it still exists then, which I am really not counting on. 

My spreadsheet would look awfully bare.   DH's would look very nice indeed!  He is hitting the 40% tax band this year (should have been for the last 3 years, but strike deductions kept bopping him a smidge back under)  so he is thinking about what he can do to reduce  his income before tax comes off - hence, me asking questions about pensions.

Probably why I am so busy tarting up the house, that is where my main contributions to family finances lie - when we move on to the next  place we should have at least doubled our money on this one.

But, the pension thing needs to be looked at.

mark55man

The first thing you should check is your state pension position (ie in terms of the number of years contributions you should have through your child care and your part time jobs to date.  I suspect got a reasonable number of years of NI contributions maybe 20-25.  

ITS COMPLICATED but check.  There is a specific thread on the pensions board for people to double check their understanding of the report they get from HMG - via https://www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account/ .

Even if you don't have a job there are ways to increase your years of contribution it through self employment and contributions through that.  (you can even buy back some years and your personal tax account portal should help you find that out

You need to work out whether contributions to DH pension are more beneficial to yours.  Eg for him matching money from employer (although as an academic maybe not), AVC contributions may help him later optimise lump sums payable.  For you the advantages are that you may have some years pre state pension where you can withdraw within your PA effectively tax free.

f0xh0les

Just got booked for a week of work in July, and two weeks in September, which is marvellous as DH comes back from working in Swissland half way through June.  No teenager juggling issues!  Hopefully more dates will come. 
Tomorrow I will buy carpet for the top floor.
I can buy the top up for the last two years that I have not earned enough money to pay NI, will look into it .