Pension

forestmad

DOES ANY ONE KNOW IF YOU ARE ABLE TO SURRENDER A PENSION EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE GETTING A MONTHLY PAYOUT ON IT, I HAVE TRIED TO BUT WAS TOLD ONCE ITS IN PROGRESS THERES NOTHING I CAN DO , EVEN THOUGH IM NEED THE MONEY URGENTLY.........ANY IDEAS ....KEV

EdInvestor

Effectively you have already surrendered it - you are only entitled to the income now if you have bought an annuity with it.

You can never get the capital out of a pension, other than the 25% tax free cash.

dunstonh

You dont have a pension any more. You have an annuity.

forestmad

thankx edinvester, but what is an annuity and im i still able to get the 25% tax free cash back ? ......kev

jamesd

kev, an pension annuity is a contract that cannot be backed out of where you hand over a cash lump sum in exchange for the right to a payment for life. That payment can be a fixed amount or could change with inflation. There may be a guarantee to pay it (to your estate or spouse) for a certain number of years from the start if you die before those years are over (like pay for at least 5 years even if die within the first 5 years). There may also be a full or partial pension, or no pension at all, paid to your spouse when you die. Those options are available but that doesn't mean that your pension has them, the options were selected by someone when you bought it.

Part of the deal with pension annuities is that those who die early subsidise the pensions of those who die late and this is one of the reasons why it is not possible to take money from a pension. You'd take it out if you discovered that you were going to die, eliminating the benefit of this subsidy that lets pensions be larger than they would otherwise be.

You can take the 25% tax free cash before you buy the annuity. You can't take it after because the money has already been spent to get the regular income.

You'll need to look somewhere else to get the money you need.

forestmad

jamesed.........A BIG thankyou .......