Savings for rainy day / retirement / happiness

jimjames

BOBS wrote: »

Basically my close family members have not lived long enough if at all to enjoy what pensions they may have slogged long and hard for. I am well aware that this may not happen me but if push came to shove with a diagnosis I would like to have access to my ££. Probably sounds totally stupid to most but its how I deal with it.

In which case just invest using a S&S ISA instead so you have immediate access to the money if you really don't want to use a pension. No tax relief on way in but that probably isn't a massive issue based on your salary as it would be tax free coming out.

BOBS

badger09 wrote: »

OP

In addition to what others have said about pension provision, can I ask whether you are saving in Cash ISAs or S&S ISAs?

Cash ISAs are paying very low rates these days but you could both be achieving up to 6% on your savings by using current accounts and regular savers. You and your husband can earn interest up to £1k tax free, so no need to use Cash ISAs.

However, once you have your emergency fund in cash savings, it makes sense to invest, rather than save. Investments in a pension tax wrapper attract tax relief - ie free money:) Investments in S&S ISAs give tax free returns and over the long term are likely to give you much better returns than simple cash savings.

We Just have normal cash ISA's.
Wouldn't know where to start re investing money for a good return. With amount involved employing an advisor would wipe out any money earned on interest.

jimjames

BOBS wrote: »

We Just have normal cash ISA's.
Wouldn't know where to start re investing money for a good return. With amount involved employing an advisor would wipe out any money earned on interest.

So DIY then. Have a look at www.monevator.com to get started. It's no different to choosing a pension and presumably you looked into them to be correctly informed and to make your decision about not using them?

xylophone

It was through admin work in an NHS department which is no longer there.

You may well have a deferred NHS pension - check!

http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/Documents/Pensions/member_Deferred_Benefits_V2.0_07.2013.pdf

Husbands gets pension updates from his previous companies - they dont add up to an awful lot - around £6k in one and £5k in another....

What kind of pension are they?

https://www.gov.uk/pension-types

New state pension forecast for each of you here

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

atush

BOBS wrote: »

Basically my close family members have not lived long enough if at all to enjoy what pensions they may have slogged long and hard for. I am well aware that this may not happen me but if push came to shove with a diagnosis I would like to have access to my ££. Probably sounds totally stupid to most but its how I deal with it.

You cant really use family members for your LE if their early deaths had mroe to do with lifestlye than faulty genes?

In any case, pensions are good for those who die early- as your family will get the money tax free.

So dont use that as an excuse.

Ypu will have a PA to take income tax free in retirement, so it would be best to have some pension income to use up this allowance.

And do get in touch with your old pension administrators. You need this information to help you plan your retirement.

atush

BOBS wrote: »

We Just have normal cash ISA's.
Wouldn't know where to start re investing money for a good return. With amount involved employing an advisor would wipe out any money earned on interest.

I agree, look at the monevator website and start reading. Start with the Compounding returns post.

You could open a S&S isa or sipp and just pay into a global tracker for now.

BOBS

xylophone wrote: »

You may well have a deferred NHS pension - check!

http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/Documents/Pensions/member_Deferred_Benefits_V2.0_07.2013.pdf




What kind of pension are they?

https://www.gov.uk/pension-types

New state pension forecast for each of you here

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

Have been doing a bit of digging - definitely no paperwork relating to my own pension - have contacted hsc pensions - which I hope is the correct place....... time will tell.... pension always referred to as Superan ....
Re DH Pensions there seems to be 3 of them.
- first one through Enhance has £536 sitting in it !
- Another Scottish Widows shows transfer value of £14500 and yearly pension of £768
- Current one by standard life - DH has paid in about £2000, statement says final plan value is £12100 giving pension of £312/ year - which doesnt seem correct ??

Linton

BOBS wrote: »

Have been doing a bit of digging - definitely no paperwork relating to my own pension - have contacted hsc pensions - which I hope is the correct place....... time will tell.... pension always referred to as Superan ....
Re DH Pensions there seems to be 3 of them.
- first one through Enhance has £536 sitting in it !
- Another Scottish Widows shows transfer value of £14500 and yearly pension of £768
- Current one by standard life - DH has paid in about £2000, statement says final plan value is £12100 giving pension of £312/ year - which doesnt seem correct ??

The pension estimates could be correct if the SW one is for a fixed annuity whilst the SL one is inflation linked. Or one may be at current prices and the other in cash terms. Add in State Pension. Are you happy to spend the final quarter of your life on this level of income?

BOBS

Linton wrote: »

The pension estimates could be correct if the SW one is for a fixed annuity whilst the SL one is inflation linked. Or one may be at current prices and the other in cash terms. Add in State Pension. Are you happy to spend the final quarter of your life on this level of income?

I cant quite understand the SL policy how come if value is £12100 it only gives pension of £312/ year ?
Re level of income - with current level of savings, allowing this to increase when mortgage clear we should have put past hopefully well over £200k which when added onto DH pension, and state pension should do us nicely. We currently bring up 3 kids on joint income of £35k

Linton

Look up current market leading annuity rates here.

£12K at 65 will give you around £600/year fixed or £360/year RPI indexed.
But between now and 65 there will be investment returns adding to the money and inflation reducing its value. The SL value of £12100 could be an estimate at 65 as opposed to the SW transfer value which is the value now.

You must read the small print when looking at pension estimates to see their basis and the assumptions made. There isnt a standard way of presenting them so you cant blindly compare one company's estimate with another's. In any case pension estimates dont mean much - reality may turn out to be very different from the assumptions made. You should regard them merely as an order of magnitude, not an accurate prediction.