Mortgage and Pensions

bonwitco

Hi. I'm 58. In full time employment. Live with my wife who works part time (same age) but we have an outstanding interest only mortgage which ends in 2024. Current mortgage balance is app. £110k with an interest rate of 3.5%. I am a member of a defined benefit pension scheme which currently stands at providing a lump sum of £90k and a reduced pension of £13k. I also have another small pension with a current pot value of app £40k. This has an annual growth of app 4% over the past number of years. If I wanted to retire age 60, would it be best to pay an extra £500 per month on the mortgage or pay this £500 into the other pension scheme between now and age 60? I ask as I am assuming I could take the smaller pension as "drawdown"? My understanding being that with a drawdown you can withdraw amounts annually which would be taxed at the basic rate (up to the basic rate tax allowance) without paying extra income tax? Or are there better ways of maximising our available cash at retirement?

Dox

Is your smaller pension in an arrangement which will permit drawdown? If not, you will need to transfer to one which will, if you decide this is how you want to proceed. If it's a DC pot, financial advice is not a legal requirement before the transfer can proceed, unless the scheme has guarantees or similar.

Not really enough info to comment helpfully on the remainder of your question but I'm sure someone else will feel able to add more useful comments than I can. In the meantime worth doing your sums and seeing how the figures stack up.

Spreadsheetman

What is the plan for paying off the mortgage capital? Is that from the DB pension lump sum plus 20k from elsewhere?

You can draw the DC pension down as you say (assuming your scheme allows it - if it doesn't then a transfer elsewhere is straightforward) except you will get 25% tax free and the rest will be subject to normal taxation.

MallyGirl

bonwitco wrote: »

If I wanted to retire age 60, would it be best to pay an extra £500 per month on the mortgage or pay this £500 into the other pension scheme between now and age 60?

Any money you pay into a pension is tax free so you will get an instant boost of 25% (or more if you are a high rate tax payer). If by salary sacrifice then you can save on NI as well

atush

What was your original plan to pay off the mtg?

3.5% is a pretty high rate. I might use some to pay off mtg, the rest to pension.

Pensions do get the TR bump, but 3.5% is pretty high in these days of low bank rates.

jamesd

Yes, paying into a defined contribution pension looks like a good move. Don't be in any hurry to pay off the mortgage, just make those pension contributions to benefit from the tax relief.

I also mean don't just pay it off at 60. Higher income is usually a better deal than lump sum for defined benefit pensions but there are exceptions, like those which have a compulsory lump sum.

Since you've reached 55 you can take a 25% tax free lump sum from the £40k now and recycle it into new pension contributions to get tax relief again. To stay within the recycling limits, either:

1. take the payment into a bank account in your sole name then give it to your wife for her to make contributions in her name (pension), or
2. take no more than £7,500 tax free lump sum in each rolling 12 month period, not tax year, and make contributions in your name.

The 75% can be left in a flexi-access drawdown account until you're willing to have your contributions capped at £4,000 a year. Given the tax taking money out, having you wife do it seems like the best tax planning. Maybe for the £500 a month as well if her income doesn't cap her below that. Assuming you both get the same relief on the way in.

Then see how close you can get to having these pots get to the mortgage balance.

kidmugsy

Not only might you look to get the interest rate down when the chance arises, you could also look to extend a reduced mortgage if it were financially advantageous. Some providers offer mortgages to a ripe old age now.

bonwitco

Hi. After gathering "up-to-date" information for all of you (and myself) who took the time to respond with very helpful information. The current mortgage interest rate is 2.49%. Defined as 1.99% above BBR? My DB pension scheme allows a maximum of 25% as a lump sum. It also currently offers (in addition) to pay a calculated amount of your state pension from retirement until your reach state pension age. At which point this additional amount is stopped. The personal pension, to which I am not currently contributing to, is described as "A type of pension personal savings plan". In the annual statement is the type "Personal pension plan - unitised with profit" with a paragraph explaining "; "As you hold investments in the Unitised with profits series 1 fund, the annual rate of bonus for accumulation units is guaranteed to be not less than 4%". I have requested from them confirmation that this has the facility to be used as a drawdown. I am assuming the personal pension giving a 4% minimum rate of bonus to be rather good in the current financial climate? But can I ask for confirmation that the drawdown type of pension allows you to take annual lump sums without paying tax? I have also asked about making contributions to this plan in the hope it does offer a flexible drawdown. The DB pension does not accept any additional contributions. They do however offer the option of AVC,s which I believe can be added to the DB pot on retirement but there is no definition of the interest I can expect to obtain from these AVCs and you must select your own type(s) of investment, i.e. low or high risk.

kidmugsy

bonwitco wrote: »

My DB pension scheme allows a maximum of 25% as a lump sum. ... The DB pension does not accept any additional contributions. They do however offer the option of AVCs which I believe can be added to the DB pot on retirement but there is no definition of the interest I can expect to obtain from these AVCs and you must select your own type(s) of investment, i.e. low or high risk

If you plan to withdraw the AVCs in only two years time you'd surely opt for the lowest risk available, which may well be a cash or deposit fund. In some schemes AVCs are very effective at giving you a larger TFLS. You should probably read the rules closely.

bonwitco wrote: »

The personal pension, to which I am not currently contributing to, is described as "A type of pension personal savings plan". In the annual statement is the type "Personal pension plan - unitised with profit" with a paragraph explaining "; "As you hold investments in the Unitised with profits series 1 fund, the annual rate of bonus for accumulation units is guaranteed to be not less than 4%". ... . I am assuming the personal pension giving a 4% minimum rate of bonus to be rather good in the current financial climate?

It sounds pretty handy for someone only a couple of years away from retirement.

bonwitco wrote: »

But can I ask for confirmation that the drawdown type of pension allows you to take annual lump sums without paying tax? I have also asked about making contributions to this plan in the hope it does offer a flexible drawdown.

There may be a problem there: if the pension was designed in an era before mass use of drawdown they may not have the software to support drawdown of the flexible sort you presumably want. You'll just have to ask. In your shoes I'd also ask whether transferring out to a more modern pension would necessarily put your capital at risk (e.g. by a market value reduction), or cost you your bonuses.

FatherAbraham

MallyGirl wrote: »

Any money you pay into a pension is tax free so you will get an instant boost of 25% (or more if you are a high rate tax payer). If by salary sacrifice then you can save on NI as well

Nonsense. Money paid into a pension is tax deferred.

Stop over-egging the pudding.

Warmest regards,
FA

atush

You stop underegging it then.

There is a net gain with pension, even if tax is paid at BR. But many people draw a pension using their full PA and dont pay tax on the income up to that level.