Needing a place to start

MallyGirl

I am sure that you could spend it if you tried - days out with OH / grandchildren; a holiday every now and then; as you get older you might want to pay for help around the house/garden.

enthusiasticsaver

Definitely join the LGPS. It is turning down free money. You can either up the contributions you pay into that to buy added years membership. Or you could use the LGPS AVC scheme which I think is with Prudential. Or do a private SIPP which can be drawn separate to the LGPS either to bridge an early retirement gap or to be taken in addition to it.

Silvertabby

xylophone (Post 11) beat me to it. If you have a COPE/were contracted out then you DO have at least one more pension in addition to the State pension.

Were you automatically enrolled in a previous employer's pension scheme without realising it?

Kynthia

Don't opt out and turn down guaranteed income for life in yiur retirement! How much income will you receive if your husband passes away, as his state pension will cease and if he has a DB pension it could pay you as little as a third of the annual payment he was getting. That's quite a drop in income. Also while the chances might be slim, what would you live on if you seperated as again you would have to pay all your living costs on just what you get and possibly a small share of his private pension.

If you stay in the scheme for the next 10 years you could get a few grand a year for as long as you live one you reach state pension age (use the calculators to put your figures in). It's enough to make a difference to you and it will only cost you a few percent of your salary.

JoeCrystal

Kynthia wrote: »

If you stay in the scheme for the next 10 years you could get a few grand a year for as long as you live one you reach state pension age (use the calculators to put your figures in). It's enough to make a difference to you and it will only cost you a few percent of your salary.

For something that cost £80 per month, it is a pretty fantastic deal. To contribute into a private pension to get the index-linked annuity at 67 requires £840 per month for next seventeen years and that does not take into account of lump sum death grant and so on.

trynsave

xylophone wrote: »

At 6/4/16 two calculations were done

Old Scheme

NI years/30 x £119.30 + (Additional State Pension - Deduction for contracting out)

New Scheme

(NI years/35 x £155.65) - Contracted Out Pension Equivalent.

Your "starting amount" was the higher of the two.

As you are now working full time and will be paying NI you will be able to qualify for full NSP when you are 67/68.

You said in your first post that you have no pension other than state pension yet you seem to be saying that a COPE is shown on your forecast.


You were working full time until you were 28 and then took twenty years out of the workplace?

Where were you employed during those seven years? It seems that you may have a pension relating to that employment?

The LGPS is an excellent pension scheme and in my opinion you should join as soon as possible.

It provides you with a pension and protects your spouse and dependent children.

You do not have to work until state retirement age - you could defer the pension, take it early with actuarial reduction or look into a transfer out at some stage.

I don't think you will have difficulty in spending your pension, particularly if you have grandchildren by that time.....

Hi, thanks for your reply.
I suppose I wasn't quite truthful about my existing pension status as I do have two previous work place pension plans. The first I paid into between '88 and '95. Then I was at uni until '98. Got a job summer '98 after graduating, but went on maternity April 2000 and paid into that scheme. Have been a stay at home mum ever since as DD has multiple special needs. Retnd to part time employment last year and last month full time as DD now away in residential placement.
I do need to get up to date figures for both, but latest paperwork (5 years old) shows the first will pay £1400 pa, the second £650pa. Whilst I'll happy take this cash, these figures are so small I consider that I basically don't have provision.
I have now looked at the older one and they are stating a £250 pa approx deduction for state pension, so am assuming that this is where the COPE comes in.

I have now applied to my current pension dept to opt back in. My decision wasn't whether to do that now or not, but if it was worth me putting as much of my new found wages as possible to swelling the pension coffers. The AVC scheme used is Prudential so will need to investigate further.

LHW99

Could be worth asking if either / both pensions could be transferred in to your new scheme, and looking to see if it would benefit you to do so.

trynsave

LHW99 wrote: »

Could be worth asking if either / both pensions could be transferred in to your new scheme, and looking to see if it would benefit you to do so.

Good idea. Cheers.

xylophone

I have now looked at the older one and they are stating a £250 pa approx deduction for state pension, so am assuming that this is where the COPE comes in.

I think there is some confusion here.

See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pension-fact-sheets/contracting-out-and-why-we-may-have-included-a-contracted-out-pension-equivalent-cope-amount-when-you-used-the-online-service

for an explanation of COPE.

I suspect that the £250 you mention may well relate to something quite different, a "state pension deduction", which some pension schemes have written into their rules.

See this thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3886143/hsbc-uk-staff-pension-claw-back-on-retirement

With regard to a transfer in to LGPS, this may be permitted but there was a recent post on the forum concerning the refusal of a certain authority to permit a transfer in. See

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5963829/transfer-private-pension-into-gov-pension&highlight=leicester+lgps

However, you could investigate.

Do check the Scheme NRA of your deferred pensions because it could be age 60 rather than the default age for LGPS.

With regard to the value of these old pensions, it could be higher than you think.

https://www.barnett-waddingham.co.uk/comment-insight/blog/2012/07/24/revaluation-for-early-leavers/

Do you have a statement of deferred benefits for either scheme?