Take BT pension now?

mapleoak

Hi German Keeper - I am a civil servant, will be 57 next year and will have 39 years continuous service - am seriously contemplating partial retirement as have heard similar stories around the benefits of a shorter working week and the (relatively) small difference between net income - once things like tax, NI, decreased travel costs etc are taken into account - so it’s good to hear it can be a good thing.

Ellana

Thank you Robin61, interesting to know that!

german_keeper

Hello Mapleoak.

There are a lot of people where I work that are going for partial retirement. I have always been reasonably happy in my career, not to the point where a lottery win wouldn't have seen me jack it all in of course, but happy enough. But it is a horrible place to work nowadays and a lot of people see partial retirement as some sort of respite from the madness. I know a couple of people who have gone for PR at 50, just for this reason. They only really have very loose financial plans for the future but just wanted to go part time to keep themselves out of the loony bin.

On a Monday I take my mum out for a walk. She might be as mad as a box of frogs but she is incredibly fit for a 74 year old and can walk like Forrest Gump. We are quite lucky to live in a rural area which is also quite close to the coast. So we have loads of nice places for our walking. Today was a couple of miles along the seafront, a bite to eat in a pub we like with a cracking "lunch for a fiver" menu, and back along the seafront to walk it off. My mum can be difficult at times but when she is I just remind myself where I would be if I hadn't gone PR and the smile returns to my face.

mapleoak

Hi German Keeper

That sounds perfect - just enough contact with work to stay relatively sane but nice long weekends to look forward to. I’m planning going on a partial retirement course to see if my calculations - using the partial retirement calculator - are accurate. I don’t necessarily understand abatement etc and other than people who are working partial there isn’t really anyone to ask internally and to be fair I wouldn’t want to pry into someone’s finances. Obviously the closer to 60 I get - which would be early 2023 - then the less I would lose by going earlier. My wife - who is also a civil servant - is 5 years younger than me but doesn’t earn the same so I thought I could perhaps take PR then work for a few years until she feels ready herself.

It sounds like you have arrived at a good balance - which is what I would like.

Kind Regards

AnotherJoe

Each year that goes by is a year you will never get back and you never know when bad health or the grim reaper will strike.
If you can ease your horrible job (or even dump it altogether for a different PT one) with the aid of your pension, I say go for it.

EP456

Hello, I am in a similar situation to the OP. I called BT Pension today and they confirmed that the actuarial reduction is currently 3%. I am 57 and received a quotation for taking my pension this year. I intend to keep working in my current role for another 3 years (LGPS), and then retire at 60 taking both pensions together.

I will have 15 years service in LGPS by then, and have 26 years service in BT which I left in 2006 under a release scheme.

I don’t know whether to take the BT pension 3 years early with the reduction, or wait until I am 60. I assume there is not an easy way to calculate what the difference would be due to too many varying factors?

ermine

EP456 wrote: »

I don’t know whether to take the BT pension 3 years early with the reduction, or wait until I am 60. I assume there is not an easy way to calculate what the difference would be due to too many varying factors?

Why guess? Sign up with the BT pensionsportal and you'll be able to get a definitive answer, even as a deferred member. You can also model different scenarios. Get it straight from the horse's mouth.

EP456

Thanks, but as quoted from the portal below, this isn’t guaranteed and can change.

“The amount can’t be guaranteed and your actual pension will depend on the rules and regulations in force when it comes into payment, which will include any overriding HMRC requirements.”

AlanP_2

EP456 wrote: »

Thanks, but as quoted from the portal below, this isn’t guaranteed and can change.

“The amount can’t be guaranteed and your actual pension will depend on the rules and regulations in force when it comes into payment, which will include any overriding HMRC requirements.”

Well yes, all they can do is base their calculations on the rules / law as they are today.

If legislation is passed sometime in the future that affects that calculation then, as it says, it wasn't guaranteed.

Gadfium

EP456 wrote: »

I don’t know whether to take the BT pension 3 years early with the reduction, or wait until I am 60. I assume there is not an easy way to calculate what the difference would be due to too many varying factors?

I'm assuming that the BT pension is one of the old DB schemes, probably Section C? if so, it should be relatively easy to calculate your pension benefits as they are defined based on a mixture of final salary and career-average. You then apply the per-year reduction based on how many years early that you are starting it.