Calculating additional LGPS contributions to retire early

Escapar2020

Hi all
I've started making some AVCs to my lgps to male the most of the tax efficiencies it allows. It's made me wonder, how do I work out how much extra I'd need to contribute per month in order to retire at 55 on a pension income of £35k before tax? What I'm looking for is a formula to follow so I can try to calculate it my self, but I'm not sure what data I need first?

Given I'm 47 now, it might be unachievable, but I'd like to know what the challenge would look like!

Thanks
ESCAPAR2020 

Silvertabby

Nowhere near enough information to be able to even hazard a guess.

Minumum extra information would be date of joining (pre or post 2006 being the cruncher) and your current salary.  

Johnnyboy11

That's a huge pension income, even by Public Sector standards. To put it in context, it would probably cost you over £1.4 million to buy an equivalent annutiy on the open market.

Escapar2020

Silvertabby said:

Nowhere near enough information to be able to even hazard a guess.

Minumum extra information would be date of joining (pre or post 2006 being the cruncher) and your current salary.  

I'm asking how to calculate it, not for the actual answer

Escapar2020

Johnnyboy11 said:

That's a huge pension income, even by Public Sector standards. To put it in context, it would probably cost you over £1.4 million to buy an equivalent annutiy on the open market.

That's worth knowing! It income level might be unachievable, but I'd still,like to know how to calculate what I need to out in to build my existing pot. I can change the income target, its the calculation process I struggle with!

Silvertabby

Escapar2020 said:

Silvertabby said:

Nowhere near enough information to be able to even hazard a guess.

Minumum extra information would be date of joining (pre or post 2006 being the cruncher) and your current salary.  

I'm asking how to calculate it, not for the actual answer

Your date of joining (pre or post 2006) would determine my answer re early payment reductions.  An indication of your salary would tell me if your plan is in any way feasible or not.  Unless you are/expect to reach CEO level I'm afraid it is most likely to be the latter, even with high AVC contributions.

 Even if you have R85 protections in respect of your pre 2008 service, the limited early payment reductions in respect of your service to 2008 and full reductions in respect of your 2008 to 2014 service plus your post 2014 service will be huge.  

If you really want to try to work this out yourself, start with your latest annual benefit statement - use the figures for benefits accrued to the date of the statement, not the final retirement estimate.  Then add in CARE pension from the date of the statement to age 55 (£pensionable pay / 49 x number of years).  Then take off the early retirement reductions.

ZeroSum

Your best bet if hoping for redundancy at 55. Cos otherwise, it's unlikely you'll be granted it given that you need employers permission & they need to pay strain on fund costs. Which they'll be unlikely to do unless they want shot of people 

Johnnyboy11

ZeroSum said:

Your best bet if hoping for redundancy at 55. Cos otherwise, it's unlikely you'll be granted it given that you need employers permission & they need to pay strain on fund costs. Which they'll be unlikely to do unless they want shot of people 

Employer's permission is no longer required to retire from age 55 in the LGPS. You just take the actuarial reduction hit for starting your pension before Normal Retirement Age. If the OP answers STs question, then there might be some Rule of 85 protection available which would reduce the actuarial reduction for retiring before age 60.

Westertonbilly

Would running a SIPP alongside your LGPS and Avcs not be an option worth considering? Use that from 55 to a point at which LGPS reductions are palatable?

Escapar2020

Westertonbilly said:

Would running a SIPP alongside your LGPS and Avcs not be an option worth considering? Use that from 55 to a point at which LGPS reductions are palatable?

Thanks, Yes I've thought about that too, but I'm still not sure how much I'd need to contribute every month to achieve a particular income at a particular age

Escapar2020

Johnnyboy11 said:

ZeroSum said:

Your best bet if hoping for redundancy at 55. Cos otherwise, it's unlikely you'll be granted it given that you need employers permission & they need to pay strain on fund costs. Which they'll be unlikely to do unless they want shot of people 

Employer's permission is no longer required to retire from age 55 in the LGPS. You just take the actuarial reduction hit for starting your pension before Normal Retirement Age. If the OP answers STs question, then there might be some Rule of 85 protection available which would reduce the actuarial reduction for retiring before age 60.

Thanks
I joined the scheme in 2001 so don't think I've got much, if any, R85 protection