My pension: What to do?

xylophone

Regarding my wife's situation, she is older than me (I'm nearly 56 and she will be 64 next week!) and she has no pension provision except state pension when she reaches 67. She is as 'fit as a fiddle', has been instructing aerobics for 35 years and still takes about 4 high-impact classes a week (now on Zoom) and does yoga everyday!

Has she obtained a state pension forecast?

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

She is "as fit as a fiddle" so her chances of living to a very ripe old age are more than fair?

I have known pensioners who have lived up to and beyond their 100th birthday.

Would she be wanting to manage a DC pension at that age?

xylophone

Another thought - you left BT over fifteen years ago - have you been a member of another pension scheme since then?

d0nnyoz

xylophone said:

Another thought - you left BT over fifteen years ago - have you been a member of another pension scheme since then?

Sadly not!

d0nnyoz

xylophone said:

Regarding my wife's situation, she is older than me (I'm nearly 56 and she will be 64 next week!) and she has no pension provision except state pension when she reaches 67. She is as 'fit as a fiddle', has been instructing aerobics for 35 years and still takes about 4 high-impact classes a week (now on Zoom) and does yoga everyday!

Has she obtained a state pension forecast?

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

She is "as fit as a fiddle" so her chances of living to a very ripe old age are more than fair?

I have known pensioners who have lived up to and beyond their 100th birthday.

Would she be wanting to manage a DC pension at that age?

There is a good chance she will live to a ripe old age but if life has taught me anything it's that life can end abruptly for ANYONE at ANYTIME! My mother was as 'fit as a fiddle' and hardly had a sick day in her life but she was gone by the time she was 61!

And yes, she has checked her state pension forecast and all looks good. There are a couple of years missing but I don't think its enough to worry about or even start another discussion about the pro's of filling the gaps.

But in terms of managing a DC pension at a ripe old age, she/we have two children and the daughter is soooooo savvy with money that managing that with her help will be a doddle!

d0nnyoz

Another point about taking the full amount out (transfer out). Is it possible to take the full about (c.£700k) or a large portion of that and invest it in a property? Without being taxed at some point? So the property becomes my pension?

AlanP_2

d0nnyoz said:

Another point about taking the full amount out (transfer out). Is it possible to take the full about (c.£700k) or a large portion of that and invest it in a property? Without being taxed at some point? So the property becomes my pension?

You could take 25% tax free with the balance taxable at your marginal rate.If you withdraw the whole £700k Rishi's money worries are virtually resolved 

You will then pay additional Stamp Duty, be assessed for tax on the rental income and face Capital Gains Tax in the future (if you mean BTL property) and all the grief that can go with being a landlord. Would it/they generate more than an inflation linked £17k a year?

If you mean buy a bigger house to live in how is that going to pay you an income?


How much do you and whichever one of you survives the other need / want in retirement? Once you know that you can see what your options are. If you need £15k a year plus 2 * SPs then the BT pension does the job you thought it would do when you joined the scheme many years ago.

d0nnyoz

You could take 25% tax free with the balance taxable at your marginal rate.If you withdraw the whole £700k Rishi's money worries are virtually resolved 
You will then pay additional Stamp Duty, be assessed for tax on the rental income and face Capital Gains Tax in the future (if you mean BTL property) and all the grief that can go with being a landlord. Would it/they generate more than an inflation linked £17k a year?

Jeez, there's absolutely no escaping the taxman, is there!
And yes, I meant a BTL property.

If you mean buy a bigger house to live in how is that going to pay you an income?

No. I have a large house with a lot of equity (maybe another £700k-ish) and the plan was/is to downsize mortgage-free, with perhaps some of that equity left over to use again as some pension cash!

How much do you and whichever one of you survives the other need / want in retirement? Once you know that you can see what your options are. If you need £15k a year plus 2 * SPs then the BT pension does the job you thought it would do when you joined the scheme many years ago.

I actually don't need a lot right now as I am still working and 'getting by'. I don't work too hard right now and I was looking for the pension money to top-up my monthly income but wouldn't need it all so could squirrel the surplus away into savings or something (although savings accounts are pretty poor right now understandably!).
And the reason to get some lump sum cash is to pay of one large credit card which could save us about £400/month and perhaps have a nice one-in-a-lifetime holiday (I was actually born in Australia and have never been back so want to do a trip back and take the wife on a nice holiday!). otherwise, I don't need a lot of cash or a lot more monthly income (for now!).