FIREside Chats

L9XSS

Grogged said:

@nightswims you also need to be aware that you can usually only access a SIPP within 10 years of your state retirement age.

Is that right? I thought you could access your SIPP at 55? I’m 55 next year but my SP doesn’t kick in till 67?

Grogged

You're correct, we're in a period of flux until 2028, when the minimum retirement age rises to 57. Until then it can be 12 years. From 2028 it will go back to the usual 10.

gallygirl

Grogged said:

You're correct, we're in a period of flux until 2028, when the minimum retirement age rises to 57. Until then it can be 12 years. From 2028 it will go back to the usual 10.

If I had a good few years to retirement I wouldn't trust the retirement age to stay static, meaning the age fo9r accessing SIPPS will also rise. I know SIPPs are more efficient taxwise than ISAs but I'd be aiming to split between the two - you'll get the benefit of the ISA being taxfree at a later date.

Grogged

gallygirl said:

If I had a good few years to retirement I wouldn't trust the retirement age to stay static, meaning the age fo9r accessing SIPPS will also rise. I know SIPPs are more efficient taxwise than ISAs but I'd be aiming to split between the two - you'll get the benefit of the ISA being taxfree at a later date.

That's exactly the approach we've taken.
Now I'm less than  a year away from being to touch my SIPP, we've started transferring our ISAs over.
The 20% free bump from the Taxman more than makes up for having to sell and reinvest investments.

SuperSecretSquirrel

gallygirl said:

Grogged said:

You're correct, we're in a period of flux until 2028, when the minimum retirement age rises to 57. Until then it can be 12 years. From 2028 it will go back to the usual 10.

If I had a good few years to retirement I wouldn't trust the retirement age to stay static, meaning the age fo9r accessing SIPPS will also rise. I know SIPPs are more efficient taxwise than ISAs but I'd be aiming to split between the two - you'll get the benefit of the ISA being taxfree at a later date.

I very much agree! At under 40 years old, I'm wary of being too pension heavy.

We're not big spenders, and two current state pensions would pretty much cover all our current (2 adults 2 children) outgoings. Hopefully our spending will reduce over time (after adjusting for inflation of course!). With this in mind, we've decided to "ignore" from SP age for now, aim for about 10 years outgoings in pensions, and shovel the rest into more accessible accounts. In theory, once the accessible accounts are at a sufficient level to carry us through to age 55/57/??, we could retire.

We're still ensuring that we get the full employer match, so the pensions are still ticking up slowly, but at nothing like the pace of a few years ago. We can always choose to favour the pensions a little more later on, when there's less chance of the rug being pulled out from under us.

I know we're leaving some free tax relief money (and compound growth on that free money) on the table, but our eyes are wide open and it's a balance that we are happy with.

LadyWithAPlan

South_coast said:

Thanks Grogged, can I do irregular ones though? I'm not at the point of being able to put money in every month yet, but I'd still like to punt money across from my bank every now and again like I used to do with the mortgage

I just do it online, go to my V acct and add invest cash using my debit card - . I have not tried via bank transfer (I dont think you can as you have to say where the funds are coming from and it has to be your card so ...a bank transfer could come from anywhere.
You don't have to actually buy any funds then - the amount may be too small, but  you can dump small bits of cash in. Just make sure it is divisible by 4 for the tax relief. 

I dont like doing  a regular SO to V as I like to add ad-hoc and decide what I want to buy 

South_coast

Thanks, I thought that was the case. Shame, as I really dislike using my debit card for anything! Still, I should really be focusing on my refurb savings anyway right now (another tap has given up on me this week) rather than The Future, but at the same time I'm feeling pretty FIREd up at the moment so wanted to capitalise on that feeling!

Suffolk_lass

South_coast said:

Thanks, I thought that was the case. Shame, as I really dislike using my debit card for anything! Still, I should really be focusing on my refurb savings anyway right now (another tap has given up on me this week) rather than The Future, but at the same time I'm feeling pretty FIREd up at the moment so wanted to capitalise on that feeling!

Our VLS funds are on a platform provider (Charles Stanley) and son pays £51 per month into that with purchase against the VLS80 fund. He can change it when he needs to but it makes sure he saves a little, whatever else happens

ElmoR

Where is the blue head with it's hair exploding out the top when you need it

Anyone else in the uss scheme currently fuming at the changes now going through? *Throws the current FIRE spreadsheet out the window*

*stomping round the room in a cross mood...*

Skibunny40

I'm not in the scheme, but am curious as to what they've done...