I just can't get my head round it all - HELP!!

SomeMadeUpName

Hi

Definitely first job is find out where you are on SP entitlement (both you and your husband) you can do it via your online Gov.uk profile.  You may well be sorted if your chap has kept up his s/e stamp, and you have credits for work, being a mum, being on benefits.  If you are not there yet, work out if getting there will happen anyway (eg future years stamp for your chap) or if you need to take action to bring things up.  Securing the SP is the most cost effective way of retirement planning.

After that look at paying into pension (once you have a banked buffer fund) for you both.  Anything you can do is an improvement, and for yourself the uplift from £2,880 to £3,600 is good value.  Your husband can maybe pay in more is he has decent earned income.  Of course it's all subject to affordability.  Try to keep provision balanced if possible, this helps with tax when drawing in retirement.

Keep coming back here and asking more questions as you get more info (and so realise you have more questions) you'll get loads of help, just give as much detailed info as you can.

Best of luck

[Deleted User]

german_keeper said:

kidmugsy said:

I don't know how Carers Allowance interacts with state pension: perhaps someone else can help us?

Its an overlapping benefit. When SP goes into payment, if the conditions of entitlement are still met, Carer's Allowance becomes entitled not payable. I think there can be some advantages to retain the entitlement but I left Invalid Care Allowance, as it was called back then, in 1998 so I can't remember specifics.

Thank you for clarifying.

2nd_time_buyer

Yes, definitely worth paying anything else into a pension for the reason you said - the 20% tax relief.

In general you probably want to balance the pensions so that you are not paying income tax when you draw them. The tax free allowance is currently £12,570 so by the sounds of it is not likely to be an issue for a while yet.

 I would be inclined to put contributions in your pension for the time being as unless you start working you are limited to what you can put in a year to catch-up as kidmugsy says 

[Deleted User]

Husband's State Pension is also up to date. So I guess that's also a good thing. 

We also want to be able to pay extra into the Pensions as-and-when we have it.

[Deleted User]

SomeMadeUpName said:

After that look at paying into pension (once you have a banked buffer fund) for you both.  Anything you can do is an improvement, and for yourself the uplift from £2,880 to £3,600 is good value.  Your husband can maybe pay in more is he has decent earned income.  Of course it's all subject to affordability.  Try to keep provision balanced if possible, this helps with tax when drawing in retirement.

Keep coming back here and asking more questions as you get more info (and so realise you have more questions) you'll get loads of help, just give as much detailed info as you can.

Best of luck

I can't tell you how relieved I am that all the replies are saying the same. It's been so hard as I've previously been told conflicting things by (well-meaning) family & friends. As well as the judgement that comes from them not understanding why we've not been able to do anything about it. 

xylophone

I also worked in a Bank for a couple of years in the late 90's, so there won't be anything in that either.

This was almost certainly a Defined Benefit Pension possibly based on final salary.

Was this pre or post 6/4/97?

You were given a Statement of Deferred Benefits on Leaving?

What exactly did it  say?

What is Normal Scheme Pension Age?

How does the pension increase in deferment /payment?

kidmugsy

kidmugsy said: ... the most you can contribute to a pension is an annual £2,880 (net) = £3,600 (gross).  If you feel that you can afford that then it's probably the most tax-efficient thing you can do.

On second thoughts: you have a nice sum available for emergencies - it might be unwise to tie any of that up in a pension until it is clear that your husband's new investment is going to pay off by giving you higher income.  So you could wait until just before the end of the tax year (5th April) before contributing to your new pension.

There's another reason to delay but it's rather speculative.  The papers routinely carry the suggestion that tax relief may be increased for basic rate taxpayers (and presumably for non-taxpayers like you) while being reduced for higher rate taxpayers.  There could therefore be a case for hesitating in hopes that you can contribute in future and get this bigger tax relief.

At least, I suggest, you might wait until the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget speech in the autumn to see what his thinking is on this matter.

In summary there's probably a decent case for you to wait until the winter before you make a contribution.  That gives you lots of time to help decide which provider you might like to use and for the success of your husband's investment to become clearer.

[Deleted User]

xylophone said:

I also worked in a Bank for a couple of years in the late 90's, so there won't be anything in that either.

This was almost certainly a Defined Benefit Pension possibly based on final salary.

Was this pre or post 6/4/97?

You were given a Statement of Deferred Benefits on Leaving?

What exactly did it  say?

What is Normal Scheme Pension Age?

How does the pension increase in deferment /payment?

I'm sorry for not coming back on here before now......I'm not getting emails and notifications and don't know how to change it at the minute! I'm such a technophobe! 

This was after 1997

I've since been online and it's got a value of about £250 and the amount doesn't change when I request a transfer out quote

It's saying the scheme pension age is 60

I don't know about the deferment value as it will only let me do certain things online so it could need a phone call

[Deleted User]

kidmugsy said:

kidmugsy said: ... the most you can contribute to a pension is an annual £2,880 (net) = £3,600 (gross).  If you feel that you can afford that then it's probably the most tax-efficient thing you can do.

On second thoughts: you have a nice sum available for emergencies - it might be unwise to tie any of that up in a pension until it is clear that your husband's new investment is going to pay off by giving you higher income.  So you could wait until just before the end of the tax year (5th April) before contributing to your new pension.

There's another reason to delay but it's rather speculative.  The papers routinely carry the suggestion that tax relief may be increased for basic rate taxpayers (and presumably for non-taxpayers like you) while being reduced for higher rate taxpayers.  There could therefore be a case for hesitating in hopes that you can contribute in future and get this bigger tax relief.

At least, I suggest, you might wait until the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget speech in the autumn to see what his thinking is on this matter.

In summary there's probably a decent case for you to wait until the winter before you make a contribution.  That gives you lots of time to help decide which provider you might like to use and for the success of your husband's investment to become clearer.

Thank you for pointing this out.

Husband's investment is an actual item, so although it will go up in value (and it already has), it will need to be sold to get any money back from it. Would that change your advice at all?

xylophone

I don't know about the deferment value as it will only let me do certain things online so it could need a phone call

Do you have a copy of the scheme booklet or can you order one/look at it on the web site?