Fast approaching retirement & worried.

molerat

Dex58 said:

molerat said:

Dex58 said:

Thanks, I have been on the govt gateway site & checked our entitlement at retirement age (66 in both cases) It says £9237 for me & £9141 for my wife. It’s not full entitlement due to approx 12 years contracted out in both cases (always a bit baffled by the whole contracting out thing!!) It also says it’s the maximum we can expect so I presume future NI contributions won’t make any difference. 

You seem uncertain about what you will get.  If you have not yet reached the full amount then future years will add to the amount currently held.  Post up all the numbers and someone will sense check it for you.  It is easy to get confused by all the numbers and you need to understand what they mean.

Presume the last line means more NI contributions won’t make a difference. We both have 47 years contributions to date.

When did you get that forecast as it only shows NI up to 2019 ?

Are there numbers below that ?

Dex58

molerat said:

Dex58 said:

molerat said:

Dex58 said:

Thanks, I have been on the govt gateway site & checked our entitlement at retirement age (66 in both cases) It says £9237 for me & £9141 for my wife. It’s not full entitlement due to approx 12 years contracted out in both cases (always a bit baffled by the whole contracting out thing!!) It also says it’s the maximum we can expect so I presume future NI contributions won’t make any difference. 

You seem uncertain about what you will get.  If you have not yet reached the full amount then future years will add to the amount currently held.  Post up all the numbers and someone will sense check it for you.  It is easy to get confused by all the numbers and you need to understand what they mean.

Presume the last line means more NI contributions won’t make a difference. We both have 47 years contributions to date.

When did you get that forecast as it only shows NI up to 2019 ?

Are there numbers below that ?

Yes that is odd. I’m pretty sure it was April this year as per the date stamp at the top. There was no further info below. My wife’s forecast also only shows up to 2019. I’ll check again ASAP.

xylophone

In the tax year 2018-19, a full NSP was  £164.65.

In the tax year 2019-20, a full NSP was £168.60.

In the tax year 2020-21, a full NSP was £175.20

In the tax year2021-22, a full NSP  is      £179.60.

If the OP's forecast was  in excess of a full NSP at 6/4/19,

this  would indicate that he has a full NSP and a "protected payment".

If his wife's forecast was in excess of a full NSP at that date the same holds true.

molerat

The ones we have seen previously state "up to April 2016" where they are above the full NSP which is why this one seems odd. I suspect that if that is a current printout the system has stuck as that amount cannot be a current in excess of the full amount pension.

savingmore

molerat said:

The ones we have seen previously state "up to April 2016" where they are above the full NSP which is why this one seems odd.

loving this thread...i am in similar situation and same age, similar amounts.  I response to your query mole rat, my NI forecast is very similar and says the same things....

fineclaret

Just checked mine, £9852/188.82pw based on data 'up to' April 2020.  But I'm not working, so that'll be it. 43 full years credited (including 3 before I went to uni; no idea why) plus 4 part years due to holiday work/shifts in the union bar/signing on.

molerat

allanm02 said:

....... (including 3 before I went to uni; no idea why) ...........

Up until 2010 you received 3 freebies for the years in which your 16th, 17th & 18th birthdays fell.

Albermarle

Dex58 said:

allanm02 said:

"I think UFPLS would be preferable to drawdown as most of the 25% tax free entitlement would remain invested."

Not sure about this bit. An UFPLS is equivalent to taking a tax free lump sum, moving the rest to drawdown, but then taking it all out of drawdown again on the same day. The net effect is the same, but for the far greater flexibility of true drawdown. If you want to remain invested, stick the TFLS in an ISA.

Maybe I’ve got it wrong but I thought UFPLS was a bit like using your dc pot as a bank account & 25% of each withdrawal was tax free. That would be a simple solution to bridge the two years till sp kicks in & then I could reassess.
I also thought drawdown meant taking 25% of the entire pot upfront (which I don’t really need to do) or moving chunks of the pot into drawdown as & when required which sounds a bit more complicated.

For drawdown some pensions will only let you take the full 25% in one go , some will let you take in stages and some will let you take it and some taxable income in stages . In general the newer the pension the more flexible it is .
Whether it is UFPLS or drawdown in general you will find a lot of admin involved - definitely not like a bank account in that respect .

fineclaret

Albermarle said:

Whether it is UFPLS or drawdown in general you will find a lot of admin involved - definitely not like a bank account in that respect .

The process of crystallising is the same in both cases, and where most of the admin resides. But it's a hassle to do annually (the UFPLS route); I would be inclined to move a somewhat larger amount to drawdown instead, less frequently. The TFLS can go in an ISA if the intent is simply to utilise the personal allowance.

With Fidelity, withdrawal from my drawdown account is as easy as from an ISA, so once set up, it is like a bank account. And I can easily set up a monthly withdrawal online, which I won't need to change while the personal tax threshold is frozen.

MaxiRobriguez

Very well done for generating £500k pot from an average salary. Should be proud of that achievement.