USS - General discussion

Barralad77

This is the very question I’ve been asking myself, recently. In my case I was fully intending to take the max tax-free cash at the point of retirement (as the tax break seems too good to give up). But that would leave me with too much cash (I’d have enough already). So I started to think what I would do with the money if I took it as cash. I wouldn’t be able to put it into ISAs for a few years (the ‘other’ cash is enough to fill ISAs for a couple of years at least) and so I’ve started to consider keeping it all in the IB. The IB funds I have are giving me a satisfactory rate of return, and I have no reason to suspect that the return would be greater if I moved the money out of the IB into an alternative form of investment. So it might depend on how your IB funds are doing. If you’re happy with what they’re delivering then it might be better to leave them in for a longer term. Part of my thinking also revolves around switching from the known (the IB) to the unknown (anything else…). 

Addendum: It’s speculation at the moment but there’s talk of Rachel from Accounts cutting the amount someone can put into a cash ISA from £20k each year to something much lower (£4k is being bandied about). In which case, take it out as fast as you can!

PJM_62

Good point about the known v unknown  👍

Add to that the unknown about what Reeves (or her successor) may do with ISA tax free allowances.

mini850

swindiff said:

SlimJim_B said:

In response to Swindiff's question about taking extra annual DB, the other thing in favour if you have a beneficiary e.g. spouse, is that they will benefit from the extra 3k DB if you die first.

I'm not sure that is correct. I think they get 50% of the standard DB annual pension. The extra from reverse commutation I don't think is included in that 50%

As this is my first contribution, I'd like to say hi and many thanks for all the super useful information shared about USS on this forum. 

I asked USS about this point, and they replied, confirming Swindiff's comment, that:

"The Spouse’s pension will be 50% of your standard pension at retirement plus inflationary increases.  The spouse’s pension is not increased if you choose to commute your lump sum to pension at retirement.

 You can increase the spouse’s pension by allocating some of your own pension at retirement.  Please search for the Allocation factsheet on our website for further information."

Trouble is that opens up another can of worms re 'Allocation'. Maybe best for a separate post....

swindiff

Thanks for confirming, I was pretty sure I had read it somewhere.

Barralad77

Hello all, I’m currently checking the value of my USS projections (projected values at different ages) using the benefit modeller. This is something I do regularly and I can see that for a given end date (e.g., at 60 years and 2 months, which for me will be this coming December) the value gradually increases over time. Today - 01/04 - the projected valuations have all dropped significantly. Does anyone have insight into why this might have happened? The early retirement factors haven’t changed (again…..) as far as I can see, so I’m stumped as to why I’m set to get a much lower return today than I was yesterday.

Cobbler_tone

Knowing someone on USS I have been learning more about the world of universities and find it all quite interesting. I am not sure if all universities are the same but in my experience it seems a very different environment to the one I have worked in! 
Firstly, they don't seem to like making redundancies and it seems to be done under the guise of 'voluntary severance'. The terms seem to be identical to the redundancy grid and they will take volunteers up to 18 months+ out. Then it has to be signed off by a solicitor, paid for by the uni. No doubt to avoid unfair dismissal claims. 
They also don't seem to worry (too much) where their people leave from, which seems extraordinary not to have targeted pool selection and must cause mass disruption in some departments and significant impact in the aftermath for those left behind. 

After running several redundancy rounds over the years it is certainly all new to me and can't be an efficient way to run a business....which is maybe one of the reasons they are making mass 'redundancies', whilst appreciating the changing world of universities and declining numbers. 

13FL

Barralad77 Same story for my predictions from modeller (as compared to last week). All components down - suspect it is the Trump effect ?

mini850

@Barralad77 It is April 1st.........I see the same impact but I have a separate spreadsheet to try to understand the impact of ERF (which used to match the modeller predictions but now doesn't) and it may be to do with moving to the new tax year and the modeller not factoring in the 2024 pension increase yet on already accruded benefits.   I'm planning on checking again in a few days.....

Barralad77

13FL said:

Barralad77 Same story for my predictions from modeller (as compared to last week). All components down - suspect it is the Trump effect ?

Hi @13FL, a decline in the value of investments in the IB will have reduced due to recent stock market volatility but I was referring to the defined benefit part of the deal (apologies for not making this clear). My assumption for the DB part of the pension (i.e., the annuity) is that unless the factors being applied have changed (and I can’t see that they have) then the value of that annuity shouldn’t drop (because it’s a defined - fixed - benefit). My NPA is still showing as being the same, so I can’t see what’s changed other than the value of my ‘defined’ pension. Unless I’m missing something? I can see a phone call to USS coming….

swindiff

Barralad77, I am seeing the same as you.  I had my projected DB pension values saved in a spreadsheet for the ages of 60,61,62 and 63.  They have dropped by £965, £1011, £1062, and £1,117 respectively.  This follows the similar value drop after the change in the ERF, so I really hope this is a glitch.