USS - General discussion

swindiff

Well that looks a lot better and it has been increased by more than 1.7%  Timeline for my early retirement at 60 figures are approx.

March £21,500
Beginning of April £20,500
Few days later £20,700
Now £22,000

It's almost back to where it was before the ERF changes.

Barralad77

Indeed. When I looked at 07.00 the modeller hadn’t changed at all (it was only the final salary element that had been updated).  Within 2 hours it’s changed significantly. My projected figure for 60 is now higher than it was before the ERF change last year.

Asimovs_nightfall

And my projected figure on the modeller is now larger than the projection on the quote I received earlier this month!  

Barralad77

Asimovs_nightfall said:

And my projected figure on the modeller is now larger than the projection on the quote I received earlier this month!  

I got a quote last year that was less than the modeller was showing. It’s become transparently clear to me that the modeller should be treated with a great deal of caution as the figures see-saw without warning and often for no discernible reason, to the point where the projected figure can be - in my case - between £1-2,0000 ‘out’. That said, today’s news is still very much a move in the right direction and even if my quote turns out to be slightly less than the modeller shows I’ll still have breathed a sigh of relief. But on the underlying cause of all of this, it seems that the modeller enters a period of flux through most of April (i.e., so don’t read too much into the figures provided by the modeller until May). How difficult would it be for USS to post something to that effect to stop people potentially worrying? Is there a reason for not doing that? That would be helpful, though, and that’s not USS’ strong point.

Twigwidge

Asimovs_nightfall said:

And my projected figure on the modeller is now larger than the projection on the quote I received earlier this month!  

Mine too, it looks as if the uplift has not been factored into the quotes whereas it seems it has on the model

Morgan-Green

Good to see this modest uplift, as my uni have refused my request to go part-time until I am 60 next March

This triggers a new question around the lump sum I will get from voluntary redundancy.  I am not in desperate need to use this to cover living costs, so can I ask that it be paid as a lump sum into my pension?  Is there any disadvantage to doing this?  

13FL

I think the answer is yes, to it being paid into your pension, but the mechanism will depend on your Institution's approach to this.  See the following threads for some discussion on this.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81382057#Comment_81382057

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6595886/uss-newbie-needing-help/p1

Will leave the more informed to comment on the advantages/disadvantages.

Panda_Panda

Barralad77 said:

Asimovs_nightfall said:

And my projected figure on the modeller is now larger than the projection on the quote I received earlier this month!  

I got a quote last year that was less than the modeller was showing. It’s become transparently clear to me that the modeller should be treated with a great deal of caution as the figures see-saw without warning and often for no discernible reason, to the point where the projected figure can be - in my case - between £1-2,0000 ‘out’. That said, today’s news is still very much a move in the right direction and even if my quote turns out to be slightly less than the modeller shows I’ll still have breathed a sigh of relief. But on the underlying cause of all of this, it seems that the modeller enters a period of flux through most of April (i.e., so don’t read too much into the figures provided by the modeller until May). How difficult would it be for USS to post something to that effect to stop people potentially worrying? Is there a reason for not doing that? That would be helpful, though, and that’s not USS’ strong point.

I doesn't appear that advisors understand the modeller any more than we do. I was told last week that the reduction was due to the change in the inflation rate. The following week, the modeller then goes back up to a place where it was before. As you say, caution is required. 

Morgan-Green

Morgan-Green said:

Good to see this modest uplift, as my uni have refused my request to go part-time until I am 60 next March.

A little update on my situation. The uni have now agreed for me to phase my VR so I stay on at 0.2 from this September until March next year when I will retire. This makes a massive difference to the pension, so I am mightily relieved.

Thanks to those who gave advice and told me to push them. It worked!  

swindiff

Excellent news 👏