40 year old Expat - Pension Recommendations?

WindsweptDragon81

Hi All

Can anyone recommend a pension scheme that accepts non domiciled UK residents? I paid into UK pension from age of 20, value of this is not great, I paid into it until I was around 30 when I departed UK to live abroad. My plan was to remain out of UK for 5 years, however, stuff happened and I’ve remained out of UK for over a decade. All checking I’ve done on line is either related to moving UK pension abroad, which I don’t want to do, or schemes say I must live in UK. 

I never really worried about pension when I was younger, I unfortunately have medical condition that means it is unlikely I’ll get to use much of it, if any. I am however now married with a child so would like to leave my family with decent amount if I can, to should by some miracle I live longer than I think possible. 

In country I live in no real pension is offered, however, we do get a large cash payment on retirement, similar to a redundancy payment. This is available from 60 so I have 20 years to top this up by paying into private pension. I have large emergency funds in UK and country I live in and am on a decent salary, I won’t get any contributions from work. 

Any help / direction where to look would be appreciated. 

[Deleted User]

1. Where is this money sitting now? Do you really need to transfer out? Why? 

2. If you do, your options depend on your country of residence. EU and US constrain your options more than other residencies. 

3. In a similar situation, I transferred to X-O/Jarvis SIPP.  Needed to talk to them to make sure they fully understood the situation before they agreed. 

4. There are some companies which specialize in expats.  Avoid them if you can. Expensive. 

bostonerimus

If you have little pension provision you should look at making voluntary NICs. At least that will give you UK state pension when you retire. Any pension advice will depend on where you live, but you could look for a local broker and invest in the world's stock markets in a general account.

dean350

Make voluntary NIC contributions in UK. Open an international stock account (interactive brokers is one of the most popular). Learn about long term share and bond investing for retirement over the internet. Accumulate stocks and bonds which can pay you an income in retirement. Keep an emergency fund in cash. In essence you are running your own DC pension scheme. However as a non UK resident you are not entitled to any of the UK style tax breaks. Stay away from expat financial advisors.

dunstonh

Can anyone recommend a pension scheme that accepts non domiciled UK residents?

How are you a UK resident if you haven't been resident in the UK for over a decade?

WindsweptDragon81

Deleted_User said:

1. Where is this money sitting now? Do you really need to transfer out? Why? 

2. If you do, your options depend on your country of residence. EU and US constrain your options more than other residencies. 

3. In a similar situation, I transferred to X-O/Jarvis SIPP.  Needed to talk to them to make sure they fully understood the situation before they agreed. 

4. There are some companies which specialize in expats.  Avoid them if you can. Expensive. 

1. I have money in UK and the country where I live. I am not looking to move money between the two ideally, or to transfer my UK pensions out of the country. 

2. I am based in SE Asia presently and was in the Middle East before that. 

3. Thanks, will do some research on those. 

4. That is what I have seen so far, hence request for recommendations of people in a similar situation. 

WindsweptDragon81

dunstonh said:

Can anyone recommend a pension scheme that accepts non domiciled UK residents?

How are you a UK resident if you haven't been resident in the UK for over a decade?

Maybe this is poor terminology on my part, but it is how it has been explained to me. I remain a citizen of the UK, countries I have resided in during my absence do not allow citizenship without invitation, so I am and will remain a UK citizen which gives me residency rights. 

kuratowski

Ok, however Tax residency isn't the same as residency rights.  If you're not UK tax resident then you can't subscribe to ISAs, and you would need UK relevant earnings in order to get any tax relief on UK pension contributions, having for over 5 years not been a UK tax resident.

Edit: Corrected, thanks Xylophone!

xylophone

if you don't have relevant UK earnings the most you can pay into a UK pension is limited to £2880 pa (plus tax relief).

A non resident may not have the right to tax relief.

https://adviser.royallondon.com/technical-central/pensions/contributions-and-tax-relief/contributions-to-registered-schemes-for-overseas-individuals/

[Deleted User]

WindsweptDragon81 said:

Deleted_User said:

1. Where is this money sitting now? Do you really need to transfer out? Why? 

2. If you do, your options depend on your country of residence. EU and US constrain your options more than other residencies. 

3. In a similar situation, I transferred to X-O/Jarvis SIPP.  Needed to talk to them to make sure they fully understood the situation before they agreed. 

4. There are some companies which specialize in expats.  Avoid them if you can. Expensive. 

1. I have money in UK and the country where I live. I am not looking to move money between the two ideally, or to transfer my UK pensions out of the country. 
 

What company/type of account do you have your UK money with? Why do you want to move money out to a different arrangement?