What happens to your pension pot

QrizB

MPPG said:

15000 is 8% of the remaining fund and what i might do is draw that sum and work part time too

So your pension fund is worth £190k? Or is it worth £120k as you said in this thread, in which case £15k is 12%?

MPPG said:

On balance no as medical advice suggests life expectancy is shorter due to pre existing health issue but also have the full state pension from 67

You're currently over 55 but under your target retirement age of 62; how old are you now? And how much per year do you expect to need to live on once you retire?

MPPG

Nearly 57

It's £120,000 and i have a separate workplace pension that has £1750 a year paid into that pot inclusive of employer contributions but separate to £120,000.  That has been running for 4 years.

I'd expect to live comfortably on around 15 to 16,000 inclusive of state pension circa 9000

sevenhills

MPPG said:

I am educating myself as I simply want to retire utilise my private pensikn and then top up my state pension with whatever amount is left over.  

Instead of withdrawing £15k, you could withdraw £19k.

Put the excess £4k into a SIPP and get £1k added pension tax relief, then invest the £5k into a unit trust.

QrizB

MPPG said:

Nearly 57
It's £120,000 and i have a separate workplace pension that has £1750 a year paid into that pot inclusive of employer contributions but separate to £120,000.  That has been running for 4 years.
I'd expect to live comfortably on around 15 to 16,000 inclusive of state pension circa 9000

There's a lot of discussion over safe withdrawal rates (this recent thread has 172 replies at present, this one has 186). Depending on your attitude to risk, how you intend to vary your income as markets ebb and flow, and your life expectancy (you've mentioned that you're diabetic) you might only be comfortable taking 3% from your pot, or you might be happy taking more than twice that.

By the time you're 62, your new pension should have had around £16k of contributions paid (and hopefully will be worth a bit more than that) plus your £120k may have grown too so your combined pot could be approaching £180k? That could be a bit tight to cover 5 years before SPA (5x15=75) then top up your SP by £6k pa, you could run out of money in your early 80s?