Any Royal Mail pensioners on here?

Sunshine_and_Roses

Husband is retiring soon and we are not sure what to do about his free shares.  Do we sell them as SIP shares or transfer to ordinary and keep them? 

wmb194

clareski said:

Husband is retiring soon and we are not sure what to do about his free shares.  Do we sell them as SIP shares or transfer to ordinary and keep them? 

Why keep them? It doesn't really have a compelling business and it's almost always better to sell shares in individual companies and instead invest the money in a collective investment(s) as it will spread the risk across lots of companies or a mixture of equities and bonds.

fly-catchers

I sold mine last year when the share price rose a bit. In reality I wished I had waited a few more weeks/months as they went up still further. Currently the share value has dropped back a lot. So if they were mine I might hold on to them in the hope they would eventually recover again some what. As they have dropped right back before now in 2020 before recovering in 2021. And back down (not quite so low - yet!) in 2022. It’s a bit of a gamble either way!

Vortigern

The SIP will have sheltered the shares from CGT. Any gains made while the shares are in the SIP will not be liable for CGT.

If he sells as soon as the shares are out of the SIP there will be no CGT to pay.

If he continues to hold the shares, and they increase in value before being sold, there may be CGT to pay, but only on the gain arising after the shares left the SIP. If he chooses to hold the shares, he should note the share price and the value of his holding on the date the shares leave the SIP.

Are there any shares outside of the SIP? From SAYE/Sharesave schemes or privatisation freebies. 

Sunshine_and_Roses

Vortigern said:

The SIP will have sheltered the shares from CGT. Any gains made while the shares are in the SIP will not be liable for CGT.

If he sells as soon as the shares are out of the SIP there will be no CGT to pay.

If he continues to hold the shares, and they increase in value before being sold, there may be CGT to pay, but only on the gain arising after the shares left the SIP. If he chooses to hold the shares, he should note the share price and the value of his holding on the date the shares leave the SIP.

Are there any shares outside of the SIP? From SAYE/Sharesave schemes or privatisation freebies. 

These are the only shares he has, which were given free to employees.  He has around 900 which I believe are worth approx £2400 today.  As neither of us have any knowledge of the stock market he has just left them and had regular dividends into his bank.

We are thinking it may be simpler to sell them through the portal whole he is still employed, even though the value is low at the moment.  I would not know where to start if we had to sell privately. 

hatter68

When I left aged 60 mine were transferred to the Royal Mail Nominee Service where I already had shares purchased privately. These are held by Equiniti. I am going to hold them and hope they recover.

Vortigern

There will be no CGT liability on £2400 worth of shares. If it's cheap to sell through the portal, go ahead and do it.

If you wish to hold on to the shares, take them as a share certificate then deposit that in a nominee account with XO https://www.x-o.co.uk/ where you can sell at a cost of £5.95

I'd suggest that you don't use the RM nominee service - Equiniti's charges for share dealing are relatively high.

Sunshine_and_Roses

Vortigern said:

There will be no CGT liability on £2400 worth of shares. If it's cheap to sell through the portal, go ahead and do it.

If you wish to hold on to the shares, take them as a share certificate then deposit that in a nominee account with XO https://www.x-o.co.uk/ where you can sell at a cost of £5.95

I'd suggest that you don't use the RM nominee service - Equiniti's charges for share dealing are relatively high.

Great advice, thank you 👍