Opted out of serps.

Bevg512

I opted out of serps in the 80s and forgot all about it I've now managed to track it down, it's value is only £29,000, the question is what do I do with it and what happens about my state pension as I'm nearing that age. 

MallyGirl

you need to get a proper pension forecast
You would need to give more info on where/what the £29,000 is in order to get anything helpful.

molerat

Have you got a SP forecast ?  https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension That is the only way to find out what effect it has had. 

It may have restricted your 2016 starter figure to the old pension amount but any post 2016 contributions would have been added to that up to the new full pension.

xylophone

I opted out of serps in the 80s and forgot all about it I've now managed to track it down, it's value is only £29,000, the question is what do I do with it 

Do you mean that you chose to contract out of SERPS into an appropriate personal pension?

https://techzone.abrdn.com/public/pensions/Tech-guide-contracting-out

Albermarle

Do you mean that you chose to contract out of SERPS into an appropriate personal pension?

OP - assuming the above is the case, then the £29K is in a standalone personal pension scheme, just the same as any other personal pension scheme. The fact that the contributions originally came from opting out of SERPS, makes no difference. You can do with it the same as you can do with any personal pension scheme. Leave it alone, withdraw it all, withdraw it in stages, buy an annuity etc 

Beddie

Have you had an appointment with Pension wise? It's a free government service that can explain your options.

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-wise