Pension Help Please

Silvertabby

NannaH said:

With a military pension you don’t have a ‘pot’, you have a deferred index linked pension and lump sum paid from 60,  have you had a forecast from Veterans UK? 

How long did you serve? 

My Husband did 12.5 years until 1996,  his pension form from back then said £2500 a year and £6500 lump sum, at 60 in 3 years it will go up by 30 years of CPI increases. 

The lump sum is 3 X pension.  Did you mean to say £2,500 pension and £7,500 lump sum back from 1996?

If so, then I make the amounts including next April's 10.1% to be somewhere in the region of:

Pension = £5,160

Lump sum = £15,478

Brie

Look to see what you actually get from the army.  If you run into roadblocks or need help I think SSAFA can assist as the army charity.

Get a pension forecast for the state pension.  That will let you know if there are any easy gaps to fill - I found it quite straight forward and easy to understand but come back if you need help.

You said (I think) that you were self employed in the building trade.  Have you, by chance, contributed to BC&E for holiday stamps?  that might give you some more small ££ to your pension.  Look out in case you might have contributed to any other industry scheme.  They try to make these easy for non financial people but you might not realise what you actually have available.