Police Pension- Stay or Withdraw?

kipsterno1

retiringtoosoon said:

Says a lot about the state of our police force really…

I think it says more about the state of police pay.

zagubov

In the name of all you hold holy, don't leave the pension.

In my case, I left the NHS and cashed in the pension in my 20s. Worst mistake I've ever made. It cost me a fortune later on to catch up and took decades.

I've been an idiot - you can learn from my mistake.

Kaizen917

Definitely not worth opting out of such pension arrangement. In fact, Im not sure what sort of dire circumstances would prompt me to see it as a good decision.

Bravepants

If you EVER leave your pension one of your colleagues should arrest you and throw away the key!

Ref44

As a retired Poloice Sergeant, I can give some figures. I retired in 2009 at 52. I only had to do 30 years for a full pension (Iknow it is now 35). Hitting state pension age this year, the job has already paid me £423k in pension and commutation. If I live as long as my late father who nearly made it to 91, even allowing for zero inflation from now on, that figure will exceed £1m.

Pollycat

Silvertabby said:

retiringtoosoon said:

Says a lot about the state of our police force really…

It's not just a police thing. It's simply a lack of understanding how these pensions work.  There have been similar questions on these boards from members of the NHS, Civil Service and LGPS.

Back in my LGPS days members who wanted to opt out would have to ring us to request the necessary forms.  Bearing in mind that we weren't allowed to give actual advise, we would just point out all the benefits they would be giving up - not only a pension in retirement, but also extremely valuable ill health and death benefits.

Sadly, by the time they spoke to us most had already 'spent' their extra money and wouldn't reconsider.

I worked for a company that offered a final salary pension.

Someone I worked with sadly died in an accident.
He had shortly before made the (imho stupid) decision to leave the pension scheme.
His wife and 2 small children received nothing from the scheme.
It certainly woke up a lot of people who were also thinking about the cost of being in a pension scheme.

superstylin

Ref44 said:

As a retired Poloice Sergeant, I can give some figures. I retired in 2009 at 52. I only had to do 30 years for a full pension (Iknow it is now 35). Hitting state pension age this year, the job has already paid me £423k in pension and commutation. If I live as long as my late father who nearly made it to 91, even allowing for zero inflation from now on, that figure will exceed £1m.

Is this the Final Salary scheme though @ Ref44

SpudGunPaul

Universidad said:

The police pension is a really, really good pension.

It is worth more than you're paying in, by a LOT. If you work a full career with the police, you will get to retire earlier than most people, and every year you'll just get paid a pretty reasonable proportion of your annual salary for the rest of your life, without ever having to go to work again.

If you need extra money, it's a bad idea to take it from future you. But you don't. You just feel like you're wasting money on rent.

And you're kinda right, rent is like giving someone else money that you never see again, and I get that.

But giving up one of the best pensions in the country, when someone else is paying for most of it, is the worst act of throwing money away that I can think of - it makes paying rent look frugal.

By the time you're middle aged, you'll either be glad you stayed in the pension or hate yourself for not doing that.

The OP will probably have projecting figures with a retirement age of 67. Hardly younger than most and they'll still need 35 years and be 60 to retire. If they retire before 60 every year costs them 4%.

jimi_man

SpudGunPaul said:

Universidad said:

The police pension is a really, really good pension.

It is worth more than you're paying in, by a LOT. If you work a full career with the police, you will get to retire earlier than most people, and every year you'll just get paid a pretty reasonable proportion of your annual salary for the rest of your life, without ever having to go to work again.

If you need extra money, it's a bad idea to take it from future you. But you don't. You just feel like you're wasting money on rent.

And you're kinda right, rent is like giving someone else money that you never see again, and I get that.

But giving up one of the best pensions in the country, when someone else is paying for most of it, is the worst act of throwing money away that I can think of - it makes paying rent look frugal.

By the time you're middle aged, you'll either be glad you stayed in the pension or hate yourself for not doing that.

The OP will probably have projecting figures with a retirement age of 67. Hardly younger than most and they'll still need 35 years and be 60 to retire. If they retire before 60 every year costs them 4%.

Actually the figures in the 2015 police CARE scheme show retirement at 60, which is seven years earlier. No requirement to do 35 years either, there is no maximum that has to be achieved any more. And yes it will cost them 4% a year but obviously they'll be taking it for longer. It is supposed to be actuarily neutral.

xylophone

His wife and 2 small children received nothing from the scheme.
It certainly woke up a lot of people who were also thinking about the cost of being in a pension scheme.

I was acquainted with a young woman whose husband worked for the local authority.

He was killed in a freak accident while on duty, leaving his widow with two very young children.

Mercifully, he was in LGPS so that his widow's misery was not compounded by financial worries.