Civil Service or Private

Dazed_and_C0nfused

mrkjd said:

A big Thank You to all for these very helpful replies. Very much appreciated. 

Some have asked what other provision I have. The answer is none beyond the state pension, £40k savings and a house worth £400k (no mortgage).

We have no kids or dependents so plan on downsizing or equity release at some point. Would be great if there was some way to draw down on a chunk of the value of the house as an income, say £200k giving £8k per annum but I’m not aware of a product like this. 

It's called equity release.

That is 1000% not a recommendation or suggestion you do that though 😳

michaels

r6mile said:

The Alpha scheme - which the DB scheme for all new CS entrants - has the following rules for a lump-sum.

How much lump sum do I get for my pension?

You get £12 of lump sum for every £1 of pension you give up.

What is the maximum lump sum I can get?

There are limits set by HM Revenue & Customs; this is currently a lump sum of 25% of the total value of your pension benefits.

Your maximum lump sum will be shown on any quotes you receive when you start the process of claiming your pension.

I have just looked at my 'retirement modeller' on the Civil Service pension website, the maximum 'annual pension' I can forego is 

So problem with alpha is whilst you can it is very poor value so you are better off paying the tax and therefore need to factor this in in any comparison with a DC scheme.  May mean that if you retire early you are better off taking the DB pension with reduction to receive as much as you can before SP starts?

ChocolateWombat

Given you have no other pension provision apart from the state pension, I’d go for the DB pension job to add to your security for retirement.

I’d also look to boost your savings in ISAs or SIPP before you retire.

What about the provision for retirement of your other half? What do they have?

mrkjd

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

mrkjd said:

A big Thank You to all for these very helpful replies. Very much appreciated. 

Some have asked what other provision I have. The answer is none beyond the state pension, £40k savings and a house worth £400k (no mortgage).

We have no kids or dependents so plan on downsizing or equity release at some point. Would be great if there was some way to draw down on a chunk of the value of the house as an income, say £200k giving £8k per annum but I’m not aware of a product like this. 

It's called equity release.

That is 1000% not a recommendation or suggestion you do that though 😳

Equity release products seem poor ‘value’. It seems like a great untapped potential pension resource that should be more popular. It is an option we may take if we can’t downsize as I guess it won’t matter if I’m dead! Not very MSE though! 

mrkjd

ChocolateWombat said:

Given you have no other pension provision apart from the state pension, I’d go for the DB pension job to add to your security for retirement.

I’d also look to boost your savings in ISAs or SIPP before you retire.

What about the provision for retirement of your other half? What do they have?

My partner is approx the same as me - full state pension and about £7k private projected. No savings. Should have circa £200k inheritance at some point ( not wishing ill! )