To take a lump sum to put into savings account or not

dunstonh

It has dropped even more to £10,910 so I ask the question, what is the reward in taking your pension at a later age if the figure are constantly dropping ?

Why do you think it is constantly dropping?
It will drop in a negative period and go up in a positive period.    The last 18 months have been mostly negative (or more accurately, until October last year it was negative but has gone up slightly since then but been wavy line for most of 2023 but not gone anywhere.

hubb

dunstonh said:

It has dropped even more to £10,910 so I ask the question, what is the reward in taking your pension at a later age if the figure are constantly dropping ?

Why do you think it is constantly dropping?
It will drop in a negative period and go up in a positive period.    The last 18 months have been mostly negative (or more accurately, until October last year it was negative but has gone up slightly since then but been wavy line for most of 2023 but not gone anywhere.

Because all it has done is drop, and not gone up. 

dunstonh

hubb said:

dunstonh said:

It has dropped even more to £10,910 so I ask the question, what is the reward in taking your pension at a later age if the figure are constantly dropping ?

Why do you think it is constantly dropping?
It will drop in a negative period and go up in a positive period.    The last 18 months have been mostly negative (or more accurately, until October last year it was negative but has gone up slightly since then but been wavy line for most of 2023 but not gone anywhere.

Because all it has done is drop, and not gone up. 

Then there is something that is not right about your investments as no-investment class has constantly dropped from the Nov 21 peak.

hubb

dunstonh said:

hubb said:

dunstonh said:

It has dropped even more to £10,910 so I ask the question, what is the reward in taking your pension at a later age if the figure are constantly dropping ?

Why do you think it is constantly dropping?
It will drop in a negative period and go up in a positive period.    The last 18 months have been mostly negative (or more accurately, until October last year it was negative but has gone up slightly since then but been wavy line for most of 2023 but not gone anywhere.

Because all it has done is drop, and not gone up. 

Then there is something that is not right about your investments as no-investment class has constantly dropped from the Nov 21 peak.

I am not quite sure what you mean.

coolsteel

Taking a lump sum was a no brainer for me as its tax free. Your pension would be reduced taking a lump sum but on the other hand the more you earn over the threshold the more tax you would pay. So if you don't take the lump sum you would get a higher pension but  pay more tax on your pension providing you go over the threshold of paying tax. putting your money into an Isa £20,000 a year would go some way of reducing your tax burden providing your pension is high enough to pay tax.

dunstonh

hubb said:

dunstonh said:

hubb said:

dunstonh said:

It has dropped even more to £10,910 so I ask the question, what is the reward in taking your pension at a later age if the figure are constantly dropping ?

Why do you think it is constantly dropping?
It will drop in a negative period and go up in a positive period.    The last 18 months have been mostly negative (or more accurately, until October last year it was negative but has gone up slightly since then but been wavy line for most of 2023 but not gone anywhere.

Because all it has done is drop, and not gone up. 

Then there is something that is not right about your investments as no-investment class has constantly dropped from the Nov 21 peak.

I am not quite sure what you mean.

Investments peaked around November 2021.  The bottomed out in October 2022.   During that period, they had positive months as well as negative.  So, it zig zagged down.     So, it wasn't constant.

Since October, investments have risen in value.  Broadly on a wavy line basis where one week it is higher and another is is lower but the value should be higher than October 2022.   So, there has been no constant fall.

You said it was constantly falling but as no investment has been constantly falling, then there has to be something wrong. 

hubb

dunstonh said:

hubb said:

dunstonh said:

hubb said:

dunstonh said:

It has dropped even more to £10,910 so I ask the question, what is the reward in taking your pension at a later age if the figure are constantly dropping ?

Why do you think it is constantly dropping?
It will drop in a negative period and go up in a positive period.    The last 18 months have been mostly negative (or more accurately, until October last year it was negative but has gone up slightly since then but been wavy line for most of 2023 but not gone anywhere.

Because all it has done is drop, and not gone up. 

Then there is something that is not right about your investments as no-investment class has constantly dropped from the Nov 21 peak.

I am not quite sure what you mean.

Investments peaked around November 2021.  The bottomed out in October 2022.   During that period, they had positive months as well as negative.  So, it zig zagged down.     So, it wasn't constant.

Since October, investments have risen in value.  Broadly on a wavy line basis where one week it is higher and another is is lower but the value should be higher than October 2022.   So, there has been no constant fall.

You said it was constantly falling but as no investment has been constantly falling, then there has to be something wrong. 

That is what I put to the PPF but they just told me it was "factor changes" causing the fluctuations (or to be more precise, downward trend) I shall give them a ring tomorrow again and have another look at their benefit modeler and challenge them with what you have kindly advised here. The conundrum is I am not in need of the money, and if it does go back up, I am happy to draw it then and put in my ISA. The October slump will be due to Liz Truss.

eskbanker

hubb said:
The October slump will be due to Liz Truss.

There wasn't an October slump as such, but October 2022 was when a lengthy (but not constant) decline reached the bottom, after nearly a year - only the last few weeks of that were after the infamous late September budget.

LHW99

hubb said:

dunstonh said:

hubb said:

dunstonh said:

hubb said:

dunstonh said:

It has dropped even more to £10,910 so I ask the question, what is the reward in taking your pension at a later age if the figure are constantly dropping ?

Why do you think it is constantly dropping?
It will drop in a negative period and go up in a positive period.    The last 18 months have been mostly negative (or more accurately, until October last year it was negative but has gone up slightly since then but been wavy line for most of 2023 but not gone anywhere.

Because all it has done is drop, and not gone up. 

Then there is something that is not right about your investments as no-investment class has constantly dropped from the Nov 21 peak.

I am not quite sure what you mean.

Investments peaked around November 2021.  The bottomed out in October 2022.   During that period, they had positive months as well as negative.  So, it zig zagged down.     So, it wasn't constant.

Since October, investments have risen in value.  Broadly on a wavy line basis where one week it is higher and another is is lower but the value should be higher than October 2022.   So, there has been no constant fall.

You said it was constantly falling but as no investment has been constantly falling, then there has to be something wrong. 

That is what I put to the PPF but they just told me it was "factor changes" causing the fluctuations (or to be more precise, downward trend) I shall give them a ring tomorrow again and have another look at their benefit modeler and challenge them with what you have kindly advised here. The conundrum is I am not in need of the money, and if it does go back up, I am happy to draw it then and put in my ISA. The October slump will be due to Liz Truss.

You mention the PPF - is this an old defined benefit (DB) scheme?

If so, the "value" may go down, because this type of pension is intended to give a specific annual income. The "factor changes" are what are used to calculate the cost of buying that income on the open market, and that has got less recently.

However, if it is a DB pension, this changing "value" is theoretical, because whatever the value, the income it will pay out shouldn't be affected

hubb

When I run the benefit moddler it gives a monthly payment forecast which isn't tax free, and that is also reduced. As my self employed income comes from digital media sales and royalties, this income stream will be indefinite so I won't be retiring as such even though I will possibly br taking this "quote and retire" option.