Ex Airman Pension Queries

stewartbri

Hi everybody

I'm 44 this year and now work in the Oil Industry where you can change jobs/companies often! I have a Scottish Widows pension with nearly 49K in it, i am just about to TUPE across to a new company and not sure what will happen with that L&G pension. I believe the new company pension scheme is a NEST one.

I'm thinking about transferring the SW 49K and my current Employers L&G which is only just under £8K together and putting them into medium to higher risk SIPP. Or would i be better just combining them together with Scottish Widows, My RAF pension is with Scottish Widows so I kinda have an all the eggs in 1 basket dilemma going on tbh

I served in the Airforce for 9 years and come under the 75 Scheme so I already have a decent workplace pension which really kicks in at age 65 properly although payments start at 60.

I don't see me every being able to fully retire the way the cost of living is at the moment but a part time job in B & Q would be nice! 

Marcon

stewartbri said:

Hi everybody

I'm 44 this year and now work in the Oil Industry where you can change jobs/companies often! I have a Scottish Widows pension with nearly 49K in it, i am just about to TUPE across to a new company and not sure what will happen with that L&G pension. I believe the new company pension scheme is a NEST one.

I'm thinking about transferring the SW 49K and my current Employers L&G which is only just under £8K together and putting them into medium to higher risk SIPP. Or would i be better just combining them together with Scottish Widows, My RAF pension is with Scottish Widows so I kinda have an all the eggs in 1 basket dilemma going on tbh

I served in the Airforce for 9 years and come under the 75 Scheme so I already have a decent workplace pension which really kicks in at age 65 properly although payments start at 60.

I don't see me every being able to fully retire the way the cost of living is at the moment but a part time job in B & Q would be nice! 

Presumably you have a stakeholder pension with Scottish Widows to top up your Armed Forces pension?

Why is it a 'dilemma' to have all your eggs in one basket if it's a solid basket with reasonable charges and decent returns? It's the choice of funds within a defined contribution pension scheme which matters; that's what generates returns and (usually) drives charges.

Silvertabby

What do you mean when you say that your RAF pension is with Scottish Widows?  Did you transfer out your AFPS benefits when you left the RAF?  

Marcon

Silvertabby said:

What do you mean when you say that your RAF pension is with Scottish Widows?  Did you transfer out your AFPS benefits when you left the RAF?  

SW was the nominated stakeholder provider for the Armed Forces and from the sound of it OP used that as a top up rather than AVCs.

Go to point 7.11:  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/820096/MMP106_Web_Accessible_Version_pension_scheme_explained.pdf

xylophone

Do you mean that you have a stakeholder with SW and another pension with SW and a L&G pension?

You also have a deferred RAF pension?

You are just about to be enrolled into NEST?

And what is shown on your State Pension forecast https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

at "estimate to 5/4/23"?

T955daytona

"I served in the Airforce for 9 years and come under the 75 Scheme so I already have a decent workplace pension which really kicks in at age 65 properly although payments start at 60." Unless you made additional contributions Scottish Widows have nothing to do with your AFPS75 pension. It is administered by Equinity, the Forces Pension Society is a good place to start for information. And if you served for 9 years don't count on it being a "decent workplace pension"

BikingBud

@stewartbri

Baseline is:

If you leave the Armed Forces but you have not completed the required years to receive an immediate pension, a deferred pension is kept for you until pension benefit age. This is age 60 for members of the AFPS 75 scheme and age 65 for members of the 05 scheme.

I would suggest looking at Forces Pension Society and here  where it advises Section 9:

Transferring benefits out of AFPS 75
If you leave the Armed Forces before your pension is payable and you take up new employment, you might be able to transfer the value of the deferred pension benefits you have earned from AFPS 75 into your new scheme.

The Government has prevented transfers from AFPS 75 to some other schemes in the UK or abroad. This means you can only transfer your AFPS 75 pension to a scheme that does not allow members to take cash from their pension (known as a pension drawdown).

To see if you can unpick what you have from AFPS 75, follow this and submit the forecast request form:

A deferred pension is not paid automatically. You should:

1. Obtain a pension forecast. You can obtain a pension forecast by completing AFPS Form 14 and sending a signed copy by post to :

Veterans UK, Process Team MP 480, Kentigern House, 65 Brown Street, Glasgow G2 8EX.  

2. Submit application.

You should claim your pension from DBS Veterans UK approximately 3 to 6 months before it is due to come into payment, by completing AFPS Form 8 and sending a signed copy by post to:

Veterans UK, Process Team MP 335, Kentigern House, 65 Brown Street, Glasgow G2 8EX.

These forms can also be found at Veterans UK Armed Forces-pensions forms.

Best wishes it might not be great but after 9 years, after promotion to sgt, likely cpl you may find currently c£5k + 3* as lump sum, these will be revalued before they come into payment @60

stewartbri

Ive done nothing with my RAF Pension. As someone else said its a stakeholder pension with Scottish Widows, It looks after itself and I cant do anything with it anyway, im not asking about it, i have forecasts etc for it.

My query is basically should I combine my other 49K SW pension and my tiny 8K L&G pension together into a SIPP to maximise profit, or is there other options?

I'm not as clued up on this as a lot of the forum users so some of the financial and legal jargon goes over my head haha

Thanks

LHW99

My query is basically should I combine my other 49K SW pension and my tiny 8K L&G pension together into a SIPP to maximise profit, or is there other options?

First find out what the charges are on both of these, and what funds you are invested in. The funds grow (or not) and the charges take a fraction off that growth.

If you are not experienced in investments, a SIPP (ie Self Invested personal pension) may be a step too far. You could probably transfer one of these into the other (with lowest charges), and use the result to accumulate other DC pensions (eg the NEST one) when you move jobs. It would mean you would have the RAF pension, any current one and the accumulated DC funds when you get to retirement, and could then make a final decision as to where to transfer everything.

In the meantime you could read here, and elsewhere, to improve your knowledge ready for retirement.

stewartbri

LHW99 said:

First find out what the charges are on both of these, and what funds you are invested in. The funds grow (or not) and the charges take a fraction off that growth.

If you are not experienced in investments, a SIPP (ie Self Invested personal pension) may be a step too far. You could probably transfer one of these into the other (with lowest charges), and use the result to accumulate other DC pensions (eg the NEST one) when you move jobs. It would mean you would have the RAF pension, any current one and the accumulated DC funds when you get to retirement, and could then make a final decision as to where to transfer everything.

In the meantime you could read here, and elsewhere, to improve your knowledge ready for retirement.

Thanks for the reply, would I also have the option of transferring both of these pensions into the new Nest one, if it turned out that was a better option with regards to fee's & funds etc? 

stewartbri

BikingBud said:

@stewartbri

Baseline is:

If you leave the Armed Forces but you have not completed the required years to receive an immediate pension, a deferred pension is kept for you until pension benefit age. This is age 60 for members of the AFPS 75 scheme and age 65 for members of the 05 scheme.

Transferring benefits out of AFPS 75
If you leave the Armed Forces before your pension is payable and you take up new employment, you might be able to transfer the value of the deferred pension benefits you have earned from AFPS 75 into your new scheme.

The Government has prevented transfers from AFPS 75 to some other schemes in the UK or abroad. This means you can only transfer your AFPS 75 pension to a scheme that does not allow members to take cash from their pension (known as a pension drawdown).

To see if you can unpick what you have from AFPS 75, follow this and submit the forecast request form:

A deferred pension is not paid automatically. You should:

1. Obtain a pension forecast. 

Veterans UK, Process Team MP 480, Kentigern House, 65 Brown Street, Glasgow G2 8EX.  

2. Submit application.

Veterans UK, Process Team MP 335, Kentigern House, 65 Brown Street, Glasgow G2 8EX.

Best wishes it might not be great but after 9 years, after promotion to sgt, likely cpl you may find currently c£5k + 3* as lump sum, these will be revalued before they come into payment @60

Thanks for the detailed reply! I don't think my OP was clear though sorry, I have no intention of touching my RAF Pension, they tried to get us to change to one of the newer schemes back when i was serving, certainly not going to change it now haha.

The last projection I had was years ago and it had almost doubled from the original projection in 2007. I should really fill out the form 14 again and see what it says now, last time i'm sure it was something like £350 a month + 7K lump sum @60 then £850 + 4K lump sum at 65 when i left in 2007 it was £150 + £3K and £350 + £2K or thereabouts figure are not exact but I remember being very pleasantly surprised at the time, hopefully im not disappointed when i check again! Pretty sure I cant actually do alot with it, apart from maybe commuting more into the lump sum @ 60 but not entirely sure tbh