Preparing for an interview with an adviser

NoMore

I would get a free Pensionwise appointment first, they won't give you advice but will explain the options available to you with pensions, allowing you a better understanding before engaging with a IFA.

Pension Wise: free pension guidance | MoneyHelper

akwexavante

MallyGirl said:

You don't have to take any out now. At the point where you do want to take some then it has to be tax free and taxable or just tax free. It can't be just taxable with the tax free bit staying in the pension 

So i can't take say for argument’s sake £600 a month now as a pension until Oct 29 (state pension age)  then stop taking the £600 a month (or reduce it to a much lower amount) and then take tax-free lump sums as and when after that up to the allowable amount?

LHW99

akwexavante said:

So i have to take the 25% tax-free lump sum to get started even if i don't need it, i was hoping to leave it until after state pension age.

I'm very confused here.   The two initial advisers asked me what i would like from my pension.  I said that i did not want an initial tax-free lump sum now and i wanted to defer it until state pension age and take it then.  They didn't say i could, nor did they say i couldn't do that.

I would have assumed that if this was not possible they would have said so there and then!

At age 55 / 57 (depending on DoB0, you can access a private pension.

At that point, you can:

a) Do nothing and leave it all to grow till later.

b) Take all, or part of the 25% TFLS, and leave the rest till later. If you only took part of the 25%,you could then take additional TFLS at any time, until it is all used up.

c) Take a withdrawal (eg £10,000) where 25% is tax-free, and the rest taxed at your normal rate. This is called UFPLS and can be repeated whenever needed.

d) Take the 25% tax free at once and arrange to be paid a taxable (monthly) income from the remaining 75%, either then or later.

Be aware that not all pensions, particularly older ones, are set up for all the options.

Why not book a free appointment with Pension Wise? It's not advice, but could help clarify some of your questions.

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement

dunstonh

I suffer profound deafness and therefore voice and video calls are VERY difficult, so an IFA needs to be within say an hours drive so that i can have one on one face to face meetings.  I've searched and i've searched and i can't find one a sensible distance away.

Unless you are in the highlands or islands, I cannot fathom there not been a good number of IFAs available.    I am rural (as much as you can be in England nowadays) and going by your hour distance marker, there are probably 60 IFA firms within that.

Have you tried using the unbiased website and unselecting the tick box to show non-paying firms?

You dont use the lead generation method.  Use the search method instead and select browse adviser directory.



You then search by postcode.  It will show the paying firms only to begin with.  Most of the firms will be national/regional and many of them FAs, not IFAs (most IFAs cannot afford to pay Unbiased, or if they do, their charges to you will reflect the higher costs!)

Scroll to the bottom of the page and untick this box:


You will then find all the small local independents appearing in the list as well as the salesforces.

The national firms will buy a listing in every postcode.  They dont actually have firms in that postcode. They have travelling advisers.   Whereas unticking that box will show you the offices of the local independents in order of how far away they are from you.

Doing it this way is as close to the old IFA directory that unbiased used to be before it sold out to the salesforces.

I'm very confused here.   The two initial advisers asked me what i would like from my pension.  I said that i did not want an initial tax-free lump sum now and i wanted to defer it until state pension age and take it then.  They didn't say i could, nor did they say i couldn't do that.

You pay for advice.  The initial consultations are just chat.  They wont provide advice at that point.

akwexavante

Thank you Dunstonh,

I've done this already and there are 13 advisers listed within an hours drive. 

Of those, only three are IFA's and of those three only one which i have approached that is within an hour's drive, that will take on a collective pension pot of the size that i have.  There are dozens of advisers in my area, and the overwhelming majority of them are working under the umbrella of St.James's Place (One on every street corner just about!) and or my pension pot is tooooo small or they are not independent.

akwexavante

I may be simpler for me to just accept that i'll have to pay tax on my pension at state pension age and take either the full tax-free lump sum in one go and wait until it runs out on or very near state pension age or take a smaller initial tax-free sum to get me to Oct 26 then three larger equal amounts Oct 26 / 7 & 8 then start drawdown and pay tax starting Oct 29       

QrizB

akwexavante said:

I may be simpler for me to just accept that i'll have to pay tax on my pension at state pension age and take either the full tax-free lump sum in one go and wait until it runs out on or very near state pension age or take a smaller initial tax-free sum to get me to Oct 26 then three larger equal amounts Oct 26 / 7 & 8 then start drawdown and pay tax starting Oct 29       

It would help to understand what you're trying to do.

If you want £600 a month of taxable pension income now, that's £7200 a year. So you could take £2400 of tax-free cash which would leave £7200 of taxable money, then draw that down at £600 a month for a year.

The £2400 you can put into an ISA, or another savings or investment account, then have it available after state penson age.

Marcon

akwexavante said:

I may be simpler for me to just accept that i'll have to pay tax on my pension at state pension age and take either the full tax-free lump sum in one go and wait until it runs out on or very near state pension age or take a smaller initial tax-free sum to get me to Oct 26 then three larger equal amounts Oct 26 / 7 & 8 then start drawdown and pay tax starting Oct 29       

How about doing a bit of basic reading? That would increase both your knowledge and your confidence. See https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/taking-your-pension/phased-partial-drawdown which should answer many of the questions you've posed on this thread in terms of how and when you can take tax free cash/taxable cash from your private pension.

akwexavante

Thank you Macon,

Marcon said:

How about doing a bit of basic reading? That would increase both your knowledge and your confidence. See https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/taking-your-pension/phased-partial-drawdown which should answer many of the questions you've posed on this thread in terms of how and when you can take tax free cash/taxable cash from your private pension.

I've done this already and i just do not understand it at all.

QrizB said:

It would help to understand what you're trying to do.

My 26yr+ business has come to an expected end 3 1/2yrs earlier than i'd hoped, i'll not go into why here because it's not relevant.  I could start a new self-employed business of some simple form, but i do not want to invest too much time and money starting a new business to bridge the gap to get me to state pension age Oct 29. Or i could find a proper job (that hurt, writing those two words) or find a two / three day job (that hurt toooo!), but i don't really want to do that either if i can avoid it.  I kinda feel as though i should bridge a 3 1/2yr gap to Oct 29 in some way without having to return to work (Those three words really hurt!!!!!).

So, although i'm still technically self-employed, i have no income at this time. I have cash to get me to state pension age without a pension if i'm very, very, very careful, and i am.

Drawing down £600 a month would see me get to state pension age comfortably with considerably less of an impact on my savings without having to find additional income, keeping me below my personal tax allowance. I'd hoped to then stop drawdown or reduce it significantly and start withdrawing tax-free sums until this was no longer possible, then start drawdown again at some point.

But i'm guessing that this is not possible and or probably far to complex for me to do myself. If it is possible and i'd have to pay an adviser to do it then fees would probably offset any advantages.  Just trying to take as much of the pension pot as possible for my own benefit rather than handing it over to HMRC.  It will of course last longer.

Taking the full 25% tax-free lump sum would be greater than taking £600 a month for 3 1/2yrs and would more than comfortably see me through to state pension age with a little care and with considerably less impact on my savings along the way.

But i'd then at some point start drawdown and obviously start paying income tax, this hurts if there is way of avoiding it cost effectively.

NoMore

TBH You don't sound like you need a paid for advisor, you just need to understand the options available to you. As has been pointed out by at least 3 people in the thread get a telephone appointment with moneyhelper who will help explain these options to you, for free. Pension Wise: free pension guidance | MoneyHelper

Plus if you state the amount in pension (roughly), age and objective (currently take £600 a month), you probably find that the forum can come up with a good plan for you. For instance, if you have no income in a tax year, you could get up to £16760 out of a Pension tax free, by utilising your income tax allowance and tax free cash. Use about half of this for your 600 a month and put the rest in ISA, to be drawn tax free later.