Pension advice at 53

paul2louise

I am 55 in January 2028. I believe that in April 2028 the age will increase to 57. I want to understand what I need to do in order to not miss out on claiming my private and local gov pensions. Where can I get advice. Thank you

TadleyBaggie

Pensionwise would seem to be a logical starting place.

tacpot12

This is the best source for you at the moment:

Pension Wise: free pension guidance | MoneyHelper

This thread will also gather a good deal of advice for you, to the point where you may feel you don't need further advice at this stage.

Given you age, you could access your in any personal pension at age 55,including all your tax-free cash, but any remaining unaccessed funds can't be accessed until you are 57. You can only access the cash at 55 before April 2028. While this might mean that you have a bridge to retirement at 57, I would be very cautious about using your tax-free cash. It might be better to hang onto this for when you are in receipt of your state pension and paying more tax.

I can't advice about your local government pension. Other might need more of a description about what this pension is before they can give advice. Can you give any more details?

It would also help to know when you want to retire, and whether you have considered how much income you need to retire at that point.

paul2louise

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82162507#Comment_82162507

I am currently working in retail job until April 2027 as at that point I should have covered my national insurance contributions for full pension. Mum set me up with an investment that I can draw from at any point and I plan to start using that from April next year when I leave the retail position. So that's when I plan to consider my retirement. The pension with Local gov is made up of several small pots from different schools I have been working since 2014. My NPA is Jan 2040 but I can do the following.

Transfer these benefits to another scheme

Can opt to receive early release of reduced benefits between 55 and NPA

Wait until NPA and receive the pensions increase.

The thing is non of the school jobs contribute much and the pension pots are fairly small but I just want to tidy things up. I have a healthy Aviva personal pension too. My husband took early retirement at 60 and we live on his private pension.

I just want to sort things out. Thank you for your help

daveyjp

Local Government pension doesn't have a pot. You have a number of guaranteed annual payments for life for each period of service you contributed to the pension.

Just because it is several schools doesn't mean it is several pensions. If the schools are in one local authority area the pension provider could be the same one with varying periods of membership.

Your starting point is to get together details of every pension you have and have a plan for each one. A mix of DC and DB income can be useful.

paul2louise

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82162585#Comment_82162585

I have just register on the pension wise Money helper site.

I have 6 pensions;

State pension, Aviva personal pension, LCP pension from a private company I left 20 years ago, 2 inactive LGPS and a current active LGPS from current school. No mention of pension from retail job.

DRS1

Just because you can take a pension at 55 doesn't mean you should. At 55 you could have many years ahead of you and a pension at 55 is going to be less than it is at 65 or 67 or whenever your normal retirement date is. The LGPS one will be reduced for early payment and any DC one will have had less time for the underlying investments to grow. How long will your DC pot last if you stop contributing to it at 54 and start drawing from it at 55?

The change from 55 to 57 seems to be making people consider doing something they wouldn't have done if the age had been left at 55.

Are you actually hanging up your boots at 54? Or will you get another job?

If you are planning for retirement then one thing to do is to work out how much you spend in a year. Adjust it for things which you only spend because you work (eg travel to work) and add what you will spend more of when you are not at work (heating the house?). Then see how that compares to your anticipated income. If nothing else it might tell you if you can afford to retire.

DRS1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82162610#Comment_82162610

Have you mentioned that on the Pension Dashboard thread? Not sure how you give feedback to the developers but you should - perhaps naming the provider of the missing pension.

It is a beta test so people do say some of their current pensions are missing (which is curious as you might think it would be the older ones). Check again in November and there may be more to see.

Presumably you know if any older pensions are missing? You aren't just relying on the Dashboard?

paul2louise

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82162637#Comment_82162637

I am planning to finish the retail job in April 27 when my national insurance contributions should be complete. As I mentioned above Mum has an investment policy that I plan to start taking from. It will have already been taxed. The only other income will be a bit from being an Exam invigilator which is only a few weeks at exam time.

paul2louise

I found out that the missing pension isn't showing because it's in transition from Scottish widows to Aviva. So going to give it a few weeks to clear them it should be visible.

DRS1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82162745#Comment_82162745

Surely you work for more reasons than just filling your NI record?

Of course I am not one to talk. I'd had enough of work when I was a lot younger than you. And when I quit I certainly hadn't done any scientific calculation of what income I would need to survive.