what have you done this week?

Sea_Shell

Tee'd up a pension withdrawal of a small pot, for my 55th.

£1800. I won't spend it all at once, but I may buy more yarn.

Crochet is my new obsession 😁 🧶

DT2001

Helped my brother amalgamate two pensions and get them into appropriate funds for his plans.

Took delivery of two quality Pilates Reformers (secondhand of course). OH and some YouTube input created simple short routine to improve flexibility and strength.

Played golf - restarting after 25 years as more free time.

Given a brace of pheasants so learnt how to take breast off them.

michaels

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82188238#Comment_82188238

Pheasant plucker?

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82179064#Comment_82179064

The forum generally will tend to attract the more engaged retiree, and I suspect this thread in particular is attracting the more active forum contributors to post. So it is not a true snapshot of the average persons retired life ( which probably would not make you feel dizzy 😀).

Triumph13

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82188334#Comment_82188334

Pheasant plucker's mate.

Cobbler_tone

Moved £40k to drawdown pot to take £10k tax free into an ISA. Want to maximise the drawdown headroom to 40% bracket once retired next year, so makes sense to ensure I use any allowance. I don't know about pheasant plucking but just lining up the ducks.

NormalNorman

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82189316#Comment_82189316

So strategic crystallisation? Each year before retirement crystallise enough so the tfls can be used to fill the SS ISA? Invested the same or appropriate to the circumstances? Am I reading this right? Cheers

Cobbler_tone

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82189404#Comment_82189404

It's no masterful move and like most things very specific to a specific set of circumstances. The goal is to maximise my capital over the next 5-6 years (part of a wider strategy), with my day to day covered in full by DB pension. The headroom to drawdown (to 40%) is restricted by this. So it is partially de-risking into an ISA, whilst using that tax shelter whilst I can, whilst keeping the rest invested in the pension. I could of course just leave it in the pension but happy to start building outside of the pension. It's a modest DC pot and I can make it work in that timescale with optimal tax efficiency. I've already had some tax free cash to clear my only debt, which in turn allowed me to increase my current pension contributions (again…zero chance of recycling), which I get tax/NI relief from. A lot of it is probably to do with simplicity and making the best use of my current circumstances. I could have done UFPLS when I retire but it is the strategy I was most comfortable and happiest with. It's very low risk anyway as taken out around 15% of the pot which I'm still contributing to.

mrklaw

trying to work out whether/how to top up my wife’s SIPP this year. have 10k gross/8k net we coudl contribute and she’d draw tax free. But the only ‘spare’ funds would be TFC from my pension or money from a cash ISA which is offsetting the mortgage.

maths tells me either is ok and slightly better than not topping it up (mainly because of tax relief) but one reduces my pension slightly, and the other reduces the offset - which would need money from my pension to balance (aim to pay the mortgage off in 2032 when the fix ends).

michaels

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82189316#Comment_82189316

I am knocking on the 268k limit so I am pretty certain the maths works better if I take it now if I have ISA headroom.