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Pensions Planning: The NUMBER
The NUMBER is how much income you need to "live comfortably" So What's your number? Very important for pensions planning, to know what you are aiming for. My Number? (for a couple) I calculated: £22,000 based on Food £5,000 Car/transport £5,000 Bills/Utilities £4,500 Holidays/Leisure £4,500 Clothing/Cash/Xmas/Other £2,000…
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Success Stories - Pensions
This is a bit of a light topic where the idea is to highlight what successes you had with your pension pots. Example - I contributed X and accumulated Y by Z year. Total appreciation was 'x' percent. Just trying to learn the following that could inspire a range of people - those with no pension, those who started late etc.…
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Acronyms etc..
Hello to all. As a fairly new forum user I would appreciate someone posting a key to the acronyms and arcane terms used when discussing pension issues. Thank you in advance.
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Pensions, Annuities & Retirement Planning Sticky
Welcome to the new Pensions, Annuities and Retirement Planning sticky! 👋 📖 Here are some Forum threads you may find useful (if there are any you think have been missed, please do let us know): * Can I cash in my pension? * Early-retirement wannabe * It's time to start digging up those Squirrelled Nuts!!!! 📝 And here's some…
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Can I withdraw my TPS pension as an active USS member
I am 57 and currently an active USS member. I had been with TPS for nearly 20 years before I moved to my current employer and joined USS, becoming a deferred member of TPS. In my TPS statement, there are two options: one is the final salary scheme NPA (60), the other is a hybrid scheme of partially NPA(60) and partially…
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Pension drawdown taxed at source - how long does HMRC take to refund overpaid tax? (self employed)
I'm 58, self-employed (sole trader) and as I'm winding down to retirement my earnings will be very low this tax year (2025-26) ie under £2k. So I decided to cash in one of my personal pension pots to make the most of my personal allowance (I detailed all this in recent posts asking other questions). The pension pot in…
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Pension Newbie
Hi all, this is my first foray into the pension boards, please be gentle with me!!! I am a long time (and successful!) Debt-Free Wannabe and I'm trying to get myself and OH sorted for the future so would love some help/knowledge! Here's the situation: Both OH (early 40s) and I (mid 30s) are basic rate taxpayers, though…
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Help with knowing how much is 'needed' to retire?
Online calculators to me are quite worrying in that it seems to be unless you have a pot of £1million then you're going to struggle in retirement & while some will be fortunate enough to be in that position, I certainly wont. I doubt many of the people I know either will be fortunate enough for that yet they seem to do…
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£60,000 a year pension cap
Hi reading the .Gov website its say 1 can put upto 3 years of £60,000 into your pension however you have to be earning over that amount with very high earners also reduced to that amount - my wages are only 35,000 not sure as it's not stated on the .Gov website how 1 goes about adding as I am allready trying to have…
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Tax code notice query
Hoping this is the correct place to post… I've POA for my elderly father (who also now has dementia). I've just picked up his tax code notice paperwork for the coming tax year 26/7 and a few aspects I don't fully understand. His state pension on the notice is shown as £14,028, yet on his online HMRC account it's actually…
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Interesting week for pension fund value
Seemed like a strange week this week - US markets keep going down every day, but my global tracker funds keep going up! Must be FX I guess.
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Accruing DB - other supporting options?
Hi, My partner and I are in our mid 30s. As of April, we'll have jointly accrued just under £30k DB pa, all linked to SPA (Alpha). Going forward we'll be jointly accruing just over £3k pa, all else equal. Our minimum retirement target is the NMPA, though we'd like to achieve FI earlier to create more options. Looking…
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What happens if you straddle pension age increase?
On 6th April 28 minimum pension age increases to 57. My DOB is Oct 71. If I start accessing a DC pension from Oct 26 (age 55) can I continue? Or on 6th April 28 (age 56) will there be limits on how I can access my pension? What are the guidelines? I'm thinking I would be able to access crystallised funds in a drawdown…
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Self Assessment / pension / tax calculating
Hi, I've searched for something like this for a few days now but nothing quite fits. Basically as you can't use the Gov.UK website to run a simulation of a self employed return prior to the end of the current tax year what I'm looking for is some kind of simulator or calculator that allows you to input profits, interest…
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New Capita-run Civil Service Pension Scheme - problems (what a surprise!)
So, Capita have taken over the admin for the CSPS and their new website and members portal went live this week. I have just registered on the new portal and am not in the least bit surprised to find that the information available on the new portal is very scant and incorrect in terms of my length of service. With…
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Equity Release for Centenarians!
I’m hoping to find someone who can advise, preferably from experience rather than theory. My mother lis 100 years old, and living in her mortgage-free bungalow with the help of live-in care, following a couple of falls and hospitalisations last year. She is generally healthy and happy with her situation. My brother and I…
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Cash in or not
I have 4 pensions. I can access my state pension in Nov 2026. I am considering taking the tax free lump sums from 2 of my pensions to help pay for an extension to our property. My thoughts are that this a better idea than getting a loan to pay for the extension. Am I correct?
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Etfs or tracker funds in a sipp
Hi I am 60, with 3 global tracker funds in a sipp, I hope to start drawdown at 63 but will continue working part time. I have 3 global equities but keep reading about etfs. I can't say I really understand the difference, but read I should use them instead. Can anyone help me understand and decide? FYI I have 60% in…
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Monthly ufpls
When I start taking my pension I would prefer to take it via a monthly ufpls. I'm currently with h&l but looking to move to ii before I starting taking pension. I've got a couple of questions, I looked on the ii website but couldn't find any answers so hopefully I may get some help here. Does ii provide an automated…
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Tiny income - how much to pay into SIPP?
I am a sole trader. I have been off work for nearly 6 months. I intend to return; I'm just not sure when. My turnover for this tax year is very low (£6500 approx) as I was already slowing down my hours before I stopped. When I subtract expenses I am left with approximately £400. My question is this: do I only pay the £320…
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Reduce hours... how much or not at all?
Hi folks, So here's my current situation: 31 years old living in Edinburgh (single), income of £38000 (full time associate scientist), I have a £240000 okay-ish flat owned outright (Edinburgh), £141000 in my shares ISA, £133000 in a high interest online saver ) and contribute 16% of my salary to my pension. I have no debts…
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SIPP drawdown sense check and how do I sort out tax owed?
I'm currently drawing DB pension and when I receive SP in 28/29 I will become HR taxpayer. I currently have approx £150k in a SIPP and in view of the IHT tax changes coming in the future my thoughts are to draw down £50k in this tax year and the next 2 - I currently have c£100k in the SIPP in cash like funds. I can get a…
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The Pensions cashback and incentives discussion thread
Lots of coverage on incentives for current account switching, but none that I've seen for pensions. I kind of get it - bank accounts are a well oiled process, don't involve long waits, differing paperwork requirements, and potentially large sums needing to move. But given that the demographic of this board is made up of a…
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Switching from Hargreaves Lansdown due to new charges
I currently have a SIPP with HL worth less than £100K however am concerned around the new charges particularly the fund switching fees of £1.95 per trade which feels v high. Have other readers switched to other platforms. If so what ones did you switch too and are there services and charges better?
Got questions about boosting your state pension by checking your record with the Future Pension Centre and making voluntary National Insurance contributions?
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Most recent: Voluntary NI Contributions – What to Expect After Requesting a Callback by AKUK1
25 February at 4:07PM
