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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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Drawing down one pot and continuing to pay into other SIPPs? plus backdated contributions questions
Hello again, hoping some forumites can help confirm how things work in terms of continuing to pay INTO a personal pension in the same year as taking some funds OUT (via drawdown) of a different personal pension (both DC not DB pensions). Also, I have some associated questions on paying personal pension contributions for…
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How many funds should I invest in a SIPP?
Currently switching my wife's and my pension from Nest to a SIPP with Interactive Investor. How many funds would be the right amount to split it between? We have around 800k in total.
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Providers that preserve protected pension age on transfer in?
Hi all, I'm about 3 years away from retiring and I've discovered that my main DC pension with Aviva (a TK policy) doesn't provide FAD. I'd need to contact them every time I want to make a withdrawal apparently. However, it does provide a protected pension age of 55 which will be really useful. Aviva's fees aren't super…
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DB lump sum question
I am about to retire and claim my USS DB pension and will have to decide how much I want to take as a lump sum once the final quote arrives. I don't need a large lump sum as I have other savings/ISA. My instinct is to take about 50% of the lump sum offered or slightly less to use to spoil myself with a few more expensive…
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DB Pension
Hello I am 54 yrs old and will be 55 in June. I started a works pension in July 2003 which was a Final Salary pension. My company stopped the the final salary pension in July 2012 and we started a Define Benefit pension up untill Oct 2021. Then my company changed the pension again but this time you could have a 2 year…
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How to plan for arrival of 6-figure sum when deceased parents’ house is sold.
Hi all, apologies in advance for the waffle. I’m 53, married, with no children or debts. I’ve worked in local government for 25 years and earn about £36K. I’m in the LGPS and also contribute monthly to a SIPP. My wife, who is five years younger, works freelance, earns £20–25K, has limited savings, and contributes a small…
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CAN I STILL GET UP TO 25% TAX FREE?
Hi I have been retired for 4 years now, and did not take all my 25% tax free allowance when I started to take monthly payments from this pension scheme. Now that I have reached state pension age, I have stopped taking monthly payments, and would like to know if I can somehow get the remaining 25% tax free allowance which I…
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Phoenix Life
Hi there, I have just received a letter from Phoenix Life via DWP Bulk Letter Forwarding Mail Service. Firstly was unaware the DWP had a Letter Forwarding Service and unsure as to why this company is requesting I forward on my personal details. Can anyone verify if this is legit or scam attempt to upsell a policy I may…
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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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Deferred State Pension application - why the insistence re 4 Months?
I posted the completed relevant form re the above subject. Received a letter from the Wolverhampton office stating I'd applied too early. Oh, by one week. That was it - no forms returned, no advice, no personal name given by the brainiac who sent the letter (which is beyond infuriating). Fortunately I took photos of all…
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Civil Service Premium & Alpha scheme member
Hi, I have been in the Civil Service since 11/2004 and was originally in the Premium scheme but was transferred into the Alpha scheme. Like others I’m tied up in the McCloud judgement. I turned 60 in July 25 and so have 3 options, continue working, part retire or continue working. I also at 60 started to receive a private…
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Early-retirement wannabe
I would like to create a topic (don't see it at the moment - other than the NUMBER thread). Who is aiming for early retirement (or who has retired early already)? When did you begin planning and what drove the decision? What is the strategy for getting there? How much of a relative decline in income are you prepared to…
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Pension age
Hi my wife is 66 at the end of June 2026 and thinks she won't receive her state pension until September, she also thinks she won't get an interim payment for the period June to September. is that right ? Thanks Mark.
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State Pension and tax code 2026/27
Couldn't make my mind up if better in the Cutting Tax board or here but decided here. New tax codes are arriving for 2026/27. If on the full new state pension it should show 51 weeks of new rate of £241.30pw plus 1 week of old at £230.25pw. Total should therefore be £12,536. Assuming no other deductions/allowances, tax…
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Pension winding up - advise needed on tax
Friday I received a letter from an old pension scheme saying it was winding up. They have offered me a cash withdrawal to shut the account as it’s under £18000. I am 49 and could use the cash. This will for the tax year push me into the next tax bracket which is not ideal. It appears to be taxed at 20% before being paid.…
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I have been left a £50,000 inheritance, I want to add it to my pension pot.
I have just turned 64, I have a part time job earning £1,200 per month and a small HM Forces pension and a little savings. I also have a personal pension with Aegon and have a pot in the £40,000's. I have just been left a £50,000 inheritance and I want to add this to my pension pot. Seems like a straight forward thing to…
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Pension stopped
Mum's work pension didn't pay out this month. We phoned the provider and learned they'd sent a form out to her old address back in October, which obviously she hadn't returned. So that explains part of it, although we're none the wiser about why it was sent out in the first place. She's since received the form, which is a…
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State Pension taxable
I have just received 2 letters from DWP, 1 showing how much my State Pension will be from April 2026 and 2. what my tax code will be. They have stated that my State Pension will be ABOVE the personal allowance and therefore £58 of it will be taxed along with my private pension. Has anyone else had this? I understood that…
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car purchasing in retirement
looking at info on what others are doing/plan to do regarding funding car replacement during retirement. We’ll likely drop to one car next year which will need both to be sold as her’s is too small and mine is too big for the other to drive :) so how to finance. logically we should estimate how long we keep cars for and…
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Small pots v ISA ?
Hi. I have a couple of old small pension pots of no more than 5,000 pounds. I am 58. Would it be feasible to take my amount tax-free and put it in a cash ISA as he's doing little or nothing where it is. Not very pension wealthy or pension wise so will be interested in opinions. Many thanks
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