Alternative to nhs pension?

Docjames · 8 October 2017 at 11:33AM

Thanks for the consolation bigadaj. .yes. .that is what I tell myself.
Dunston. .yes. .I agree (hindsight is a great thing )
Will look into additional contributions. .One issue we doctors have is that we compare our benefits to our senior doctors who have retired and are much better off. .that will need to stop as things are different now..

bigadaj · 8 October 2017 at 1:06PM

Docjames wrote: »

Thanks for the consolation bigadaj. .yes. .that is what I tell myself.
Dunston. .yes. .I agree (hindsight is a great thing )
Will look into additional contributions. .One issue we doctors have is that we compare our benefits to our senior doctors who have retired and are much better off. .that will need to stop as things are different now..

It's probably an easy direct comparison with your predecessors or managers, but it's just a function of the U.K. And much of the developed world.

Standards of living have increased for millennia, but that increase probably stops at the baby boomers. So from generation x to Generation Y to millennials then everyone feels slightly worse off, far easier to compare with your contemporaries.

It's actually the only way to view things as it's the only valid comparator, I always remember doing a level maths and the teacher using the movement of grades by examining boards as an explanation of the bell curve and normalising statistics. So you couldn't equate an a or c grade with anyone a year or below you, but could with your cohort.

Docjames · 8 October 2017 at 5:55PM

Very true. .One place I feel that medics can have training is financial planning. .e.g most of us don't have a clue about sipp platforms and drawdowns...reading here can give a great insight along with the advice from others.

TARDIS · 8 October 2017 at 6:44PM

Docjames wrote: »

Very true. .One place I feel that medics can have training is financial planning. .e.g most of us don't have a clue about sipp platforms and drawdowns...reading here can give a great insight along with the advice from others.

To be fair the NHS pension is generous and many doctors won't need SIPPs etc due to the LTA. If you had been in the NHS scheme from 23/24 you would likely exceed LTA around 60 if you're full time. It's easy to be jealous of the previous generation, but please don't throw away what is still a good pension scheme just because it's not as good as it once was.

peter3hg · 8 October 2017 at 8:11PM

Docjames wrote: »

Thanks for the consolation bigadaj. .yes. .that is what I tell myself.
Dunston. .yes. .I agree (hindsight is a great thing )
Will look into additional contributions. .One issue we doctors have is that we compare our benefits to our senior doctors who have retired and are much better off. .that will need to stop as things are different now..

On a doctor's salary you will almost certainly hit the LTA before your retirement age (currently equivalent to £50k a year pension) so the difference in the schemes is actually largely irrelevant.
You need to look carefully at this as it might reduce the benefit of having an external private pension.
The contribution rates haven't changed in a couple of years and aren't due to be reassessed for another 4 years so your contributions will only have increased if you've had a salary increase that takes you into a higher contribution band.

MonkeyDr · 8 October 2017 at 8:51PM

I'm not convinced that these days that many doctors will "almost certainly" hit the LTA.

The 2015 scheme is CARE, with pension accruing at 1/54 of annual earnings each year (might have phrased that poorly, but you know what I mean).

Some juniors now will, for sure.

But I am nearly 40, and like many of my contemporaries I have recently started working part-time because I have young children and I'd like to see them occasionally. I also have chosen a specialty which pretty much requires a PhD, so I am still a couple of years off being a consultant. I earn less than £35k pa at present.

I'm not complaining about it. But it given that even when I become a consultant my salary will be around £75k (planning go back to full-time in a couple of years), I don't think I'll hit the £50k pa pension expectation to hit the LTA. Especially as I doubt I'll be fit enough to keep working at this intensity after 60 ish.

(for reference, if consultant salaries had kept pace with inflation from when I started medicine, the consultant starting salary would be some £20k pa higher. And pension contributions were only half as much as they are now. You can see why a) the old pension scheme was bonkers, and b) medics around our age look at those retiring now with envy)

Like the OP I am looking at SIPPs and other options to bridge the gap.

bigadaj · 9 October 2017 at 11:02AM

Medics are probably in a worse situation in terms of comparator as they see directly what previous generation had or have benefitted, in many other sectors technology and practices have changed so it's far less easy to value accurately.

However make no mistake that the same is true for almost all areas of work, apart from very senior management, such as ftse board directors.

My missus has an allotment and there's a bunch of guys there from mid 50s up who worked on a royal ordnance site. All made redundant a decade ago when it closed down, good payoff, final salary pensions, all left school at 18 or younger, there's absolutely no chance of any kid now getting anything like the same deal.

Just deal with current realities and move on, look at the benefits life has brought, and remember for millennia very few people retired, you worked and then you dropped dead, was a lot simpler.

Docjames · 9 October 2017 at 2:31PM

monkeydr,
Yes...SIPPs are what I am looking at as well..the thing is that it seems to be a vast ocean...too many choices leaves one confused...which is why I will be very grateful if the more experienced people and helpful people here would guide us through this maze...A and E seems easy compared to this:)
Doc Kylie James

paparossco · 9 October 2017 at 3:12PM

One of our ED consultants took an early retirement but came back part time doing return clinics only. All those who would thank you to leave the NHS scheme would not want to have you carrying the arrest page at 68 the night they chose to have their MI

stoozie1 · 9 October 2017 at 4:20PM

we have a Fidelity SIPP each, but I feel that saying what it's invested in won't be very useful to you as it's 100% equities, and I know that's a route you wanted to avoid.

Alternative to nhs pension?

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