In my 30 years experience I have found that if you are in a good final salary pension then you should have sufficient enough income to live comfortably.
Certainly all the Doctors I know who retire on c£40k-£50k pa have excess income every month......and thats before they get the State Pension.
I generally find that c£20k annual pension (before the State one) should be adequate enough to live on. Should you want 3 holidays a year then you'll probably need more. But I find most peoples day-to-day expenditure is usually no more than £1k pm. Add in holiday spending money, season tickets & take always then £1500pm is usually well ok.
A lot of people wont have anywhere near this, but I do find many people over estimate how much they do need in retirement & I'm often saying to clients to retire earlier than they plan and to not work until they drop just because they fear not having enough money in retirement.
More savings if you live in a London Borough with the 60+ Oyster card Free transport in London. A third of rail fares. My journey to Heathrow is free on the Elizabeth line.
And free prescriptions!
Guessing you meant 'a third off rail fares' (assuming this refers to trains outside of London) is this actually correct? I've had a quick look and can't see any mention of it.
Elizabeth line back from Heathrow is very handy, pity Gatwick is just outside the zone but you only have to buy a ticket from/to East Croydon.
In my 30 years experience I have found that if you are in a good final salary pension then you should have sufficient enough income to live comfortably.
Certainly all the Doctors I know who retire on c£40k-£50k pa have excess income every month......and thats before they get the State Pension.
I generally find that c£20k annual pension (before the State one) should be adequate enough to live on. Should you want 3 holidays a year then you'll probably need more. But I find most peoples day-to-day expenditure is usually no more than £1k pm. Add in holiday spending money, season tickets & take always then £1500pm is usually well ok.
A lot of people wont have anywhere near this, but I do find many people over estimate how much they do need in retirement & I'm often saying to clients to retire earlier than they plan and to not work until they drop just because they fear not having enough money in retirement.
More savings if you live in a London Borough with the 60+ Oyster card Free transport in London. A third of rail fares. My journey to Heathrow is free on the Elizabeth line.
And free prescriptions!
Guessing you meant 'a third off rail fares' (assuming this refers to trains outside of London) is this actually correct? I've had a quick look and can't see any mention of it.
Elizabeth line back from Heathrow is very handy, pity Gatwick is just outside the zone but you only have to buy a ticket from/to East Croydon.
In my 30 years experience I have found that if you are in a good final salary pension then you should have sufficient enough income to live comfortably.
Certainly all the Doctors I know who retire on c£40k-£50k pa have excess income every month......and thats before they get the State Pension.
I generally find that c£20k annual pension (before the State one) should be adequate enough to live on. Should you want 3 holidays a year then you'll probably need more. But I find most peoples day-to-day expenditure is usually no more than £1k pm. Add in holiday spending money, season tickets & take always then £1500pm is usually well ok.
A lot of people wont have anywhere near this, but I do find many people over estimate how much they do need in retirement & I'm often saying to clients to retire earlier than they plan and to not work until they drop just because they fear not having enough money in retirement.
More savings if you live in a London Borough with the 60+ Oyster card Free transport in London. A third of rail fares. My journey to Heathrow is free on the Elizabeth line.
And free prescriptions!
Guessing you meant 'a third off rail fares' (assuming this refers to trains outside of London) is this actually correct? I've had a quick look and can't see any mention of it.
Elizabeth line back from Heathrow is very handy, pity Gatwick is just outside the zone but you only have to buy a ticket from/to East Croydon.
My mistake, thought you were referring to benefits of the 60+ Oyster card
I think its my mistake as re-reading my poorly worded post it should have gone on to mention the senor railcard and of course added an extra F (unless it F’d off by prescriptive text). 🤓
Golfie (and any others ITK): 2 NHS pension questions for you please:
1. Do the pension benefits showing in my TRS stay the same even if I stop working now? As I understand it, the figures represent the current value of the cash sums and annual pension based on contributions made to date. I'm planning to stop working by resigning and living off savings at age 58 until the pension pays at age 60 (1995 scheme) and 67 (2015 scheme). The figures go up annually based on my earnings & pension contributions each year so am I right to assume those figures will simply stay as they are if I am no longer earning/contributing? Makes sense to me but I didn't want to wrongly assume that and make an ill-informed 'retirement' decision.
2. Have you seen any cases relating to the McCleod judgement where staff have been given the figures to take that part of their NHS pension at age 60 rather than stick to age 67? Does choosing the age 60 option involve substantial loss of pension benefits for taking it 'early'?
I have no idea about NHS pensions but can talk about more generally. Firstly future pension benefits (and should be quoted as a forecast) would generally rise. Normally by the lower of CPI and either 5% or 2.5%. The second point is a little known fact that is rarely known. Normally you can retire early and get your pension early but you will get a reduced pension calculated by "discount factors". A key point here is that discount factors apply in most DB schemes are different if you retire from working than if you retire from being a deferred member. For instance a scheme i was in had a normal retirement age of 65, I left at 55 (redundancy)and I worked out that I was actually better off taking my pension at 55 than I would have been having taking it at 60, which was my planned retirement age. Strange but true.
As I say I know nothing about NHS schemes, but suggest proper advice is needed unless that scheme is totally inflexible!
Any interesting funds to raise here at the moment, following performance over the past year or so?
Shame Royal London Global Equity is now a closed fund, as it's been my main performer.
I'm sticking with cash for 2024. When I can still get 5.7% for a one year fix with a proper name like Investec (as opposed to Al-Khazi or whatever obscure name Raisin comes up with next) I don't feel much need to return to equity growth funds. Too much geo-political risk out there for my liking.
Golfie (and any others ITK): 2 NHS pension questions for you please:
1. Do the pension benefits showing in my TRS stay the same even if I stop working now? As I understand it, the figures represent the current value of the cash sums and annual pension based on contributions made to date. I'm planning to stop working by resigning and living off savings at age 58 until the pension pays at age 60 (1995 scheme) and 67 (2015 scheme). The figures go up annually based on my earnings & pension contributions each year so am I right to assume those figures will simply stay as they are if I am no longer earning/contributing? Makes sense to me but I didn't want to wrongly assume that and make an ill-informed 'retirement' decision.
2. Have you seen any cases relating to the McCleod judgement where staff have been given the figures to take that part of their NHS pension at age 60 rather than stick to age 67? Does choosing the age 60 option involve substantial loss of pension benefits for taking it 'early'?
Golfie (and any others ITK): 2 NHS pension questions for you please:
1. Do the pension benefits showing in my TRS stay the same even if I stop working now? As I understand it, the figures represent the current value of the cash sums and annual pension based on contributions made to date. I'm planning to stop working by resigning and living off savings at age 58 until the pension pays at age 60 (1995 scheme) and 67 (2015 scheme). The figures go up annually based on my earnings & pension contributions each year so am I right to assume those figures will simply stay as they are if I am no longer earning/contributing? Makes sense to me but I didn't want to wrongly assume that and make an ill-informed 'retirement' decision.
2. Have you seen any cases relating to the McCleod judgement where staff have been given the figures to take that part of their NHS pension at age 60 rather than stick to age 67? Does choosing the age 60 option involve substantial loss of pension benefits for taking it 'early'?
Firstly, sorry I missed that you posted this a few days ago. To answer your points :
Your NHS Pension will be based on your leaving salary - in fact the best year out of the last 3. After age 55 your "deferred" pension should increase in line with CPI (Public sector schemes use the previous Septembers figures - so an increase in April next year will be based on September this years figure)
The McCloud Remedy is only now being "rolled-out" and I believe its starting with those already retired and retiring now. For everyone else figures wont be available until next April-ish. As a reminder, the McCloud Remedy is basically saying that you shouldn't have been put into the 2015 scheme in 2015 and so the NHS are having to recalculate your Pension as if you had stayed in the 1995 scheme until 2022. They are preparing figures for these 7 years and once done they will let you know what they are & for you to decide whether you want your 1995 scheme to be uprated with these figures or to stay with the original 2015 figures that you receive as part of your Total Rewards Statement. Knowing the NHS Schemes as I do I would say that in 99% of cases it will best to have your 1995 scheme uprated with the past 7 years rather than stay with the 2015 scheme from its inception in, er, 2015. Originally they said that these new figures would be given at retirement, but from recent things I've read I believe they will be given to you next October - but I've not seen/heard anything concrete.
Now, not wishing to stray into giving advice here so I will try to keep this non-specific. Both the 1995 & 2015 schemes have actuarial reductions for taking the respective benefits early. For the 1995 scheme its approx 4%pa for the pension & 3% for the lump sum. For the 2015 scheme, if you took it at age 60 along with your 1995 scheme then you are likely to lose around 22% - although I believe these figures are about to change due to new actuarial factors.
I would suggest that as you are likely to now have a much greater proportion of your pension in the 1995 scheme that taking the 2015 scheme early wont be too much of a factor.
Golfie (and any others ITK): 2 NHS pension questions for you please:
1. Do the pension benefits showing in my TRS stay the same even if I stop working now? As I understand it, the figures represent the current value of the cash sums and annual pension based on contributions made to date. I'm planning to stop working by resigning and living off savings at age 58 until the pension pays at age 60 (1995 scheme) and 67 (2015 scheme). The figures go up annually based on my earnings & pension contributions each year so am I right to assume those figures will simply stay as they are if I am no longer earning/contributing? Makes sense to me but I didn't want to wrongly assume that and make an ill-informed 'retirement' decision.
2. Have you seen any cases relating to the McCleod judgement where staff have been given the figures to take that part of their NHS pension at age 60 rather than stick to age 67? Does choosing the age 60 option involve substantial loss of pension benefits for taking it 'early'?
Firstly, sorry I missed that you posted this a few days ago. To answer your points :
Your NHS Pension will be based on your leaving salary - in fact the best year out of the last 3. After age 55 your "deferred" pension should increase in line with CPI (Public sector schemes use the previous Septembers figures - so an increase in April next year will be based on September this years figure)
The McCloud Remedy is only now being "rolled-out" and I believe its starting with those already retired and retiring now. For everyone else figures wont be available until next April-ish. As a reminder, the McCloud Remedy is basically saying that you shouldn't have been put into the 2015 scheme in 2015 and so the NHS are having to recalculate your Pension as if you had stayed in the 1995 scheme until 2022. They are preparing figures for these 7 years and once done they will let you know what they are & for you to decide whether you want your 1995 scheme to be uprated with these figures or to stay with the original 2015 figures that you receive as part of your Total Rewards Statement. Knowing the NHS Schemes as I do I would say that in 99% of cases it will best to have your 1995 scheme uprated with the past 7 years rather than stay with the 2015 scheme from its inception in, er, 2015. Originally they said that these new figures would be given at retirement, but from recent things I've read I believe they will be given to you next October - but I've not seen/heard anything concrete.
Now, not wishing to stray into giving advice here so I will try to keep this non-specific. Both the 1995 & 2015 schemes have actuarial reductions for taking the respective benefits early. For the 1995 scheme its approx 4%pa for the pension & 3% for the lump sum. For the 2015 scheme, if you took it at age 60 along with your 1995 scheme then you are likely to lose around 22% - although I believe these figures are about to change due to new actuarial factors.
I would suggest that as you are likely to now have a much greater proportion of your pension in the 1995 scheme that taking the 2015 scheme early wont be too much of a factor.
Hope this helps
Thanks Colin, much appreciated info. Looking at my TRS, the pension benefits are actually almost identical between the 1995 and 2015 schemes @ approx £12,500 pension pa in each albeit I’ve been in the former for 12 years and (currently) 8 years the latter. I suspect I will need advice from you early next year as the clock ticks nearer to me needing to make sure that I have not overlooked anything important before making the decision to retire early/resign next Christmas at age 58.5. I’ll be in touch then if that’s ok and maybe we could meet up again. Your guidance when we met last year was really helpful. It’s a bit of a minefield, isn’t it?! Thanks again.
Golfie (and any others ITK): 2 NHS pension questions for you please:
1. Do the pension benefits showing in my TRS stay the same even if I stop working now? As I understand it, the figures represent the current value of the cash sums and annual pension based on contributions made to date. I'm planning to stop working by resigning and living off savings at age 58 until the pension pays at age 60 (1995 scheme) and 67 (2015 scheme). The figures go up annually based on my earnings & pension contributions each year so am I right to assume those figures will simply stay as they are if I am no longer earning/contributing? Makes sense to me but I didn't want to wrongly assume that and make an ill-informed 'retirement' decision.
2. Have you seen any cases relating to the McCleod judgement where staff have been given the figures to take that part of their NHS pension at age 60 rather than stick to age 67? Does choosing the age 60 option involve substantial loss of pension benefits for taking it 'early'?
Firstly, sorry I missed that you posted this a few days ago. To answer your points :
Your NHS Pension will be based on your leaving salary - in fact the best year out of the last 3. After age 55 your "deferred" pension should increase in line with CPI (Public sector schemes use the previous Septembers figures - so an increase in April next year will be based on September this years figure)
The McCloud Remedy is only now being "rolled-out" and I believe its starting with those already retired and retiring now. For everyone else figures wont be available until next April-ish. As a reminder, the McCloud Remedy is basically saying that you shouldn't have been put into the 2015 scheme in 2015 and so the NHS are having to recalculate your Pension as if you had stayed in the 1995 scheme until 2022. They are preparing figures for these 7 years and once done they will let you know what they are & for you to decide whether you want your 1995 scheme to be uprated with these figures or to stay with the original 2015 figures that you receive as part of your Total Rewards Statement. Knowing the NHS Schemes as I do I would say that in 99% of cases it will best to have your 1995 scheme uprated with the past 7 years rather than stay with the 2015 scheme from its inception in, er, 2015. Originally they said that these new figures would be given at retirement, but from recent things I've read I believe they will be given to you next October - but I've not seen/heard anything concrete.
Now, not wishing to stray into giving advice here so I will try to keep this non-specific. Both the 1995 & 2015 schemes have actuarial reductions for taking the respective benefits early. For the 1995 scheme its approx 4%pa for the pension & 3% for the lump sum. For the 2015 scheme, if you took it at age 60 along with your 1995 scheme then you are likely to lose around 22% - although I believe these figures are about to change due to new actuarial factors.
I would suggest that as you are likely to now have a much greater proportion of your pension in the 1995 scheme that taking the 2015 scheme early wont be too much of a factor.
Hope this helps
Thanks Colin, much appreciated info. Looking at my TRS, the pension benefits are actually almost identical between the 1995 and 2015 schemes @ approx £12,500 pension pa in each albeit I’ve been in the former for 12 years and (currently) 8 years the latter. I suspect I will need advice from you early next year as the clock ticks nearer to me needing to make sure that I have not overlooked anything important before making the decision to retire early/resign next Christmas at age 58.5. I’ll be in touch then if that’s ok and maybe we could meet up again. Your guidance when we met last year was really helpful. It’s a bit of a minefield, isn’t it?! Thanks again.
Happy to help when & where I can. Just remember though, after adjusting for the McCloud Remedy you'll have 19 years in the 1995 scheme and by this time next year less than 3 years in the 2015 scheme. It might not make the overall annual pension figure that much different but you will have a greater tax-free lump sum, as well as being able to take most of your pension at age 60 not 67.
Golfie (and any others ITK): 2 NHS pension questions for you please:
1. Do the pension benefits showing in my TRS stay the same even if I stop working now? As I understand it, the figures represent the current value of the cash sums and annual pension based on contributions made to date. I'm planning to stop working by resigning and living off savings at age 58 until the pension pays at age 60 (1995 scheme) and 67 (2015 scheme). The figures go up annually based on my earnings & pension contributions each year so am I right to assume those figures will simply stay as they are if I am no longer earning/contributing? Makes sense to me but I didn't want to wrongly assume that and make an ill-informed 'retirement' decision.
2. Have you seen any cases relating to the McCleod judgement where staff have been given the figures to take that part of their NHS pension at age 60 rather than stick to age 67? Does choosing the age 60 option involve substantial loss of pension benefits for taking it 'early'?
Firstly, sorry I missed that you posted this a few days ago. To answer your points :
Your NHS Pension will be based on your leaving salary - in fact the best year out of the last 3. After age 55 your "deferred" pension should increase in line with CPI (Public sector schemes use the previous Septembers figures - so an increase in April next year will be based on September this years figure)
The McCloud Remedy is only now being "rolled-out" and I believe its starting with those already retired and retiring now. For everyone else figures wont be available until next April-ish. As a reminder, the McCloud Remedy is basically saying that you shouldn't have been put into the 2015 scheme in 2015 and so the NHS are having to recalculate your Pension as if you had stayed in the 1995 scheme until 2022. They are preparing figures for these 7 years and once done they will let you know what they are & for you to decide whether you want your 1995 scheme to be uprated with these figures or to stay with the original 2015 figures that you receive as part of your Total Rewards Statement. Knowing the NHS Schemes as I do I would say that in 99% of cases it will best to have your 1995 scheme uprated with the past 7 years rather than stay with the 2015 scheme from its inception in, er, 2015. Originally they said that these new figures would be given at retirement, but from recent things I've read I believe they will be given to you next October - but I've not seen/heard anything concrete.
Now, not wishing to stray into giving advice here so I will try to keep this non-specific. Both the 1995 & 2015 schemes have actuarial reductions for taking the respective benefits early. For the 1995 scheme its approx 4%pa for the pension & 3% for the lump sum. For the 2015 scheme, if you took it at age 60 along with your 1995 scheme then you are likely to lose around 22% - although I believe these figures are about to change due to new actuarial factors.
I would suggest that as you are likely to now have a much greater proportion of your pension in the 1995 scheme that taking the 2015 scheme early wont be too much of a factor.
Hope this helps
Thanks Colin, much appreciated info. Looking at my TRS, the pension benefits are actually almost identical between the 1995 and 2015 schemes @ approx £12,500 pension pa in each albeit I’ve been in the former for 12 years and (currently) 8 years the latter. I suspect I will need advice from you early next year as the clock ticks nearer to me needing to make sure that I have not overlooked anything important before making the decision to retire early/resign next Christmas at age 58.5. I’ll be in touch then if that’s ok and maybe we could meet up again. Your guidance when we met last year was really helpful. It’s a bit of a minefield, isn’t it?! Thanks again.
Happy to help when & where I can. Just remember though, after adjusting for the McCloud Remedy you'll have 19 years in the 1995 scheme and by this time next year less than 3 years in the 2015 scheme. It might not make the overall annual pension figure that much different but you will have a greater tax-free lump sum, as well as being able to take most of your pension at age 60 not 67.edt
True. It will be interesting to see the McCloud remedy figures as I suspect the 2015 benefits will be substantially lower. We will see. October is a bit tight to find out and give instructions for benefits to be paid out Dec 24.
Anyone else's pension/ISA at an all time high again? Mine seems to have picked up again massively this month, up over 8% so far for November. Just wish I'd put more in the S&P500 which is up just over 21% in a little over a year
Anyone else's pension/ISA at an all time high again? Mine seems to have picked up again massively this month, up over 8% so far for November. Just wish I'd put more in the S&P500 which is up just over 21% in a little over a year
I track the markets daily & the last 10 days (apart from thursday) has shown some good positive movement, although I would say more 5% than 8%. My SIPP is close to it's all time high & recently I reduced my Bond exposure & increased my holdings global equities. Probably now closer to 75%/25% split in favour of equities.
Anyone else's pension/ISA at an all time high again? Mine seems to have picked up again massively this month, up over 8% so far for November. Just wish I'd put more in the S&P500 which is up just over 21% in a little over a year
I track the markets daily & the last 10 days (apart from thursday) has shown some good positive movement, although I would say more 5% than 8%. My SIPP is close to it's all time high & recently I reduced my Bond exposure & increased my holdings global equities. Probably now closer to 75%/25% split in favour of equities.
Anyone else's pension/ISA at an all time high again? Mine seems to have picked up again massively this month, up over 8% so far for November. Just wish I'd put more in the S&P500 which is up just over 21% in a little over a year
I track the markets daily & the last 10 days (apart from thursday) has shown some good positive movement, although I would say more 5% than 8%. My SIPP is close to it's all time high & recently I reduced my Bond exposure & increased my holdings global equities. Probably now closer to 75%/25% split in favour of equities.
I'm heavier than 75/25 on split, more 85-90/15-10, I have no bonds alone funds but part of things like Vanguard lifestrategy 80. I have a large holing in the S&P500 which has performed very well, as has my FTSE Developed Europe UCITS ETF and my FTSE Japan UCITS ETF fund
On the back of inflation starting to fall more sharply and, by implication, interest rates peaking with eventual cuts a step closer, I am looking at blue chip cumulative pref shares to provide a decent yield for which I don't have to tie up funds for a long period, with the prospect of some capital increase if/when rates fall. The spreads are generally quite wide, but not in every case. Does anyone have experience of this as an investment? Aside from the potential lack of liquidity and the initial spread, I cant see where my thinking falls down.
Anyone else's pension/ISA at an all time high again? Mine seems to have picked up again massively this month, up over 8% so far for November. Just wish I'd put more in the S&P500 which is up just over 21% in a little over a year
Speaking of peaking interest rates, I’m starting to see the signs in 1 year fixed deals. I have one maturing with Investec on 4. December. Until a couple of weeks ago they offered a new one at 5.76 but now its down to 5.3%. Fortunately the other one at exactly that rate which I have an account with is Secure Trust Bank, and that is still on offer. Secure Trust was new to me, @bobmunro was able to reassure with some background on them. Indeed their customer service is old school in the best way. I was puzzled to see that the bond matures on a fixed date, regardless of when you invest. I rang their helpline. It was answered almost immediately by a helpful young guy who explained clearly that if I invest earlier than the 3rd Jan maturity date, I will indeed get pro rata more than 12months interest. When I politely asked if he could say when it might be pulled, because of my wait for the incoming cash, he of course said he could not, but that I have 30 days to fund it, so I can open it nowish. Top service in this category. If you too are looking for a 1 year fix, I’d look no further. And if you think you can guarantee to get more than 5.8% from the equity markets in the next 12 months, you’re a braver mug punter than me😉
Speaking of peaking interest rates, I’m starting to see the signs in 1 year fixed deals. I have one maturing with Investec on 4. December. Until a couple of weeks ago they offered a new one at 5.76 but now its down to 5.3%. Fortunately the other one at exactly that rate which I have an account with is Secure Trust Bank, and that is still on offer. Secure Trust was new to me, @bobmunro was able to reassure with some background on them. Indeed their customer service is old school in the best way. I was puzzled to see that the bond matures on a fixed date, regardless of when you invest. I rang their helpline. It was answered almost immediately by a helpful young guy who explained clearly that if I invest earlier than the 3rd Jan maturity date, I will indeed get pro rata more than 12months interest. When I politely asked if he could say when it might be pulled, because of my wait for the incoming cash, he of course said he could not, but that I have 30 days to fund it, so I can open it nowish. Top service in this category. If you too are looking for a 1 year fix, I’d look no further. And if you think you can guarantee to get more than 5.8% from the equity markets in the next 12 months, you’re a braver mug punter than me😉
Metro bank is currently offering 5.91% for a 12 month fix, but that might not be everyone's choice
Speaking of peaking interest rates, I’m starting to see the signs in 1 year fixed deals. I have one maturing with Investec on 4. December. Until a couple of weeks ago they offered a new one at 5.76 but now it's down to 5.3%. Fortunately the other one at exactly that rate which I have an account with is Secure Trust Bank, and that is still on offer. Secure Trust was new to me, @bobmunro was able to reassure with some background on them. Indeed their customer service is old school in the best way. I was puzzled to see that the bond matures on a fixed date, regardless of when you invest. I rang their helpline. It was answered almost immediately by a helpful young guy who explained clearly that if I invest earlier than the 3rd Jan maturity date, I will indeed get pro rata more than 12months interest. When I politely asked if he could say when it might be pulled, because of my wait for the incoming cash, he of course said he could not, but that I have 30 days to fund it, so I can open it nowish. Top service in this category. If you too are looking for a 1 year fix, I’d look no further. And if you think you can guarantee to get more than 5.8% from the equity markets in the next 12 months, you’re a braver mug punter than me😉
I think it depends so much on time of life, what else you have, tax position etc. At 25/30 you may be able to afford more 'punts' and invest more heavily in the Stockmarket (in say a SIPP) as you have more time to ride out the highs and lows and the tax relief may be beneficial. In your 60's and beyond security and safe but steady is more likely the way to go, although even then if you have a decent sized portfolio it's likely worthwhile having a % in more risky investments than cash in the bank. I still invest fairly heavily in the markets in my SIPP, despite being into my 50's now I take the view that due to tax I'm up 40% already so can afford the highs and lows and the risk is actually quite minimal, although I do buy less individual shares than I used to,
Ultimately what I have learnt as I age is it's all well and good chasing the top top interest rate, more salary, or the fund or whatever it may be, but you also need to be doing it for a reason, what is it you are going to use the money for, my father in law is a prime example, a simple man (re material things) in many respects who never earned big salaries (was a steel engineer and then a bus driver). Yet he managed to save a not to shabby amount in pension and savings, yet seems to never want to spend much of it and will chase that extra 0.2% in a savings account to make £10 more - but for what? It took me 3 years to persuade him to blow £50 a month on sky to watch all the sport he absolutely loves rather than pop around ours to catch the odd bit.
Plan to save but also save to spend is my Moto! As an intelligent man once said, we only get one go around I reckon, may as well make the most of it (or words to that effect).
Anyone else's pension/ISA at an all time high again? Mine seems to have picked up again massively this month, up over 8% so far for November. Just wish I'd put more in the S&P500 which is up just over 21% in a little over a year
I track the markets daily & the last 10 days (apart from thursday) has shown some good positive movement, although I would say more 5% than 8%. My SIPP is close to it's all time high & recently I reduced my Bond exposure & increased my holdings global equities. Probably now closer to 75%/25% split in favour of equities.
Speaking of peaking interest rates, I’m starting to see the signs in 1 year fixed deals. I have one maturing with Investec on 4. December. Until a couple of weeks ago they offered a new one at 5.76 but now its down to 5.3%. Fortunately the other one at exactly that rate which I have an account with is Secure Trust Bank, and that is still on offer. Secure Trust was new to me, @bobmunro was able to reassure with some background on them. Indeed their customer service is old school in the best way. I was puzzled to see that the bond matures on a fixed date, regardless of when you invest. I rang their helpline. It was answered almost immediately by a helpful young guy who explained clearly that if I invest earlier than the 3rd Jan maturity date, I will indeed get pro rata more than 12months interest. When I politely asked if he could say when it might be pulled, because of my wait for the incoming cash, he of course said he could not, but that I have 30 days to fund it, so I can open it nowish. Top service in this category. If you too are looking for a 1 year fix, I’d look no further. And if you think you can guarantee to get more than 5.8% from the equity markets in the next 12 months, you’re a braver mug punter than me😉
There has been a couple of really good Structured Products that I've been advising clients these past few months.
Deposit based ones so no risk to capital & a couple are FSCS protected too, although the ones that aren't are backed by Barclays so if they go bust then we are all fucked. One was paying 7%pa for 6 years, and another paying 7.5%pa over 5 years, assuming the FTSE100 doesn't fall by more than 5% over that time.
What clients have been doing is transferring money from their ISA's but still keeping it within an ISA wrapper - then when the Plan matures they simply transfer the money back into their ISA, thus keeping the gains tax-free.
Really a hedge against the markets, and as @PragueAddick says, I couldn't really give any guarantees as to what their S&S ISA's would return over the next 5 years and at least I don't lose that money to the Banks as clients were rightfully thinking that perhaps they should be putting money into Cash ISA instead of their S&S ones.
Comments
1. Do the pension benefits showing in my TRS stay the same even if I stop working now? As I understand it, the figures represent the current value of the cash sums and annual pension based on contributions made to date. I'm planning to stop working by resigning and living off savings at age 58 until the pension pays at age 60 (1995 scheme) and 67 (2015 scheme). The figures go up annually based on my earnings & pension contributions each year so am I right to assume those figures will simply stay as they are if I am no longer earning/contributing? Makes sense to me but I didn't want to wrongly assume that and make an ill-informed 'retirement' decision.
2. Have you seen any cases relating to the McCleod judgement where staff have been given the figures to take that part of their NHS pension at age 60 rather than stick to age 67? Does choosing the age 60 option involve substantial loss of pension benefits for taking it 'early'?
Firstly future pension benefits (and should be quoted as a forecast) would generally rise. Normally by the lower of CPI and either 5% or 2.5%.
The second point is a little known fact that is rarely known. Normally you can retire early and get your pension early but you will get a reduced pension calculated by "discount factors". A key point here is that discount factors apply in most DB schemes are different if you retire from working than if you retire from being a deferred member. For instance a scheme i was in had a normal retirement age of 65, I left at 55 (redundancy)and I worked out that I was actually better off taking my pension at 55 than I would have been having taking it at 60, which was my planned retirement age. Strange but true.
As I say I know nothing about NHS schemes, but suggest proper advice is needed unless that scheme is totally inflexible!
Shame Royal London Global Equity is now a closed fund, as it's been my main performer.
1. Do the pension benefits showing in my TRS stay the same even if I stop working now? As I understand it, the figures represent the current value of the cash sums and annual pension based on contributions made to date. I'm planning to stop working by resigning and living off savings at age 58 until the pension pays at age 60 (1995 scheme) and 67 (2015 scheme). The figures go up annually based on my earnings & pension contributions each year so am I right to assume those figures will simply stay as they are if I am no longer earning/contributing? Makes sense to me but I didn't want to wrongly assume that and make an ill-informed 'retirement' decision.
2. Have you seen any cases relating to the McCleod judgement where staff have been given the figures to take that part of their NHS pension at age 60 rather than stick to age 67? Does choosing the age 60 option involve substantial loss of pension benefits for taking it 'early'?
Your NHS Pension will be based on your leaving salary - in fact the best year out of the last 3. After age 55 your "deferred" pension should increase in line with CPI (Public sector schemes use the previous Septembers figures - so an increase in April next year will be based on September this years figure)
The McCloud Remedy is only now being "rolled-out" and I believe its starting with those already retired and retiring now. For everyone else figures wont be available until next April-ish. As a reminder, the McCloud Remedy is basically saying that you shouldn't have been put into the 2015 scheme in 2015 and so the NHS are having to recalculate your Pension as if you had stayed in the 1995 scheme until 2022. They are preparing figures for these 7 years and once done they will let you know what they are & for you to decide whether you want your 1995 scheme to be uprated with these figures or to stay with the original 2015 figures that you receive as part of your Total Rewards Statement. Knowing the NHS Schemes as I do I would say that in 99% of cases it will best to have your 1995 scheme uprated with the past 7 years rather than stay with the 2015 scheme from its inception in, er, 2015. Originally they said that these new figures would be given at retirement, but from recent things I've read I believe they will be given to you next October - but I've not seen/heard anything concrete.
Now, not wishing to stray into giving advice here so I will try to keep this non-specific. Both the 1995 & 2015 schemes have actuarial reductions for taking the respective benefits early. For the 1995 scheme its approx 4%pa for the pension & 3% for the lump sum. For the 2015 scheme, if you took it at age 60 along with your 1995 scheme then you are likely to lose around 22% - although I believe these figures are about to change due to new actuarial factors.
I would suggest that as you are likely to now have a much greater proportion of your pension in the 1995 scheme that taking the 2015 scheme early wont be too much of a factor.
Hope this helps
😉
At least my portfolio is at an all time high ...
Ultimately what I have learnt as I age is it's all well and good chasing the top top interest rate, more salary, or the fund or whatever it may be, but you also need to be doing it for a reason, what is it you are going to use the money for, my father in law is a prime example, a simple man (re material things) in many respects who never earned big salaries (was a steel engineer and then a bus driver). Yet he managed to save a not to shabby amount in pension and savings, yet seems to never want to spend much of it and will chase that extra 0.2% in a savings account to make £10 more - but for what? It took me 3 years to persuade him to blow £50 a month on sky to watch all the sport he absolutely loves rather than pop around ours to catch the odd bit.
Plan to save but also save to spend is my Moto! As an intelligent man once said, we only get one go around I reckon, may as well make the most of it (or words to that effect).
Royal London Global Equity Income
Deposit based ones so no risk to capital & a couple are FSCS protected too, although the ones that aren't are backed by Barclays so if they go bust then we are all fucked. One was paying 7%pa for 6 years, and another paying 7.5%pa over 5 years, assuming the FTSE100 doesn't fall by more than 5% over that time.
What clients have been doing is transferring money from their ISA's but still keeping it within an ISA wrapper - then when the Plan matures they simply transfer the money back into their ISA, thus keeping the gains tax-free.
Really a hedge against the markets, and as @PragueAddick says, I couldn't really give any guarantees as to what their S&S ISA's would return over the next 5 years and at least I don't lose that money to the Banks as clients were rightfully thinking that perhaps they should be putting money into Cash ISA instead of their S&S ones.