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Savings and Investments thread
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Thanks Golfie. It’s hard to swallow the need to pay in for 42 years when you consider I have been paying NI of £452 every month for many, many years and full NI every month for 38 years. Feels like I have more than justified £179.60 per week. I must be contributing more than 80% of the workforce do and yet they, currently, will receive more than I would!golfaddick said:
An even fuller answer. The basic state pension is based on "contracted in" service. By being in an DB scheme your employers have "guaranteed" a certain level of pension income & thus you are "contracted out" of part of the state pension. The lines have been blurred due to the change in the state pension & it now being "all compassing" - whereas in years gone past it was split between "basic" " contracted in" & even "graduated". Remember SERPS & contracting out.RaplhMilne said:
NatWest was almost certainly Final Salary and DB scheme hence they would have contracted you out. You have to have full number of years contracted in, to get max pension.meldrew66 said:State Pension query: Despite having 38 ‘Full Years’ of NI contributions and no gaps, why is it that the forecast says I need to pay in for another 4 years to achieve the maximum state pension, currently £179.60? It says I currently would get £159 which is a significant reduction over a year/retirement lifetime. That would mean I will have paid in for 42 full years against the requirement to pay in for 30 full years. I checked my NHS payslip and that even confirms my NI Contribution code as ‘A’ which means I am not contracted out. Prior to joining the NHS, I worked for Natwest for 18 years solid and was part of their non-contributory pension scheme.
Bit worrying as I plan to retire in just over 3 years time at the age of 58.
I phoned the Government Pensions department who aren’t willing to talk to me about it because I am not close enough to retirement.
Help? Reassurance? Any similar experience of this anyone? Suggested solution? Does it sound right to you?0 -
But in addition to the basic state pension you will have the benefit of an inflation linked lifetime pension which I imagine, based on 18 years service with a High Street bank, will be approx 1/3 of your then salary. Many many people of your age didnt have the option to join a Company pension, certainly not a DB one.meldrew66 said:
Thanks Golfie. It’s hard to swallow the need to pay in for 42 years when you consider I have been paying NI of £452 every month for many, many years and full NI every month for 38 years. Feels like I have more than justified £179.60 per week. I must be contributing more than 80% of the workforce do and yet they, currently, will receive more than I would!golfaddick said:
An even fuller answer. The basic state pension is based on "contracted in" service. By being in an DB scheme your employers have "guaranteed" a certain level of pension income & thus you are "contracted out" of part of the state pension. The lines have been blurred due to the change in the state pension & it now being "all compassing" - whereas in years gone past it was split between "basic" " contracted in" & even "graduated". Remember SERPS & contracting out.RaplhMilne said:
NatWest was almost certainly Final Salary and DB scheme hence they would have contracted you out. You have to have full number of years contracted in, to get max pension.meldrew66 said:State Pension query: Despite having 38 ‘Full Years’ of NI contributions and no gaps, why is it that the forecast says I need to pay in for another 4 years to achieve the maximum state pension, currently £179.60? It says I currently would get £159 which is a significant reduction over a year/retirement lifetime. That would mean I will have paid in for 42 full years against the requirement to pay in for 30 full years. I checked my NHS payslip and that even confirms my NI Contribution code as ‘A’ which means I am not contracted out. Prior to joining the NHS, I worked for Natwest for 18 years solid and was part of their non-contributory pension scheme.
Bit worrying as I plan to retire in just over 3 years time at the age of 58.
I phoned the Government Pensions department who aren’t willing to talk to me about it because I am not close enough to retirement.
Help? Reassurance? Any similar experience of this anyone? Suggested solution? Does it sound right to you?1 -
Don't forget when you 'opted out' you paid a lower rate of NI, used to be around 1.6% less.meldrew66 said:
Thanks Golfie. It’s hard to swallow the need to pay in for 42 years when you consider I have been paying NI of £452 every month for many, many years and full NI every month for 38 years. Feels like I have more than justified £179.60 per week. I must be contributing more than 80% of the workforce do and yet they, currently, will receive more than I would!golfaddick said:
An even fuller answer. The basic state pension is based on "contracted in" service. By being in an DB scheme your employers have "guaranteed" a certain level of pension income & thus you are "contracted out" of part of the state pension. The lines have been blurred due to the change in the state pension & it now being "all compassing" - whereas in years gone past it was split between "basic" " contracted in" & even "graduated". Remember SERPS & contracting out.RaplhMilne said:
NatWest was almost certainly Final Salary and DB scheme hence they would have contracted you out. You have to have full number of years contracted in, to get max pension.meldrew66 said:State Pension query: Despite having 38 ‘Full Years’ of NI contributions and no gaps, why is it that the forecast says I need to pay in for another 4 years to achieve the maximum state pension, currently £179.60? It says I currently would get £159 which is a significant reduction over a year/retirement lifetime. That would mean I will have paid in for 42 full years against the requirement to pay in for 30 full years. I checked my NHS payslip and that even confirms my NI Contribution code as ‘A’ which means I am not contracted out. Prior to joining the NHS, I worked for Natwest for 18 years solid and was part of their non-contributory pension scheme.
Bit worrying as I plan to retire in just over 3 years time at the age of 58.
I phoned the Government Pensions department who aren’t willing to talk to me about it because I am not close enough to retirement.
Help? Reassurance? Any similar experience of this anyone? Suggested solution? Does it sound right to you?0 -
....true but the amount of NI I have paid is still substantially more than most of the UK workforce are paying. It is what it is I guess.Rob7Lee said:
Don't forget when you 'opted out' you paid a lower rate of NI, used to be around 1.6% less.meldrew66 said:
Thanks Golfie. It’s hard to swallow the need to pay in for 42 years when you consider I have been paying NI of £452 every month for many, many years and full NI every month for 38 years. Feels like I have more than justified £179.60 per week. I must be contributing more than 80% of the workforce do and yet they, currently, will receive more than I would!golfaddick said:
An even fuller answer. The basic state pension is based on "contracted in" service. By being in an DB scheme your employers have "guaranteed" a certain level of pension income & thus you are "contracted out" of part of the state pension. The lines have been blurred due to the change in the state pension & it now being "all compassing" - whereas in years gone past it was split between "basic" " contracted in" & even "graduated". Remember SERPS & contracting out.RaplhMilne said:
NatWest was almost certainly Final Salary and DB scheme hence they would have contracted you out. You have to have full number of years contracted in, to get max pension.meldrew66 said:State Pension query: Despite having 38 ‘Full Years’ of NI contributions and no gaps, why is it that the forecast says I need to pay in for another 4 years to achieve the maximum state pension, currently £179.60? It says I currently would get £159 which is a significant reduction over a year/retirement lifetime. That would mean I will have paid in for 42 full years against the requirement to pay in for 30 full years. I checked my NHS payslip and that even confirms my NI Contribution code as ‘A’ which means I am not contracted out. Prior to joining the NHS, I worked for Natwest for 18 years solid and was part of their non-contributory pension scheme.
Bit worrying as I plan to retire in just over 3 years time at the age of 58.
I phoned the Government Pensions department who aren’t willing to talk to me about it because I am not close enough to retirement.
Help? Reassurance? Any similar experience of this anyone? Suggested solution? Does it sound right to you?0 -
Agree I had 44 years of continued contributions largely opted out. However, receive less than someone with 35 years opted in. I’m pretty sure sure my additional 9 years of contributions would make up what I saved on being opted out. But, that’s life....meldrew66 said:
....true but the amount of NI I have paid is still substantially more than most of the UK workforce are paying. It is what it is I guess.Rob7Lee said:
Don't forget when you 'opted out' you paid a lower rate of NI, used to be around 1.6% less.meldrew66 said:
Thanks Golfie. It’s hard to swallow the need to pay in for 42 years when you consider I have been paying NI of £452 every month for many, many years and full NI every month for 38 years. Feels like I have more than justified £179.60 per week. I must be contributing more than 80% of the workforce do and yet they, currently, will receive more than I would!golfaddick said:
An even fuller answer. The basic state pension is based on "contracted in" service. By being in an DB scheme your employers have "guaranteed" a certain level of pension income & thus you are "contracted out" of part of the state pension. The lines have been blurred due to the change in the state pension & it now being "all compassing" - whereas in years gone past it was split between "basic" " contracted in" & even "graduated". Remember SERPS & contracting out.RaplhMilne said:
NatWest was almost certainly Final Salary and DB scheme hence they would have contracted you out. You have to have full number of years contracted in, to get max pension.meldrew66 said:State Pension query: Despite having 38 ‘Full Years’ of NI contributions and no gaps, why is it that the forecast says I need to pay in for another 4 years to achieve the maximum state pension, currently £179.60? It says I currently would get £159 which is a significant reduction over a year/retirement lifetime. That would mean I will have paid in for 42 full years against the requirement to pay in for 30 full years. I checked my NHS payslip and that even confirms my NI Contribution code as ‘A’ which means I am not contracted out. Prior to joining the NHS, I worked for Natwest for 18 years solid and was part of their non-contributory pension scheme.
Bit worrying as I plan to retire in just over 3 years time at the age of 58.
I phoned the Government Pensions department who aren’t willing to talk to me about it because I am not close enough to retirement.
Help? Reassurance? Any similar experience of this anyone? Suggested solution? Does it sound right to you?0 -
If you work out how much it would cost to get a pension of eight grand a year with inflation (+ 2% ?), it's still a bargain!
NI was originally meant to pay for health and unemployment insurance as well as a pension?
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This. Have a look at the figures DB scheme now have to produce to show the real annuity cost. I have NHS Doctors retiring on £45k pa and the annuity "cost" is around £2.2m. That's TWICE the LTA - which means that anyone trying to emulate an NHS pension of that size would need a pension pot of over £2m.stevexreeve said:If you work out how much it would cost to get a pension of eight grand a year with inflation (+ 2% ?), it's still a bargain!
I also expect that your Nat West pension was non-contributory. For context, the NHS used to be 6% for all doctors & nurses. It's now income based & the top grade staff pay over 14%.0 -
Snap, but it's not the amount you pay (when it suits them) but time opted in, doesn't matter if you earn £10k a year or £1m the state pension is the same regardless.meldrew66 said:
....true but the amount of NI I have paid is still substantially more than most of the UK workforce are paying. It is what it is I guess.Rob7Lee said:
Don't forget when you 'opted out' you paid a lower rate of NI, used to be around 1.6% less.meldrew66 said:
Thanks Golfie. It’s hard to swallow the need to pay in for 42 years when you consider I have been paying NI of £452 every month for many, many years and full NI every month for 38 years. Feels like I have more than justified £179.60 per week. I must be contributing more than 80% of the workforce do and yet they, currently, will receive more than I would!golfaddick said:
An even fuller answer. The basic state pension is based on "contracted in" service. By being in an DB scheme your employers have "guaranteed" a certain level of pension income & thus you are "contracted out" of part of the state pension. The lines have been blurred due to the change in the state pension & it now being "all compassing" - whereas in years gone past it was split between "basic" " contracted in" & even "graduated". Remember SERPS & contracting out.RaplhMilne said:
NatWest was almost certainly Final Salary and DB scheme hence they would have contracted you out. You have to have full number of years contracted in, to get max pension.meldrew66 said:State Pension query: Despite having 38 ‘Full Years’ of NI contributions and no gaps, why is it that the forecast says I need to pay in for another 4 years to achieve the maximum state pension, currently £179.60? It says I currently would get £159 which is a significant reduction over a year/retirement lifetime. That would mean I will have paid in for 42 full years against the requirement to pay in for 30 full years. I checked my NHS payslip and that even confirms my NI Contribution code as ‘A’ which means I am not contracted out. Prior to joining the NHS, I worked for Natwest for 18 years solid and was part of their non-contributory pension scheme.
Bit worrying as I plan to retire in just over 3 years time at the age of 58.
I phoned the Government Pensions department who aren’t willing to talk to me about it because I am not close enough to retirement.
Help? Reassurance? Any similar experience of this anyone? Suggested solution? Does it sound right to you?
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FTSE100 trading above 7000 since the crash last year. Hopefully it can hold steady there for a while - might see it back towards 7500 by the end of the year.1
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Not now, but it did before they changed it. That was what SERPS element was all about.Rob7Lee said:
Snap, but it's not the amount you pay (when it suits them) but time opted in, doesn't matter if you earn £10k a year or £1m the state pension is the same regardless.meldrew66 said:
....true but the amount of NI I have paid is still substantially more than most of the UK workforce are paying. It is what it is I guess.Rob7Lee said:
Don't forget when you 'opted out' you paid a lower rate of NI, used to be around 1.6% less.meldrew66 said:
Thanks Golfie. It’s hard to swallow the need to pay in for 42 years when you consider I have been paying NI of £452 every month for many, many years and full NI every month for 38 years. Feels like I have more than justified £179.60 per week. I must be contributing more than 80% of the workforce do and yet they, currently, will receive more than I would!golfaddick said:
An even fuller answer. The basic state pension is based on "contracted in" service. By being in an DB scheme your employers have "guaranteed" a certain level of pension income & thus you are "contracted out" of part of the state pension. The lines have been blurred due to the change in the state pension & it now being "all compassing" - whereas in years gone past it was split between "basic" " contracted in" & even "graduated". Remember SERPS & contracting out.RaplhMilne said:
NatWest was almost certainly Final Salary and DB scheme hence they would have contracted you out. You have to have full number of years contracted in, to get max pension.meldrew66 said:State Pension query: Despite having 38 ‘Full Years’ of NI contributions and no gaps, why is it that the forecast says I need to pay in for another 4 years to achieve the maximum state pension, currently £179.60? It says I currently would get £159 which is a significant reduction over a year/retirement lifetime. That would mean I will have paid in for 42 full years against the requirement to pay in for 30 full years. I checked my NHS payslip and that even confirms my NI Contribution code as ‘A’ which means I am not contracted out. Prior to joining the NHS, I worked for Natwest for 18 years solid and was part of their non-contributory pension scheme.
Bit worrying as I plan to retire in just over 3 years time at the age of 58.
I phoned the Government Pensions department who aren’t willing to talk to me about it because I am not close enough to retirement.
Help? Reassurance? Any similar experience of this anyone? Suggested solution? Does it sound right to you?0 - Sponsored links:
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Loving it.golfaddick said:FTSE100 trading above 7000 since the crash last year. Hopefully it can hold steady there for a while - might see it back towards 7500 by the end of the year.
That's my current mix. Done largely due to low fees, and my risk appetite.
I rebalanced it a couple times, because I realised I don't believe in hedging as a personal investor, up 20.35% since account opening (May 28th 2020).
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Huskaris said:
Loving it.golfaddick said:FTSE100 trading above 7000 since the crash last year. Hopefully it can hold steady there for a while - might see it back towards 7500 by the end of the year.
That's my current mix. Done largely due to low fees, and my risk appetite.
I rebalanced it a couple times, because I realised I don't believe in hedging as a personal investor, up 20.35% since account opening (May 28th 2020).
Oh and £1k worth of deliveroo shares that will just about buy me a takeaway for 2 now...2 -
I'm a bit light on the UK side. Only hold Artemis UK Select which has performed well for the months I've purchased.
@golfaddick, you've mentioned Chelverton UK equity a few times. Any current views on it?0 -
Of my live holdings Chelverton is currently my best performer % profit wise, put some in 30th July (£2.42) and 26th November (£2.88) so averaged buy at £2.51 (£17.5k in July and £5k in November) and currently sit 48.08% up. Been a stonking performer.mendonca said:I'm a bit light on the UK side. Only hold Artemis UK Select which has performed well for the months I've purchased.
@golfaddick, you've mentioned Chelverton UK equity a few times. Any current views on it?
I'm tempted to cash in some of the profit, or like normal take out my initial investment and hold the profit.1 -
Is that the equity income or equity growth fund mate?Rob7Lee said:
Of my live holdings Chelverton is currently my best performer % profit wise, put some in 30th July (£2.42) and 26th November (£2.88) so averaged buy at £2.51 (£17.5k in July and £5k in November) and currently sit 48.08% up. Been a stonking performer.mendonca said:I'm a bit light on the UK side. Only hold Artemis UK Select which has performed well for the months I've purchased.
@golfaddick, you've mentioned Chelverton UK equity a few times. Any current views on it?
I'm tempted to cash in some of the profit, or like normal take out my initial investment and hold the profit.0 -
Growth, the ISIN number is : GB00BP855B75cabbles said:
Is that the equity income or equity growth fund mate?Rob7Lee said:
Of my live holdings Chelverton is currently my best performer % profit wise, put some in 30th July (£2.42) and 26th November (£2.88) so averaged buy at £2.51 (£17.5k in July and £5k in November) and currently sit 48.08% up. Been a stonking performer.mendonca said:I'm a bit light on the UK side. Only hold Artemis UK Select which has performed well for the months I've purchased.
@golfaddick, you've mentioned Chelverton UK equity a few times. Any current views on it?
I'm tempted to cash in some of the profit, or like normal take out my initial investment and hold the profit.
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Yes, I took a bit in my ISA (as may use some of that when we move later this year) but left the SIPP alone for now (which is where the above numbers are) aside from that I might cash some of the BG European fund in my SIPP as that's up 30%+ since last July. Even my Gold fund is back in profit (by just under 1%!)mendonca said:Did you manage to take some profit out amongt the profit takers this week @Rob7Lee?
I might dip into Chelverton this week as can see the FTSE falling back to where it was in December this week.
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@Rob7Lee @ralphmilne @golfaddick
thank you all for your advice on the pension question I raised greatly appreciated
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No worries, did you get to where you needed to on it?MStuartPerm said:@Rob7Lee @ralphmilne @golfaddick
thank you all for your advice on the pension question I raised greatly appreciated0 - Sponsored links:
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Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.3
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Quite likely it is worth it. I was looking at it for my wife and I worked out if she lives 4 years past retirement (state age) she will have recouped her initial outlay. However will be slightly different for different individuals and also tax needs to be considered depending on what other income you have. Remember state pension is taxable whereas you won't get any tax relief for the initial outlay.stevexreeve said:After you stop working, I believe you can make voluntary class 3 contributions to bring you up to the full pension. You'll should only need an extra year's worth of contributions to get you there. No idea whether this would be worthwhile though!0 -
MStuartPerm said:Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
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There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.Bangkokaddick said:MStuartPerm said:Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.2 -
And to think the FCA's starting point is to not transfer out. And if you did go ahead it would probably cost you around £5k.Rob7Lee said:
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.Bangkokaddick said:MStuartPerm said:Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.0 -
My Helium One shares have more than doubled in the last month - if the drilling proves successful there is huge potential in this. There is a massive worldwide demand for helium and signs so far are promising.0
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It was 6/7 years ago but the report (about 40 pages!) cost me less than £2k I think, although it was advisors via work so may have been a bit cheaper/discounted than normal.golfaddick said:
And to think the FCA's starting point is to not transfer out. And if you did go ahead it would probably cost you around £5k.Rob7Lee said:
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.Bangkokaddick said:MStuartPerm said:Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
It's definitely not right for everyone, but with the multiple they were paying combined with my age and time to retirement and comfort of investing myself it really was a no brainer, one of my best financial decisions ever!1 -
Rob7Lee said:
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.Bangkokaddick said:MStuartPerm said:Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
Of course, not everyone has a commission-hungry crook for an IFA like I did! (Though I didn't realise at the time!). Even if I had the more stable investments I have in my pot now, I still think it'd be the wrong move for me but each case is different, as you rightly said.
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I think its mainly to do with "commission hungry crooks" that the FCA have stamped down on DB transfers. A lot of them are not IFA's and look to put the money into some really dodgy stuff.Bangkokaddick said:Rob7Lee said:
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.Bangkokaddick said:MStuartPerm said:Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
Of course, not everyone has a commission-hungry crook for an IFA like I did! (Though I didn't realise at the time!). Even if I had the more stable investments I have in my pot now, I still think it'd be the wrong move for me but each case is different, as you rightly said.
Fwiw - I dont have the "permissions" to transact DB transfers - never have done.3 -
golfaddick said:
I think its mainly to do with "commission hungry crooks" that the FCA have stamped down on DB transfers. A lot of them are not IFA's and look to put the money into some really dodgy stuff.Bangkokaddick said:Rob7Lee said:
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.Bangkokaddick said:MStuartPerm said:Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
Of course, not everyone has a commission-hungry crook for an IFA like I did! (Though I didn't realise at the time!). Even if I had the more stable investments I have in my pot now, I still think it'd be the wrong move for me but each case is different, as you rightly said.
Fwiw - I dont have the "permissions" to transact DB transfers - never have done.Unfortunately no crackdown on such sheisters in many countries. There are still "boiler room" gangs out there and I get the occasional phone call, though I recognise the style straight away. Never been tempted by these guys.Also you can go an a two day course here and call yourself a financial advisor! Nothing more than an insurance salesperson in reality, one that has no idea what he or she is actually selling! Scary, but for the sellers it's just a way of making a quick baht and not a career as such. Most give up after a few weeks.0
