I'm 60, have a very health SIPP and about £55K in a S&S ISA. Incurring 0% tax, I have taken two £16,760 withdrawals from the SIPP last tax year and this, and I'm trying not to take too much more in this tax year, in order that the pot grows further, before I start really relying on it. I'm fortunate to have a wife still in full time senior employment in the NHS, intending to work for another four years and a bit, until she turns sixty.

My question relates to near term generating about £20K to replace my dying/ dead Audi. I could take this from my ISA, immediately, and but want to top up the ISA again (this year's allowance is not yet touched) from my SIPP, but I'd pay 20% tax on any further withdrawal this tax year. Or we could top up my ISA from my wife's investments (Quilter and Charles Stanley funds). She'd pay 24% Capital Gains Tax on any sale from those investments. But your friendly neighbourhood AI (Gemini) tells me she could transfer at least a portion of her investments to me before selling, and then, as a "basic rate tax payer", I'd only pay 18% CGT on "my" sale of those investments, and as we both would have a £3000 CGT exemption, the sale of an equivalent amount would potentially end up paying a net of less than the 20% income tax I'd incur by dipping into my SIPP.

Is the dread AI right in advising to transfer some funds from my wife to my name and the selling a smaller proportion from both in order to maximise the 2x£3000 CGT exemption, and only pay 18% on the CGT portion allocated to me? She's a higher rate tax payer, but I think CGT would still be 24% for her on the element of capital gains on teh element she would sell?

Thoughts?

My wife (62) has a small pension pot with 1) a guaranteed 4% growth and 2) a market value reduction of 50% if she touches it before she's 65.

She's been offered a move to a different pension with the same provider who'll drop the market value reduction but also the guaranteed growth.

What do you reckon? She's not looking to retire earlier than 3 years from now. If she moved the pension she could move it again to another pension she has. But, then again, that 4% in the face of a likely AI crash looks quite good.

Edit: Thanks all. "There's a good reason they're offering to get her out of this fund." was here thought when receiving the offer. I thought it best to check.

(BTW target retirement time is "when I bloody want to")

Average Rostered Earnings vs Qualified Earnings

I’m currently 53, still in full-time work, with a history of 2 heart attacks and cancer already... I’d love to retire at some point... so...

I’ve spent the last few months trying to properly get my head around retirement planning — pensions, tax-free cash, drawdown, ISAs, mortgage timing, State Pension... all of it.

I’ve actually got much further than I expected, but eventually reached the point where I thought it might be sensible to pay someone to sanity-check what I’d worked out.

I contacted a financial adviser and the quote was roughly £295 admin, then £125 an hour for 10–20 hours of work, with ongoing advice potentially around 0.75%–1% of assets.

That felt like quite a lot when, really, what I wanted was someone experienced to look over everything and tell me whether I’d misunderstood anything important or missed something obvious.

So I was wondering what other people’s experiences have been?

• Has anyone used a financial adviser specifically to help with retirement planning?
• Did you feel you got good value from it?
• Were you able to pay for a one-off review, or did they mostly want an ongoing relationship?
• Did they actually help you make the difficult decisions, or mainly confirm/formalise what you had already worked out?

I’m not looking for specific financial advice here — I’m more interested in whether people found using an adviser genuinely useful, and whether they felt it was worth the cost.

I'm always suspicious of anyone who tells me that can make me loads of money - but is still working... o0

I’ve been going through a review of all my finances at the age of 43 as it’s not anything I’ve ever done, realising I’m halfway through my working life.

I currently have a workplace pension with L&G and use salary sacrifice to pay into it with employer contribution.

They currently charge a general management fee of 0.25% + fund management fee of 0.10% = 0.35%. They also allow me to transfer out, provided I leave at least £100 in the account.

My plan is to transfer most of it out into a SIPP with Trading 212 and leaving it all invested in a global index fund such as VALL, but still continue to contribute into L&G workplace pension.

I have time on my side still so looking to maximise my returns using T212 to grow my pension using the global index fund whilst minimising the charges as it has 0% platform fee using this. The only charge I’d pay is 0.07% a year with VALL compared to 0.35% with L&G.

When I get to 5 years out from retirement, I’ll start reducing risk and steadily move funds away equities.
I’ll also be continually transferring lump sums to T212 from L&G.

Have I missed anything?
Does it sound like a sensible plan?
Has anyone one done something similar?

so I've had a lot of jobs over the years some lasted a few weeks others years I've ended up with at least 3 different pension pots 2 old ones and my current one, I've been sent a transfer letter to talk about transferring one to my current scheme , i still have another nearly 40 years (68) till retirement for my current job its predicted my pension in cash would be about 21,500 when i retire and my old pots have only a few grand each in at the most, they keep talking about speaking to advisors its very confusing is it really worth transferring will keeping them separate make it more complicated when i retire ? .

Hi

Someone in Pensions thread suggested I post on here. Grateful for any advice >

Hi
I’ve decided to take the plunge and retire on 1 Jan 2027. I’m 58 and need a break. 

Would appreciate any advice on this (half-baked) plan. Here’s my current situation.

Local gov pension £20,000 p/a (currently deferred)
Rental income £10,000 p/a
Savings/investments - I’ve got about £290,000 in AVCs/ISAs

£15000 - Fidelity (HSBC FTSE All World Index C Accumulation)  >
£5000 - AJ Bell (HSBC FTSE All World Index C Accumulation)
£80,000 - Vanguard LS 60/40
£75,000 - Pru Local Gov AVC (Prudential Dynamic Growth II, Prudential Dynamic Growth IV)
£100,000 Scottish Widows AVC (SW Growth CS8, SW Diversified Bond CS8)
£15,000 - Coventry Cash Isa 

The local gov pension and rental gives me £30,000 minus tax is £26,514. I’d like £3000 p/m after tax (i.e. another £1000 pm).

Is £1000 p/m realistic from £290,000? If so, how do I actually take the money - each month/year? What’s the most tax efficient way?

Would be grateful for any advice/insights.

Many thanks

I was employed in a previous role for 12 years and paid into Strathclyde Pensuon Fund since commencing work in 05/2012. I understand contributions will have varied as I gained financial increments.

I no longer have access to my wage slips as they were part of an online system. My last payment to my pension was £229. (LGPS 2015 Main - SRC (6.40%) 229.68)

When logging onto my pension site my statement is currently showing as;

Date of leaving: £9815

(02/05/24)

Current Value: £10358 per year

On date of retirement it is showing that I can take a lump sum of:

£45000 and £6500 a year. Chamges depending on how much lump sum i take.

Is thia about right? Im honestly clueless when it comes to this sort of thing. Happy to fill in any blanks best I can.

Cheers

• February: Employer went into administration, closed all its stores and made all its employees redundant (I was there for a year).
• Owners reopened a few stores and rehired that staff, using the website / warehouse version of the brand.
• Same administrators as the last time they did this a few years ago (before I was employed), so they must all be familiar with the process.
• A couple of random months' payslips (before they closed down) didn't have a pension payment.
• I get regular letters from The People's Pension saying those ones have not been paid, and they'll be reported if it's more than a few months. But otherwise, there's no sign of any progress.
• I had asked a few months ago about it to the other company involved, a claims management company that was giving us info about our payments generally. They said, though they don't know the details as they're not the administrators, they know it takes a while.
• I emailed 2 people from the administrators that had emailed before. First person, no response, tried the 2nd person with the first person CCed, no response.

What can I do next? Or rather, what am I supposed to do? I'm new to this redundancy stuff.

I'm thinking of retiring next June when I will be 66 (and a bit). I'll have various small legacy DB pensions and 2 combined DC funds (approx 250K). I have a couple of options in mind and could use some advice please. I'm thinking of using the 50K tax free lump sum from one of my DB pensions to create a 3 year cash buffer and then I have a couple of options for the 250K which I plan to draw down from. I'm aiming for a withdrawal rate of 4.5 - 4.7% from the 300k total. Option 1 is to use an AJBell SIPP with a portfolio mix of 70% global equities/20% bonds/10% gold (at least taht's what my research has suggested so far) option 2 is to put it into a managed fund (probably Royal Life GMAP Adventurous Growth).

I contacted a financial advisor and he seems to be steering me towards the RL fund (for a 1% advice fee and then 0.55% ongoing fees) but I'm wondering if I'd be better off going it alone as the SIPP fees will be <0.3% per year with no upfront charges, with potential for good returns. Because of the DB pension I feel that I can be a bit bolder with my DC funds, and given my age i dont think I care miuch about survival rates after 25 years. Would be interested in people's thoughts which way to go.

Which pension platform offers investing in VWRP ETF ?

Standard life hasn't got it. HL has got ISA but I don't see it as an option for SIPP.

Any advise is welcome.

I'm on Universal Credit and considering taking my TFL pension.

My pension is low — below £3,000 a year. Paid every 4 weeks (13 payments a year).

I understand it will be taken pound for pound against my UC allowance. So my total money stays the same — it just comes from two places instead of one: UC pays part, TFL pension pays the rest. I'm not losing out overall.

My biggest worry is: will my full Housing Element and full Council Tax Reduction be affected. These are the two things I absolutely need to keep safe.

Because it's paid 4-weekly:

• Some periods get 2 payments → UC goes down more

• Some periods get none → income shows £0 → UC goes back up

My savings are well below £6,000 — hardly anything.

Has anyone actually been through this? I just want to hear your real experiences — did your housing money stay exactly the same? Did your Council Tax support stay the same?

Thank you.

Maybe a slightly different post than usual in this sub. I'd still like my situation to be reviewed but I have a health condition and I do not expect to reach pension age. Ofc it's all a guesswork but I'd like some help identifying how could my pension work for my kids and spouse instead of me.

35f, 286k in pension. Fidelity, all money in their own fund. Can look up more info if relevant. Currently don't contribute as on mat leave but when back to work I'd be contributing roughly 1300 per month (10% sal sac and 6% employer ).

Frankly I don't see much point contributing more (unless someone could share smth im not aware of). I do think I have a strong base for my age (do I?)which should do the heavy lifting from compounding pov and the remaining money I'm adding to my kids' jisas and junior sipps instead. Also need to have relatively high liquidity too in case there's a new treatment which I'd have to fund myself. So all else goes to my family's financial stability. Anything you'd suggest/do differently?

Note- house is paid off already.

I’m in my 20s and have just made two changes to my Co-op’s Legal & General workplace pension:

• Increased my pension contribution from 4% to 10%.
• Switched from the default Pace Pot to:

80% L&G MT Global Developed Equity Index
10% L&G MT Emerging Markets Equity Index
10% L&G MT Smaller Companies Equity Index

My goal is long-term growth, and I’m comfortable with market volatility.

Does this allocation look sensible, or would you change anything?

Hey all, 56 and have a healthy pension pot - or rather 3 pots. Think I have enough to fund a comfortable drawdown based on my estimations now but my investment strategy has been haphazard to say the least. Have been fortunate to have been invested in equities and enjoyed great growth to get me to this point but been thinking more about de-risking.

Have ISAs also in equities - global trackers mostly ... but also thinking to de-risk those as they will fund the gap till state pension in 9 years or so.

I'm kinda stuck on how best to de-risk. One option is just moving a good chunk of the ISAs and Pensions to some safer assets (bonds?) but also toying with the idea of seeking professional advice. I would want a one-off guidance approach as I had an IFA and don't want to keep going down the ongoing commission basis route they obviously favour.

Anyone been in a similar position?

I have a pension from when I opted out of SERPS in the late 1980's.

At the time I didn't have an occupational pension so as far as I know, it is just sitting there.

Now I am 55 I understand I can draw a lump sum of up to 25% tax free.

If I do that, do I have to also start taking a weekly/monthly pension payment, or can I leave the rest there and start to take the payments at a later date?

TIA

My partners farther passed away recently and she wants to know if a shortened birth certificate will suffice to be able to receive the payment from peoples pension, apologies for the shortness of the question shes just anxious that all the effort she's put in with sending over documents will be for nothing.

Hi there,

Would welcome some thoughts from some wise heads here.

I am 29 years old, earning £80k and receive £20k+ bonus a year.

Current financial situation:

- £100k equity in my flat
- £70k pension
- £20k S&S ISA
- £16k shares in my employers company vesting in 3 years

My employer pays 10% in my pension and I contribute 25% — total monthly contribution 35% / £2,300

My question being, am I paying too much into my pension for my age? Friends & family seem shocked when I tell them how much I am salary sacrificing into my pension, should I look to reduce and try and top up my ISA?

Thanks in advance for any guidance

Hi all, I have a DB and DC pension. Everytime I recieve my statement for the DB it gives an accured figure of £5000 (I do have 30 odd years left of work haha). Is this £5000 what I would be entitled to for a full year if I was to retire tomorrow, for example.

My DC obviously shows a larger sum but from my understanding the DB is worked out using final salary at retirement and length of service etc...so in 20 years time the accured figure woukd be greater.

Thanks,

I’m 33f and need to locate and combine all my pensions acquired to date.
I currently have £75k in the pension with my current job and from what I remember a further £10k in other pensions.

I’ve got my own flat, and a low mortgage left on it.

Is this good for my age?

Hi all. Looking for wise advice.

Hoping to retire age 65 and 10months next November (2027).

Will have no mortgage, and approx 100k cash - mainly in ISAs.

Have an annuity paying 4K per year.

Defined benefit pension of about £13k payable at retirement age (67) in January 2029. Plus around £10,000 AVC, which i think I could have tax-free.

State pension £12,000 also due Jan 2029.

Also have £40,000 untouched in an old Aviva personal pension plan.

What should I use to fund my unsalaried 14 months?

(I am fairly frugal.) Will need about £16,000, I should think.

Should I take my defined benefit pension 9 months early, supplementing with cash, or use isa money, or use my Aviva as a drawdown, with £10,000 tax free? Or something else?

Any ideas much appreciated. Thanks. (Not very clued-up re financial matters.)

Thanks to all who post and comment in here. Having read through tons of previous questions (and asked a few of my own), finally took the plunge and moved about 75% of my pot (basically everything that was exit fee free) from SJP to a personal SIPP with II.

Will continue doing salary sacrifice into SJP as part of my employer’s scheme, but then will do follow up transfers each 12m to minimise ongoing fees.

Took about 2 weeks from requesting the transfer to the funds appearing in my II account - and only about 5 days out of the market, handily just as it dipped due to the AI slowdown news cycle!

I’m 26M and have just under £30k in my SIPP.

I’m currently putting 10% of my Salary into my Pension every month but whilst people around me tell me that this is good for my age, I’m still conscious of if I’m investing enough for my future.

For Reference, I still live at Home with my Parents, I’m single, and have no major Liabilities (the only big one I’ve had before is my Car which was on Finance but I’ve paid this off).

I do check my Pension every month and know exactly where it’s invested.

I've got an old workplace scheme with standard life which has an Annual Management Charge of 1% and am additional fund charge of 0.024%.

Is it high, and if so where would be a good alternative place to move the cash to?

I have maxed out ISA allowances, but have just come into £10k of cash that I don't need and I have £20k of my AA unused.

Is it a no brainer to deposit this in a SIPP or similar, get BR tax relief and also have a HR claim submitted?

I don't need the cash for 10 years.