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Pensions

Discussion in 'Money Matters' started by Mattecube, Jun 28, 2019.

  1. bigmac
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    bigmac Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    i have no complaints about my state pension--i never thought i would get one at all. but remember--there is also pension credit for those who dont get a full pension. it's means tested--so savings / other earnings are taken into consideration. i got it for a while.
  2. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    When I finally get my state pension I won't be complaining either, apart from the complaint about getting it a year later than promised when I started work, I'm just thankful that my younger self made a decision and commitment to save into a private pension as well.

    Yes if John's wife were to stay in the UK after his passing it is likely that she would qualify for Pension Credit and possibly other benefits as well.
  3. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    As it stands my wife has a couple of private pensions on the go,one from previous employer that we still pay into although they dont and one from her current employer, I have a number of small pensions from current an previous employer and one from an employer I was with for a good number of years.
    @bigmac has now thrown up another thought process on here from a different thread (last will and testament) which is if she was to be means tested for pension and she was a life long tenant, because of her marital status would she be compelled to draw off the house or is it protected by the non execution of my will,further if she didnt or couldnt draw off the will then when she was means tested she would be showing no housing rent costs hmm food for thought.
  4. cojo1000
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    cojo1000 Member

    I am counting the months now. After Christmas I will have 19 months to go before I get the UK state pension. I seem to be fortunate as mine is £217 a week as it stands. Plus a little extra from another source so it will be about £225 a week all told. Plus my private pension.

    I only missed a few years worth of stamps so I get the maximum available.
  5. cojo1000
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    cojo1000 Member

    I have the choice. Take more per month but none to the Mrs when I die. Or take less per month but a lump sum goes to the Mrs when I die.
  6. bigmac
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    bigmac Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    so--youre not 59 then ?
  7. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    You were probably never contracted out of S2P or SERPS and never self employed, a state pension that high is similar to my friend up in Cumbria who was never contracted out, SERPS and S2P has turned out to be a great thing for those who stuck with it and didn't listen to the pension pundits saying contract out, most personal pensions in reality performed much worse than what you get from SERPS.
  8. cojo1000
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    cojo1000 Member

    I used to be.
  9. cojo1000
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    cojo1000 Member

    I think that’s right. I always thought I was missing out, not contracting out of SERPS. I think many did contract out, but I didn’t.
  10. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    No you won big time by staying in SERPS, you will retire under the new state pension which is worth £168 a week maximum but because your SERPS entitles you to more you won't lose out under the new system.

    You are a perfect example of the complexity of the new state pension, they are going to have to keep doing the SERPS & S2P calculations for people like you for decades.

    For my small Standard life pension £11,000 of £45,000 has been earned by the contracted out contributions and I was contracted out for 5 years in my SSEB pension as well, luckily because my old pension forecast is lower than the new state pension I will win out of the new system and the fact that I have that 11,000 in a pension outside SERPS means my net gain is larger although £11,000 is only roughly equivalent to about £330 a year at 3% which is only around 6 quid a week, if I had remained contracted in my forecast would still have been less than new state pension so I would have basically not gained from it, outside SERPS I do actually gain access to that money.

    The people who really lost out are those who were contracted out for most of their life and were never self employed, they would have got the kind of pension you will get but now they have to hope that their contracted out contributions have grown enough in their private pension to be as good as the SERPS state pension which they are losing out on now.
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2019
  11. cojo1000
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    cojo1000 Member

    It’s a funny thing but at the time I didn’t really worry too much about it all. It seems I have benefitted but more by luck than judgement.

    I guess it isn’t an awful lot but every little helps.
  12. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    £3000 a year or so over the new state pension that's a damn good deal to my mind :)

    I was self employed for so long 14 odd years and that meant no SERPS or S2P, and then contracted out before that for 8 or more years, so 22 years of my 36 or so earned years (at that time) which came before the rule changes were outside SERPS and after I became employed again (later in life) SERPS was terminated within about 6 years.

    The old basic state pension is worth about 130 pounds a week, when it was worth £105 or so a week my SERPS & S2P gave me a forecast of £135, at that time the maximum new state pension was about £144 a week, the triple lock and inflation has brought that up to £168 a week for the new state pension now and by the time I retire it should be about £192 a week numerically, what that will be worth in todays terms is another matter :) the next year or so retains the triple lock after that I am assuming a double lock.

    I am lucky as contracting out gave me a little bit of extra cash outside the state pension, my self employment years are the biggest detriment to what I might have had under SERPS so the new system really favours those like me who were ever self employed, it's a direct gift, a rare thing to get from the government but welcome.

    The only thing that actually gives me a future is my personal pension contributions and I wish those had been much much larger 20 years ago, life would have been far easier now, back in 1999 I started putting £500 a month into my pension, I have pay in a lot more than that each month now to reach my goal.

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