One in three families

[truman]

Those that have pension pots (like my wife) are seeing them slashed on a continuous basis. .

 

Really...? maybe I should put you in touch with my IFA..

[Cyclone]

Those that have pension pots (like my wife) are seeing them slashed on a continuous basis. We've now taken matters in our own hands re. pensions, it is the only way to ensure it doesn't all get squandered.

 

How exactly do you mean?

[Love2print]

Unless they live in a mansion then half a house in Sheffield is unlikely to fund your entire pension requirements.

There are steps you can take to protect the property from being used to fund carehome fee's though.

 

Yes now that you have reminded me my parents did mention they had done something to help protect it. Think its that when one of them dies then that half goes to me and my sister rather than to the surving parent. Not sure how that all works and what the implications are.

 

I have no idea what I would need to save as its irrelevant as I have no money to save. If the both died today then I would estimate I would recieve around 100k ish, not sure but if I invested it in something then I could get a reasonable pension? But of course this depends on when they die and house prices.

[tzijlstra]

Really...? maybe I should put you in touch with my IFA..

 

How exactly do you mean?

 

Talking long term here. Her pension age got pushed up by 7 years, the various providers here and in the Netherlands lost a huge amount in the financial crisis and the USS is constantly sending out signals that it is struggling. Now the BoE actions are pushing down the yields on long term bonds which form the basis for most pension funds.

 

So we are reorganising things, limiting exposure, reducing payments to the pension funds and investing in other things that have a long term return. My pension is completely piecemeal anyway due to the way my career has developed, so I'm considering just lump-summing it all (taking the hit) and putting it into shares.

[Cyclone]

Yes now that you have reminded me my parents did mention they had done something to help protect it. Think its that when one of them dies then that half goes to me and my sister rather than to the surving parent. Not sure how that all works and what the implications are.

 

I have no idea what I would need to save as its irrelevant as I have no money to save. If the both died today then I would estimate I would recieve around 100k ish, not sure but if I invested it in something then I could get a reasonable pension? But of course this depends on when they die and house prices.

 

it's easy to check. I put in some numbers here

https://comparison.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/Annuity/FindAnnuity/YourDetails

(you have to make some choices) and this is the pension 100k would buy you.

 

Your income (indicativeshow the detail)

£251 Monthly

£3,020 Yearly

 

Your choices

£100,000 pension pot

No tax free sum

Retire at 65

Single annuity

No guarantee period

Increase by inflation

Health choices

 

 

As you can see, insufficient to live on, even if you owned your home outright. It's likely that bills and food would come to more than £251/month.

 

Alternatively you could just use the 100k of course, if you spent £500/month (which seems modest, but achievable IMO) then it would last 200 months. Or about 16 years.

If you retire at 65 that would take you to around 80...

 

That's buying the annuity at age 65, in the most basic way, no options for spouse or guarantee's, and linked to inflation.

[Love2print]

Thanks for the link Cyclone but I can't put my age in. Im guessing that the calculator is only accurate up to a certain point in the future.

 

I do hope that at some point I can save for the future myself and any inheritance will be an added bonus.

[Cyclone]

Talking long term here. Her pension age got pushed up by 7 years, the various providers here and in the Netherlands lost a huge amount in the financial crisis and the USS is constantly sending out signals that it is struggling. Now the BoE actions are pushing down the yields on long term bonds which form the basis for most pension funds.

 

So we are reorganising things, limiting exposure, reducing payments to the pension funds and investing in other things that have a long term return. My pension is completely piecemeal anyway due to the way my career has developed, so I'm considering just lump-summing it all (taking the hit) and putting it into shares.

 

Okay, so pension age was equalised with men, overdue frankly.

The rest of it isn't "slashed" so much as, investments aren't performing all that well. It's not like someone has taken money out of her pension savings.

 

You might want to investigate SIPPs if you're interested in shares.

There are still good reasons to use a pension wrapper (tax being the primary one). But a SIPP is entirely under your control.

 

I opened one recently, can PM you about the details if you like.

 

---------- Post added 11-08-2016 at 10:25 ----------

 

Thanks for the link Cyclone but I can't put my age in. Im guessing that the calculator is only accurate up to a certain point in the future.

 

I do hope that at some point I can save for the future myself and any inheritance will be an added bonus.

 

Well, no, I had to lie that I was 65 in order to see what 100k would buy right now (actually from the 1st Jan 2017 as it was easy to enter).

 

It gives a good indication of just how far a 100k pension pot would go though, £250/month + state pension of max £150/month.

[Love2print]

Okay, so pension age was equalised with men, overdue frankly.

The rest of it isn't "slashed" so much as, investments aren't performing all that well. It's not like someone has taken money out of her pension savings.

 

You might want to investigate SIPPs if you're interested in shares.

There are still good reasons to use a pension wrapper (tax being the primary one). But a SIPP is entirely under your control.

 

I opened one recently, can PM you about the details if you like.

 

---------- Post added 11-08-2016 at 10:25 ----------

 

 

Well, no, I had to lie that I was 65 in order to see what 100k would buy right now (actually from the 1st Jan 2017 as it was easy to enter).

 

It gives a good indication of just how far a 100k pension pot would go though, £250/month + state pension of max £150/month.

 

 

Sorry I thought it could give you an idea of what you would need to save. Or if I had 100k now and invested what the returns would be but of course actually thinking about it its not that simple because investments go up and down. And of course it depends what you put your money in and so on. I would really need proper financial advice when the time comes for inheritance.

[Cyclone]

There are different calculators that will tell you that.

 

http://moneyweek.com/moneyweek-basics-how-much-to-save-for-a-comfortable-retirement-61700/

 

Here's an article about it.

 

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-1633402/Pension-pot-calculator-need-save-retirement.html

 

And that's a rather simplistic calculator that seems to just multiply by 20.

So if you want an annual income of £15,000 a year, then it says you'll need a pension pot of 300,000.

 

This last one might be the most interesting

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/tools/pension-calculator

[tzijlstra]

Okay, so pension age was equalised with men, overdue frankly.

 

I agree with that, but the manner in which it was done in the UK was rather barbaric. In the Netherlands they started planning for this 30 years ago and everybody had plenty of time to react, here it was panic football from the moment it became clear it was unaffordable (Which could and has been predicted for as long as the Dutch have been working to resolve the issue).

 

But, I agree it was overdue.

 

The rest of it isn't "slashed" so much as, investments aren't performing all that well. It's not like someone has taken money out of her pension savings.

 

Unfortunately, in the case of our Dutch pensions it was, we both have a pension with the fund that covers civil servants (I worked in libraries/school and she at University) and that part-private pension has actually reduced in value to a negative after the crisis, it is now on its way back up, but slowly. The USS (Universities Scheme) isn't doing too well either and then she has an NHS pension that has been standing still since she stopped working for them, with inflation it has performed negatively compared to putting the money in a bank and getting even just 3% interest on it.

 

You might want to investigate SIPPs if you're interested in shares.

There are still good reasons to use a pension wrapper (tax being the primary one). But a SIPP is entirely under your control.

 

I opened one recently, can PM you about the details if you like.

 

Thanks, we're having a meeting with our financial advisors soon and will discuss this with them.