Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

[Count Steer]

Depends on the type of pension it is. You may not have to do the £x per year annuity type thing. If you can move it into a SIPP (taking the 25% tax free of course) you can then do flexible draw-down ie take what you want/or not as and when you want to (less tax).

Or invest it into income biased funds and the like then live off the 'interest'. My parents do that, despite all their spending last year their pensions have gone up in value.

Yes. There are so many options it can be a bit mind boggling. In a SIPP you have options like putting it in Income, or Income and Growth, or Growth funds to name but 3 - then doing monthly or yearly income or doing draw-down. One thing that does seem a no-brainer is to take the 25% tax free and stick it in stocks & shares ISAs (tax free) up to the yearly allowance - as a low effort strategy and if you don't need the cash. Annuities are just a joke. Miniscule interest and if you cark it they keep the money.

For anyone interested, Fidelity have a lot of free info on options.

[Mr. Dazzle]

For most people 25% tax free would be way, waaaaaaay over their £20k annual ISA contribution limit though.

FWIW I save in a mixture of SIPPs and investment ISAs. The SIPPs have the advantage of tax free contributions, but you can't get at it and you pay tax on the withdrawals. ISAs are almost the opposite, no tax relief now but you can get at the money if you really need it and you don't pay tax on the profits.

But yeah - get advice and get it early.

[Count Steer]

For most people 25% tax free would be way, waaaaaaay over their £20k annual ISA contribution limit though.

FWIW I save in a mixture of SIPPs and investment ISAs. The SIPPs have the advantage of tax free contributions, but you can't get at it and you pay tax on the withdrawals. ISAs are almost the opposite, no tax relief now but you can get at the money if you really need it and you don't pay tax on the profits.

But yeah - get advice and get it early.

Re ISAs, true, but if there's 2 of you, you can feed in 80k over 2 years assuming only one of you is taking the 25% at that time.
Re ISAs/SIPPS - you pay tax one way or the other so it depends where you are in the ol' life cycle - saving or spending.
My last company had a 'self-managed' pension scheme, so you chose an investment 'strategy'. I plumped for one that reduced the risk gradually towards retirement (the last thing you need is the markets stoofing just when you put your feet up). So it gradually got shifted into nice, safe cash funds - which I expected to sit there doing nothing - but no, it's been going up like a go-ey-uppy thing! Just got to decide whether to let it sit in the fund or shift it into a SIPP and consolidate the other bits and bobs like AVCs with it. It's one of those things where I think long and hard about it...then do nothing. (Been a good plan so far!).

The one thing anyone planning on doing the wine, women and song thing at 55 with their main pension should bear in mind is....the state pension is approx £186 per week.

Advice - I think it's worth paying up front for rather than going to an advisor that makes their slice in commission on what they 'sell' you. But, TBH, if anyone puts the time in to understand stuff they can probably work it out for themselves.

[weeksy]

I still think there is a lot to be said for saving your own money up, then when you have enough simply retiring, knowing you can choose how and when to draw from your savings.

That's basically my plan, I worked out how much I wanted each month, multiplied by the amount of months I need to reach eighty years old, then when I get to that figure I'll retire. After eighty I'll get by on the state pension and my little pensions, and whatever I have left.

Why though ? my company pays double my contribution each month, so why would i only save my own money instead of them doubling it every month ? It's crazy to do it all along when there are better options

I'd love to have the money to save loads on top of that... but life is quite expensive

[Mr. Dazzle]

I do both.

As per weeksy, the company pension is thousands in 'free' money ever year plus thousands more in the tax relief at source. Obviously if you've accounted for that in your salary negotiations that's fair play. My work pensions have nealy all been SIPPS, except for one final salary scheme (they're pretty unheard of now in the private sector though right?) so I get to choose where the money goes.

[Count Steer]

I still think there is a lot to be said for saving your own money up, then when you have enough simply retiring, knowing you can choose how and when to draw from your savings.

That's basically what a SIPP is. You save your money with a tax advantage then do the draw-down thing as and when you need cash (at 55+ and if you don't want a monthly/annual amount). Dunno if you can do it in a UK SIPP (or similarly ISAs) if you're non-resident though. Got to save the money somewhere at a risk level you're happy with, so it might as well be in a tax effective way and with a potential to grow.

[Count Steer]

I still think there is a lot to be said for saving your own money up, then when you have enough simply retiring, knowing you can choose how and when to draw from your savings.

That's basically my plan, I worked out how much I wanted each month, multiplied by the amount of months I need to reach eighty years old, then when I get to that figure I'll retire. After eighty I'll get by on the state pension and my little pensions, and whatever I have left.

Why though ? my company pays double my contribution each month, so why would i only save my own money instead of them doubling it every month ? It's crazy to do it all along when there are better options

I'd love to have the money to save loads on top of that... but life is quite expensive

People will often be pretty shocked when they work out what their company pension pot is worth if it was an annuity lump. If your company pension pays out £2k/month the equivalent you'd need in an annuity is pretty hefty. I did know one 'financial wizard' that thought he could do better than his British Gas final salary pension and transferred out the lot. (He also said he'd never lost money on any shares he'd bought...but he'd never sell at a loss, so he watched things going down and never actually sold - so he only made a virtual loss ).

[Mr. Dazzle]

I did know one 'financial wizard' that thought he could do better than his British Gas final salary pension and transferred out the lot.

I've spoken to maybe 5 or 6 different pensions advisors in my life - essentially ones from the usual suspects (HL, Standard Life etc.) associated with the various providers at work, plus one independent guy.

They all, to a man, immediately say "leave it, you'll never find a better deal" when I mention the subject of my R-R* Final Salary pension. No wonder employers don't offer them any more.

* That's literally Rolls-Royce the company, not Rolls-Royce as in 'really good'

[Count Steer]

I did know one 'financial wizard' that thought he could do better than his British Gas final salary pension and transferred out the lot.

I've spoken to maybe 5 or 6 different pensions advisors in my life - essentially ones from the usual suspects (HL, Standard Life etc.) associated with the various providers at work, plus one independent guy.

They all, to a man, immediately say "leave it, you'll never find a better deal" when I mention the subject of my R-R* Final Salary pension. No wonder employers don't offer them any more.

* That's literally Rolls-Royce the company, not Rolls-Royce as in 'really good'

Any FA that says otherwise should be debagged and lashed! I took voluntary redundancy from 'a large, ex-state-owned energy company' and jumped at the option to bung the max amount (tax free) of the payout into buying additional years service. I often wonder how 'Dave the Financial Wizard' is doing...probably delivering for Amazon in order to supplement his state pension.

[Yorick]

One of my best pals is racing at Paul Ricard tonight and tomorrow, then flies home to race at Pembrey Sunday.
The dozey old twonk is 60

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Things didn't go to plan

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[Jody]

I was given a LOT of bacon yesterday!! It's out of date frozen stuff. Frozen at point of packing rather than bought fresh and frozen

Anyway - was a struggle to know if it would all go in the freezer (well, I kept some out for consumption this weekend!! LOL) and then headed to the freezer

Bacon all secured in the freezer, freezer a bit more sorted, I now have some white fish to add to the salmon steaks I was given (that I didn't get in the freezer) to make some fishcakes with

Not sure I'm ever going to eat all the bacon and will have to say no if I'm offered more!! LOL

Need to find a very cheap under counter freezer cos a local frozen food supplier has a load of out of date stuff they are giving away - wouldn't need to buy much food for the next few months if I could find a cheap freezer!!

If there's anyway you can store it for a couple months I'd love some decent bacon !

I could swap it for the conditioner I bought and never delivered last year

[Noggin]

I was given a LOT of bacon yesterday!! It's out of date frozen stuff. Frozen at point of packing rather than bought fresh and frozen

Anyway - was a struggle to know if it would all go in the freezer (well, I kept some out for consumption this weekend!! LOL) and then headed to the freezer

Bacon all secured in the freezer, freezer a bit more sorted, I now have some white fish to add to the salmon steaks I was given (that I didn't get in the freezer) to make some fishcakes with

Not sure I'm ever going to eat all the bacon and will have to say no if I'm offered more!! LOL

Need to find a very cheap under counter freezer cos a local frozen food supplier has a load of out of date stuff they are giving away - wouldn't need to buy much food for the next few months if I could find a cheap freezer!!

If there's anyway you can store it for a couple months I'd love some decent bacon !

I could swap it for the conditioner I bought and never delivered last year

I probably can't eat all the bacon I have in the freezer!! There's still a big pack I had before the first shut down!!!

So yes. Remind me when you get here

[the_priest]

Bright sunshine and the opportunity to ride over to another Church for a "family afternoon festival" that is about feeding people in the community who are short on food and entertainment. So will enjoy pootling over to that side of town and hopefully putting some smiles on faces.

[Noggin]

The view from my window this morning -





I always have a seriously happy face on when the first snow comes. Ok, it'll probably melt by this afternoon, but damn I do so love the snow!!


Struggling with other expats (again!) because I've already seen comments saying - noooo, snow is here, winter is coming, it's too soon FFS, we all ended up out here because of a love of winter sports. And you know what, that doesn't happen without snow!!

Every year the same people whinge about the first snow or the cold - I just get on and do my happy dance

[Jody]

Another season draws to a close with the last guests checked out. I just need to deep clean 20 mobile homes now !!

[weeksy]

Another season draws to a close with the last guests checked out. I just need to deep clean 20 mobile homes now !!

Where you off for winter?

[Mr. Dazzle]

Why would you move to a ski resort and complain about winter?

[ogri]

Why would you move to a ski resort and complain about winter?

Ingrish innit!

[Noggin]

Why would you move to a ski resort and complain about winter?

What he VVV says!!

Why would you move to a ski resort and complain about winter?

Ingrish innit!

I know it's almost an English sport to complain about the weather, but I really do struggle to understand moving to a ski resort and then complain about the cold/snow/winter!!

[Jody]

Another season draws to a close with the last guests checked out. I just need to deep clean 20 mobile homes now !!

Where you off for winter?

Courchevel again, I have a great job there with a lovely English family.