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Pension policy what would you do ?

joinerman

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Mar 23, 2010
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I found an old policy i took out donkeys years ago tucked away in a draw last week, i stopped paying the premiums about six years ago after i had an accident and things were tight, anyway after a call to the company it seems there's a pot of about £20,000 but the charges have been reducing it's value, it was higher, if i start drawing a monthly income i wouldn't get more than around £10,
Would you take 25% out and draw the rest monthly, i know there wouldn't be much a month but seems the only way to me,
Wish i'd never took the thing out really and wouldn't advise any self employed person to invest in a pension fund, put it somewhere you can access it but be very strict on yourself not to touch it.
 
Was a few years ago now so things may have changed but i considered opening a cash ISA in the grandkids names because it allowed for a bigger deposit and better interest while leaving you in full control until they turned 18 , of course you could always close the account before then . Something to investigate maybe ?

:think: i have 4 grandkids now so maybe i should look into it again .
 
If I were you JM I’d take the 25% tax free lump sum and just take whatever is left as a monthly payment which obviously will be taxed if your already over your yearly tax allowance. I’m in the process of sorting out my pensions ready for April retirement and will be doing just this. I regard myself as fortunate that I have 40 years contributions in a defined benefit scheme (closed 2 years ago) with numerous options on retirement. The last 2 years have been with the replacement defined contribution scheme.
 
Recently had the same thing happen but it was only worth about 6 grand.. Had many choices of options but the only one that appealed was the cash lump sum... It was something i started when the Bank was called the Midland Bank.. I had no idea it was still live so to speak... So i took the cash lump sum and ended up with 4 grand ish.. Then just Blew it on crap and Tools and Bits and Things, Just went Mad on ebay, Loved it ... F@&k 'em'...
 
I took my private pension out a few years ago, and was in the same postion as you @joinerman the lump sum was nice, but the monthly income was poor, so I asked for it yearly instead of monthly, now I have something to look forward to, in a lump sum each year, now I can save or spend it on something useful, instead of it just frittered away each month.

But mine was a little bit more than £10 a month, in saying that £120 is not to be sneezed at.

:)
 
Yep, same advice here. It won’t be much per month even per year, but it’s better than nothing (and it was nothing before you remembered you had it).

... and a 5 grand lump sum out of the blue... nice, be happy :icon-biggrin:
 
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Cash it in.
who knows what the future brings. enjoy whilst you can
 
Talking of pensions.....
In the late 60s I was an articled clerk in London and the firm started its own pension scheme as this was really a very new option and, being accountants, they wanted to encourage clients to start schemes. So dutifully I paid in from my meagre pittance every month for about five years.
Over the years any paperwork that I had vanished but I remembered that it was a Scottish firm who held the scheme. So when I retired I started checking with all the Scottish pension companies, all of which have gone through numerous amalgamations, etc and contacted the only partner of the firm to which I was articled who was still alive and eventually arrived with the Sottish Pensions Ombudsman.
My initial contact with the Ombudsman was over two years ago but every six months we have a conversation because..... and this takes some believing - those early pension funds in Scotland are held by individuals and, although the SPO know who they are it is up to the individuals to check in every so often to see if anyone has enquired about their pension! Guess what, the individual who holds the scheme I was in hasn't contacted them in for several years!
So some guy somewhere is hoarding my couple of quid a week for five years contributions (that at the time I could ill afford), which after 50 years must be worth something, so however small your odd old pension funds are at least you know who has them and what options are available.

In those early days of small company pension schemes the rules were very vague and ill-defined.
Still we live in hope!

Regards,

Rodger
 
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