Investments

[Citizen of Legoland]

I have a workplace pension for a job j left in December. Was only there a bit over 4 years so not major money in it.
I have a new workplace pension from new job. Can I easily transfer the old one into the new one so that I can manage it easily as I'm sure that by the time I come to retire, I'll have forgotten about it.

Yes, normally it's a straightforward process BUT as always if you need pension advice then ask a professional (I'm not one). Your new employer may have access to a pension advisor who can offer some advice on this and will possibly be free.

If you sign up to Pension Bee you can keep track of all the different pensions without physically combining them. It's never been easier.

In my opinion having separate plans is wise - I currently have 3. If you can max out your contributions to match your employers in your workplace pension and still have a little left, then put a little in the old one to keep it ticking over, say £25 pm. It depends on the total charges for the fund and advisor fees of each, and what risk profiles the funds are set up as, or if you were given the opportunity to choose or change at some point.

 

[Gareth Barry Conlon]

I have a workplace pension for a job j left in December. Was only there a bit over 4 years so not major money in it.
I have a new workplace pension from new job. Can I easily transfer the old one into the new one so that I can manage it easily as I'm sure that by the time I come to retire, I'll have forgotten about it.

The answer is maybe. But it's not that hard to just put the details in a draw and leave it. They will write to you once a year as well.

I have 4 different pensions. I'm just letting them all chill.

 

[Manchester33]

We are expecting circa £50k in the next couple of months, does anyone with better knowledge than me know what’s best to do with it? Currently we are going to split it into 2/3 accounts at around 5% each and add to it every month but the finance world isn’t my forte and it’s a sum of money that has me sweating already. Any advice?

This flowchart is pretty much bang on...


Investment Flow Chart

 

[denislawsbackheel]

Thanks mate il think about that especially some for 5 years. Sit next to a conspiracy theorist at work, he’s saying that if the Bank of England go bankrupt the FCS won’t pay out. Usually don’t take notice of his waffle (flat earth, dinosaurs weren’t real etc) but the way the govt is going that’s not entirely impossible, is it? Need to become more educated on these matters now to be fair!

He talks utter bollocks. If the BoE goes bust you’ll end up eating your money!
Protect your returns from tax.
At 5% £50K will generate £2500 a year interest.
Of that £1500 will be subject to income tax if you are a basic rate tax payer.
Put £20K each in ISAs paying 5% and your return is tax free.

 

[Frank the Yank]

He talks utter bollocks. If the BoE goes bust you’ll end up eating your money!
Protect your returns from tax.
At 5% £50K will generate £2500 a year interest.
Of that £1500 will be subject to income tax if you are a basic rate tax payer.
Put £20K each in ISAs paying 5% and your return is tax free.

It is nonsense. If something like this were to happen you can end up wiping your arse with your currency.

If you think something so drastic might happen, then buy physical gold and silver.

 

[Kompany Car]

Nationwide are doing a 1 and 2 year fixed rate isa which is paying close to 5% . Also you are still young enough to open a lifetime isa. But I don't know if they are good or bad .

With the LISA it depends on what you are planning on doing with the money, it can only be used for 2 purposes:

1. Buying your first property, but if you already own or are on the deeds of another property then it rules you out of using it for buying a second property or using the money to pay off an existing mortgage.

2. Alternatively you can use it as part of a pension which you can can only access from 60yrs old.

If you use it for any other purpose or access the money as part of a pension before 60 you lose 25% in tax.

 

[Kompany Car]

This flowchart is pretty much bang on...


Investment Flow Chart

That's a really useful flowchart. The only thing it does not take into account is the removal of the cap on lifetime pension value, but that will only affect a relatively small number of people.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

The cash fund would be perfect but isn't one of the options open to me
As I said, they've listed me thirteen funds I can transfer to

Will they allow you to move to a newer style pension with them that will allow cash funds? It’s unusual the cash one isn’t one of the 13 to be honest.

 

[Corky]

With the LISA it depends on what you are planning on doing with the money, it can only be used for 2 purposes:

1. Buying your first property, but if you already own or are on the deeds of another property then it rules you out of using it for buying a second property or using the money to pay off an existing mortgage.

2. Alternatively you can use it as part of a pension which you can can only access from 60yrs old.

If you use it for any other purpose or access the money as part of a pension before 60 you lose 25% in tax.

You get a 25% bonus from the Gov, they are claiming it back that is all. It is no reason to put anyone off getting one as you don't lose any of your own cash, and still get interest.

For the HTB ISA you only got the bonus at the end so when you bought a house, so it wasn't applied and taken off, but you could only put in £2,400 a year rather than £4,000 and the maximum was £12k you could put in
(5 years), so the LISA is much better.

 

[Manchester33]

That's a really useful flowchart. The only thing it does not take into account is the removal of the cap on lifetime pension value, but that will only affect a relatively small number of people.

Yep, I also don't like the 'optional' points on the emergency funds. I think they should be mandatory for anyone who's taking their personal finance seriously. But it's a great flowchart as a rule of thumb.