UK State Pension

[halfmist]

Not sure if it applies to your mum but usually when one pensioner dies the surviving pensioner can clame about 70 percent plus of their dead partners pension.

It depends on the options. If you elect for part of your pension to be transferred to the spouse on death, it will reduce the amount you receive during your lifetime

 

[SilverFox2]

It depends on the options. If you elect for part of your pension to be transferred to the spouse on death, it will reduce the amount you receive during your lifetime

I am referring to the State Pension not the private ones,

Additional State Pension

Additional State Pension, also known as the State Second Pension or SERPS, is extra money on top of your basic State Pension.

www.gov.uk

 

[Grassland Blue]

With every passing year, each successive govt from about the mid 70's has kicked the future 'how to pay for' Pension issue down the road.

They've raised the pension age... slowly raising the female retirement age to become the same as Male, whilst also increasing the male retirement age. This is ok, but is offset by the increasingly aged population, ie more people living at pension age, and living longer.

With each successive year, the amount of wiggle room available to the govt for ''sorting' pensions, reduces.

The 'triple lock', while admirable, is going to have to come off, unless people accept that taxes will have to rise...
and by taxes I mean , taxes on people that can afford them. No 'rich' person is going to be "hit" by a 1% increase in a targeted tax, compared to the daily grind of the lowest earning 70% of the population, just trying to get by.
Eg £1m earnt, 1% tax is just £10k... which is just under a 1/3 of the median gross wage of a person in the UK. ie 50% of people earn less than that, from £0 - £34k.

What that tax is on/come from... is open for discussion.

But it needs to do something about the increasing disparity between the richest 10% and the bottom 70-80% of the population. In over 50 years, the disparity has widened considerably.

Some extra tax could be raised on luxury goods.
If a wealthy person can afford to purchase a car priced at say £250k, then that person would probably not raise an eyebrow if the price of said vehicle was raised to close to £300k.
In fact, the individual concerned would most likely boast that they've spent so much on it and the "You couldb't afford that could you?" mentality would give them a sense of superiority and smugness.

 

[city2]

Lots of people won’t get a state pension because it’s not sustainable if your under 40 your gonna get shafted esp when less people will be paying into the system because Al will have replaced humans in the workplace. In my opinion

 

[hampshireblue]

And very obviously you did the correct thing as you needed the lump sum immediately
I'm 62 and thinking of retirement next year and at the moment the slow drawdown looks to be my best option
I need to take proper advice, but my schoolboy figures say that over a period of 9 years, I could be £60k better off

I've been in drawdown for nearly 8 years when I was 56 and my "pot" has 10% more than when I started drawdown. Taking advice is well worth it. If you've got a SIPP, diversification is key to generate a return on those funds still invested.

 

[GornikDaze]

Unless I am reading some of the posts incorrectly I think some may be getting a bit confused about the tax free element.
You cannot begin to draw on a private pension from the age of 55 which rises to 58 from 5th April 2028.
You can from those ages, decide what you are going to do, carry on paying in, freeze it, part take it or buy what is called an annuity.
If you decide to cash it in full 25% can be drawn tax free the other 75% is taxable.
A main consideration is if it is a large pot it may result in tax being paid at higher rates.
If you have already retired at say 55 it is too early to draw the state pension so it is wise to look at other income you may have.
To keep it simple, very little other income then it would be worth considering drawing down £15000 per year, 25% tax free leaving £12000 taxable which would be covered by your personal allowance.
You may wish to continue drawing down if there is enough money in the pot year on year until state pension pays out
Any undrawn money in the pension pot can eventually be used to purchase what is called an annuity which will pay out an annual sum until death.
My experience of these is the return from them is very poor and you never get the pot back and they are not usually inflation linked.
A good bond or long term deposit account often offers better returns taking in to account you get interest and your money back.

Great post.
Just to add to the highlighted penultimate paragraph. You can add ‘value protection’ as an option when buying an annuity. This ensures there will be a payment on death which is essentially a notional value based on the purchase price less the sum of annuity payments already made.
Annuity rates were poor for many years, but have come back in recent years particularly as a benefit of the Ms Truss era. Most wouldn’t opt for index linked annuities as it does reduce the starting payment considerably.

 

[Tuearts right boot]

Not sure if it applies to your mum but usually when one pensioner dies the surviving pensioner can clame about 70 percent plus of their dead partners pension.

Pretty sure it's 75%. I remembered being mildly shocked when my FiL passed away and I was told.

 

[Kirkstall Blue]

Graduated Retirement Benefit.

It lasted from 1961 to 1975. It closed 50 years ago.

As you know It's worth an extra 25p a week because inflation has eroded almost all of the value of your contributions in to that scheme.

Rights4Seniors | Advice NI

Rights4Seniors was a digital inclusion project delivered by Advice NI. The website, www.rights4seniors.net, provided information and resources for older people in Northern Ireland to allow them to access their rights and entitlements.

www.rights4seniors.net

The Labour government that abolished it introduced Serps.

My understanding is that SERPs was a more generous than GRB because it took into account caring responsibilities and greater payouts for lower earners.

The first belt tightening of SERPs came under the Tories in 1988.

Happy to be corrected on that from someone more knowledgeable.

The Blair government replaced SERPS with a more generous S2P.

The general trend is for Labour governments to introduce more generous state pension schemes and then for the Tories to cut them back.



I didn't say that. But some pensioners are. And they aren't as rare as hens teeth.

Pensioners who own their own home and have occupational pensions and other streams of income besides the state pension are generally reasonably well off.

Especially pensioners who are asset rich due to land value inflation. Particularly in areas of the South East of England.

Thanks for explaining graduated pension that would be worth 25p on top of my £11,502,25p and another 25p if I get to eighty I will definitely claim it :) because I paid in a hell of a lot of graduated pension and so did my employers

The inland revenue know exactly how much each pensioner has to live on but they don’t produce any figures on how many of those are living on £11,502,25p that 25p is probably the amount over the limit for WFP

Asset rich means if I sell my home to buy something cheaper in the south east but that would work if I was rattling around in a stately home and bought myself a modest suburban home then I would have hundreds of thousands left to give away.

This Labour government are not going to give the pensioners anything extra no government ever has, apart from a winter fuel payment to cover the huge hikes in energy prices and this government takes it away.
If I live long enough then there’s a chance I get back what I paid in that’s the point what you have at the end of your working life is all you’ll ever have for food rent furniture etc

 

[Blue Maverick]

Lots of people won’t get a state pension because it’s not sustainable if your under 40 your gonna get shafted esp when less people will be paying into the system because Al will have replaced humans in the workplace. In my opinion

I think a universal income may have to come in eventually, the only trades that will be viable is manual sparkys plumbers. My wife does admin for nhs they’ve started using AI, this week she’s been replying to emails using it, it’s a game changer in the right way to put a message across, I said wait until someone can ask it to do in milliseconds the filing that takes you hours! Scary times for many, even things like taxi driving, HGV driving could be gone in the next 10-20 years, they have autonomous taxi in USA already.

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

Thanks for explaining graduated pension that would be worth 25p on top of my £11,502,25p and another 25p if I get to eighty I will definitely claim it :) because I paid in a hell of a lot of graduated pension and so did my employers

The inland revenue know exactly how much each pensioner has to live on but they don’t produce any figures on how many of those are living on £11,502,25p that 25p is probably the amount over the limit for WFP

Don't think you have to claim it. It would already be in your pot but might not be individually itemised anymore.

Asset rich means if I sell my home to buy something cheaper in the south east but that would work if I was rattling around in a stately home and bought myself a modest suburban home then I would have hundreds of thousands left to give away.

This Labour government are not going to give the pensioners anything extra no government ever has, apart from a winter fuel payment to cover the huge hikes in energy prices and this government takes it away.
If I live long enough then there’s a chance I get back what I paid in that’s the point what you have at the end of your working life is all you’ll ever have for food rent furniture etc

The Wilson-Callaghan Labour government did in the form of SERPS.

Blair did in the form of SP2. Both were more generous than the scheme they replaced.

Winter fuel allowance was a new labour creation.

The figures referenced earlier was that you only have to live 7 years to get what you paid back in.

It's not meant to payout what you put in. It's effectively one big insurance scheme.

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

I think a universal income may have to come in eventually, the only trades that will be viable is manual sparkys plumbers. My wife does admin for nhs they’ve started using AI, this week she’s been replying to emails using it, it’s a game changer in the right way to put a message across, I said wait until someone can ask it to do in milliseconds the filing that takes you hours! Scary times for many, even things like taxi driving, HGV driving could be gone in the next 10-20 years, they have autonomous taxi in USA already.

There are probably already systems that could do that. But the software license cost outstrips the cost of having a human do it.

 

[Kirkstall Blue]

Graduated Retirement Benefit.

It lasted from 1961 to 1975. It closed 50 years ago.

As you know It's worth an extra 25p a week because inflation has eroded almost all of the value of your contributions in to that scheme.

Rights4Seniors | Advice NI

Rights4Seniors was a digital inclusion project delivered by Advice NI. The website, www.rights4seniors.net, provided information and resources for older people in Northern Ireland to allow them to access their rights and entitlements.

www.rights4seniors.net

The Labour government that abolished it introduced Serps.

My understanding is that SERPs was a more generous than GRB because it took into account caring responsibilities and greater payouts for lower earners.

The first belt tightening of SERPs came under the Tories in 1988.

Happy to be corrected on that from someone more knowledgeable.

The Blair government replaced SERPS with a more generous S2P.

The general trend is for Labour governments to introduce more generous state pension schemes and then for the Tories to cut them back.



I didn't say that. But some pensioners are. And they aren't as rare as hens teeth.

Pensioners who own their own home and have occupational pensions and other streams of income besides the state pension are generally reasonably well off.

Especially pensioners who are asset rich due to land value inflation. Particularly in areas of the South East of England.

Yes I should have kept up and bought a stamp but didn’t think of that at the time.

You can still catch up and buy your stamps. It’s voluntary contribution stamp I know people who have done so. It all depends if it’s worth it to you.

 

[Bournemouth Blue]

I only started investing in a private pension in my fifties, after paying off our mortgage. It is giving me twice as much every month than the state pension.

 

[Kirkstall Blue]

Don't think you have to claim it. It would already be in your pot but might not be individually itemised anymore.




The Wilson-Callaghan Labour government did in the form of SERPS.

Blair did in the form of SP2. Both were more generous than the scheme they replaced.

Winter fuel allowance was a new labour creation.

The figures referenced earlier was that you only have to live 7 years to get what you paid back in.

It's not meant to payout what you put in. It's effectively one big insurance scheme.

It’s an insurance scheme for successive government to raid the pension pot, which they do yearly withdrawing billions to pay for other state benefits which should be covered by income tax.
Never mind what people pay in, Nat Ins is specifically for the ring fenced benefits which I’ve explained once before.
If the government paid back all the billions they robbed every pensioner would be very rich indeed and the government could claim they were all dripping in riches.

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

It’s an insurance scheme for successive government to raid the pension pot, which they do yearly withdrawing billions to pay for other state benefits which should be covered by income tax.
Never mind what people pay in, Nat Ins is specifically for the ring fenced benefits which I’ve explained once before.
If the government paid back all the billions they robbed every pensioner would be very rich indeed and the government could claim they were all dripping in riches.

Citation?

 

[bluethrunthru]

first response to the OP is its a fucking joke - we are supposed to be 5th or 6th largest economy in the world however a lot of that money if offshored to avoid taxes that would pay for pensions. We have had successive Govts telling the pensioners who's votes they depend upon they are protecting them with the triple lock but telling would be new pensioners that you have to work longer before you can take a state pension ( when I started working it was 65 - its now 68 and I have no faith that will be the date I can apply for it) - its a benefit - its not something you paid into and can now withdraw you paid in when you worked to pay your dad or your grandma's pension. I'll stop now coz this is basic knowledge that is out there but people prefer to avoid - simple answer is tax wealth and pay decent pensions like the rest of Europe at a decent age. If you disagree go speak to your elderly relatives who got a state pension at 60 (female) or 65(male) and tell them they are spongers on benefits ............

 

[halfmist]

I only started investing in a private pension in my fifties, after paying off our mortgage. It is giving me twice as much every month than the state pension.

You never know what is around the corner. In the good times me and the Mrs paid into Equitable Life to reduce our tax bills. It all went belly up. When I was able to get out of it at 55 I did. Mrs had to stay in for quite a few years because of her age and the pension company eventually paid out about double her pension pot to her, once they had settled the court cases against those who had guaranteed amounts. She now draws down the most tax efficient sum every year from the pot which will continue until State Pension age on the basis we can make better investment decisions than the provider who charges an annual fee on the pot regardless of performance. I have found investments in land and the house I live in, gives way higher returns (tax free on the house )and a chance to enjoy it rather than just stare at a load of figures on a piece of paper

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

first response to the OP is its a fucking joke - we are supposed to be 5th or 6th largest economy in the world however a lot of that money if offshored to avoid taxes that would pay for pensions. We have had successive Govts telling the pensioners who's votes they depend upon they are protecting them with the triple lock but telling would be new pensioners that you have to work longer before you can take a state pension ( when I started working it was 65 - its now 68 and I have no faith that will be the date I can apply for it) - its a benefit - its not something you paid into and can now withdraw you paid in when you worked to pay your dad or your grandma's pension. I'll stop now coz this is basic knowledge that is out there but people prefer to avoid - simple answer is tax wealth and pay decent pensions like the rest of Europe at a decent age. If you disagree go speak to your elderly relatives who got a state pension at 60 (female) or 65(male) and tell them they are spongers on benefits ............

People have been told this mate. They just won't listen.

 

[halfmist]

first response to the OP is its a fucking joke - we are supposed to be 5th or 6th largest economy in the world however a lot of that money if offshored to avoid taxes that would pay for pensions. We have had successive Govts telling the pensioners who's votes they depend upon they are protecting them with the triple lock but telling would be new pensioners that you have to work longer before you can take a state pension ( when I started working it was 65 - its now 68 and I have no faith that will be the date I can apply for it) - its a benefit - its not something you paid into and can now withdraw you paid in when you worked to pay your dad or your grandma's pension. I'll stop now coz this is basic knowledge that is out there but people prefer to avoid - simple answer is tax wealth and pay decent pensions like the rest of Europe at a decent age. If you disagree go speak to your elderly relatives who got a state pension at 60 (female) or 65(male) and tell them they are spongers on benefits ............

The simple answer may be, tax wealth, but the hardest question is how do you value it.
You would need to get everyone to list every asset they own say over £1000 on a Tax Return each year
I am sure everyone on here is as honest as the day is long but not everyone is.
If you are going after the big boys how would they value shares in a private company, land with or without planning permission, family heirlooms worth hundreds of thousands of pounds each year.
Many would just transfer their wealth overseas or hide it away.
HMRC just don’t have the expertise to police this.
Also who on that first Return is going to disclose everything to what would be seen as a Socialist ideology.
The world is not fair, never has been , never will be and tax avoidance just doesn’t carry the same stigma as robbing old ladies.

 

[denislawsbackheel]

You can still catch up and buy your stamps. It’s voluntary contribution stamp I know people who have done so. It all depends if it’s worth it to you.

From April you can only buy back the last 6 years.
But if you are quick before then you can buy back to 2006.