pension is it worth it?

You've already doubled your money, so assuming you can live without that 20 quid go for it.

Putrid poetry, dismal doggerel, extrava-stanzas...

Wouldn't it be a 'trivial pension' which he could take as a lump sum (minus tax of course)?

After 2006, this depends on the value of his all his pension plans, not just the ASDA pension.

If all of them are valued at 1% or less than the lifetime limit (£1.5m in 2006, increasing to £1.8m in 2010), then they can be commuted.

Otherwise no.

surely this depend upon whether he has any other pension or savings.

If he does not, then the 10 quid a week pension (or whatever it is) will be deducted from his means-tested benefits and he will get almost nothing for his money

tim

True, and I've heard this argument many times.

I would ask what happens if the government changes the rules, as governments frequently do ?

The thought of being totally at the mercy of the state quite frankly scares me.....

If it's not rendered worthless by the MIG or the pension scheme charges, then yes, it's free money.

At 7% growth, £40pm after 6 years, would be worth £3,562 according to

Don't forget to look holistically at the pensions situation. The government currently makes sure that every pensioner has £102pw single /£156pw couple under the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG)

To get this from a pension fund at an annuity rate 4.3% of would take a pension fund of £123,349 / £188,651. So if you anticipate having savings below this level you need to consider the alternatives as your efforts may be wasted.

The situation has changed slightly with the pension credit though, which is a bodge to try and mitigate the previous bodge. I've lost track of how to work it out !

See

It might be worth making NI class 3 voluntary contributions if you have and non qualifying years (for an explanation see NP46). Get a state pension forecast to see - form BR19. Links on my webpage

Write to the trustees of your other pensions requesting a forecast. Forewarned is forearmed etc.....

Daytona

Interested in that annuity rate of 4.3% - seems a bit of a rip off to me (like all annuities). Surely it's much wiser to put the money into a good income investment/unit trust - you'll get slightly less than 4.3% (but divis from IT's are tax paid), they tend to rise - in fact many have increased their divis above RPI for donkeys years. So not only is the income better than an anuity, you've still got your capital (which should also) grow.

In message id on Sat, 01 Oct 2005 10:33:10 +0100, Daytona wrote in uk.finance :

Why does a pensioner NEED £102 pw compared to a job seeker (potential taxpayer) who is deemed to NEED just £56 pw?

What costs will a pensioner have that a job seeker will not?

I work as a caseworker for a UK charity and means tests mainly the retired. The cases I meet do spend a lot of their "spare" cash on funeral benefit plans, white/brown goods cover/insurance and presents for Grandchildren.

X-No-Archive: yes In message , John Blake writes

Grandchildren. They cost me about 50p an hour in lamp costs when they run the projector in my home cinema. And they like the swimming pool to be at least 30C.

JF wrote

For a relatively modest outlay at birthdays and Xmas I bribe mine to stay in California and Cairns with their parents. :-)