Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
12 November 2010
15:1479802I went on line today to look at the govts guidlines on state pensions
Although I have a little while to go I wondnt if anyone out that understands pensions can just explain how it works.
If have understood it right
A single person would get £97 odd a week
a married couple £157
does the married persons partner also get a state penson? or is that in the £157?
anyone know
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Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
12 November 2010
15:2279804My Wife gets a very small pension because in the last years of working she was only working part time, I get a State penson base on my wages over all my working life, I do not know what you mean by amarried couple pension, I did not think there is one,but that is what we get.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
12 November 2010
15:2779805If you type in married persons state penson it takes you to a govt dept advisory service where you can get your estimate.
before that it esimates the above on
single and married persons
you probably have vic answered it in part
just wondered, never got my head round these pension entitements
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
12 November 2010
15:4779806keith
there is minimun pension guarantee of £.132 per week for anyone over 60.
Ross Miller
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,706
12 November 2010
16:1579813Keith surely the give away is the word couple?
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
12 November 2010
16:1879814ROSS
I aplogise for not understandng this, I won't comment further on what i thought to be a reasonable question.
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Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
12 November 2010
16:2079815There is the Basic State Pension and if you are employed you also have an earnings related top-up, the State Second Pension (S2P). Historically there is also SERPS and the Graduated Pension. They are currently payable from age 65.
• The Basic State Pension is £97.65 per week for a single person (2010/11).
• A BR19 form can obtain a forecast of your State Pensions and this can be useful to help target your retirement income.
• It is possible to Contract Out of the S2P via either an employer's pension or via a Personal or Stakeholder Pension.
• Many Occupation Pension schemes automatically contract you out leaving you only with the Basic State Pension plus the employer's scheme.
• With Contracting Out via a Personal or Stakeholder Pension a portion of your National Insurance contributions are paid into your pension. These 'rebates' are invested to provide a retirement income. I have concerns over the level of rebate and whether it is enough to produce a better income than the State scheme. This option is soon to stop.
• To complicate matters further there has been a Pensions Credit introduced The Standard Income Guarantee is £132.60 for a single person and £202.40 for a couple. The maximum possible Pensions Credit is only £20.52 per week (£27.09 for couples). The Pensions Credit is reduced by other income. (source: Pensions Agency)
You get a pension based on your NI record, the maximum being achieved with 30 years contributions. A married woman with no NI record can get a pension based on her husband's NI record. The the married couple pension is paid to the person who paid the NI but that is not received if the spouse has her/his own NI record.
Everyone should make sure they have their own independent retirement income and not depend upon the State Pension.
Remember at age 65 your tax allowance increases to £9,490 (£6,475 below age 65). The extra is the age allowance.
With sensible planning you can ensure that as a couple you can maximise both tax allowances. It would be silly, for instance if the husband had a gross taxable pension income of £15,000 and the wife only £5,000. The husband would be paying tax while the wife has tax allowance to spare. A more efficient arrangement is for them to have £10,000 each to minimise tax or at least for the wife to have investments from which her tax can be reclaimed.
You can lose out in other ways too.
If you have a total taxable income of £22,900 at age 65 you lose £1 of age allowance for each £2 of income, being effectively taxed at 30% at that point. Far better again for many people to plan around that - spreading savings/investment to make sure both incomes are below that band and/or any additional income coming from non-taxable sources like Stocks & Shares ISAs rather than pensions.
Pensions are not the only tool available tomplan for retirement.
It is best to plan early on, certainly before you retire. Too many people lose out because they fail to plan. A lot of people in retirement are also losing out in a lot of areas, lacking the advice needed to maximise income and minimise tax.
Also no-one should ever purchase an annuity that is offered by their pension company withour getting advice and an open market quote. I have known people to lose out on what would otherwise have been an income 30% better....
Just a few generic tips there for anyone interested. I have a lot more up my sleeve but I am afraid you will have to pay me for those.
This is an important subject for everyone and proper planning can make the world of difference to your standard of living in retirement. Whatever you do nothing in this post represents a recommendation to invest. Please ensure that you get advice before investing and know the risks.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
12 November 2010
16:3379818Barryw
thankyou for that very well explained source of info
As you may appreciate gettng the yearly form from people got me thnking,
Where would i get the form BR19 from
and how is the SC2 work
Iv been in and contributed 30 years which i understand to be a qualifying period
I reailise you have the knowledge on this.
If you could let me have that info I won't bother you again(on this subject lol)
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Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
12 November 2010
16:4079820Keith: email me and I will email you back a BR19 form -
advice@regency-ifa.co.uk
SC2 - Do you mean S2P? - that is very complex, an earning related element. For you there would likely me a mix of graduated, SERPS, S2P and periods of occupational contracted out thrown into the mix, not possible for me to give you any guidance there. The BR19 will get you the assessment of state pension including S2P/SERPS/Graduated.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
12 November 2010
16:4279822Ta matey
will e mail you
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Ross Miller- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,706
12 November 2010
16:4679824Keith apologies for being a little flippant in my earlier post
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
12 November 2010
16:5079827all rather ironic this discussion on pensions happening the same day that the "forces pension society" is castigating the government about pensions paid to war widows.
up until now the pensions have been tied in with the retail price index which is more generous than the consumer price index it will be transferred to.
this applies to the wives of permanently disabled servicemen too.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
12 November 2010
17:0579835The press exaggerate the effect, Howard.
The CPI is sometimes actually higher than RPI.
At least people on these statutory schemes get increases, CPI or RPI - an increase is still an increase.
There are many, if not the majority, who use their pensions to purchase an annuity with no increases at all.
If you have a pension fund of £100,000 and have a choice of annuity purchase - example (the figures below are not real, just done to demonstrate a point)
£6,000 Level payment or a payment that will increase at 3% per annum starting at £5,000 - which would you choose?
It would take 7 years for the £5,000 to top the £6,000 and several years more for the total income derived to beat the level annuity. While the figures I give are 'made up' the 7 plus years to break even is pretty much in the ball park.
Bear in mind also that you will be most active and want to spend most money in the earlier years or retirement.
So please forgive me if I am not too concerned about the change to CPI, even for war widows.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
12 November 2010
17:4379846Well done BARRY again on this one we are lucky to have a expert here to tell us all we need to know,but I must say the Pensions dept were very good,they came out to see me ,and done the lot for me and helped me with the form filling to. There is help out there when you need it,also the D.D.C. office again will help you,they like the pension dept are very very helpfully,A big+for the D.D.C.