Younger guys pension guide

leolion855 · Post by **leolion855** » 01 Jul 2019, 17:44

At 35 i have no idea what im paying into or what im getting or when ill get it, i have no idea what all the jargon and abbreviations mean. All i know is that ive be paying into something at RM for the last 12 mths.

Anyone got an idiots guide or dont i need to concern myself yet?

Post by **baldrick** » 01 Jul 2019, 18:09

It's good you are thinking about it now. I didn't start thinking about my pension until I hit 40. But I had started paying into the RM pension scheme when I started working for them at age 30. I started paying in extra at 40 to get the number of pensionable years needed to get the full pension.

I don't know how it works now, others will no doubt be able to tell you more, but I'd suggest you pay as much as you can afford to into pension schemes to get the maximum you can on retirement.

Post by **RobertT** » 01 Jul 2019, 18:39

leolion855 wrote:At 35 i have no idea what im paying into or what im getting or when ill get it, i have no idea what all the jargon and abbreviations mean. All i know is that ive be paying into something at RM for the last 12 mths.

Anyone got an idiots guide or dont i need to concern myself yet?

You've been paying into the RM Defined Contribution Plan administered by Zurich, which has now actually changed to Scottish Widows.

An idiots guide can be found here.

For full details see here.

General defined contribution pension rules and what you can do with your money here.

I would echo Baldrick's post and say the sooner you start and the more you save, the better and possibly sooner your retirement is likely to be.

leolion855 · Post by **leolion855** » 01 Jul 2019, 19:33

thanks for that im looking good, maybe i should put my pension from a previous employer in there if thats possible?

Post by **RobertT** » 02 Jul 2019, 05:15

It may be possible. See page 9 of your RMDCP plan guide where it says:

Can I transfer benefits from another pension scheme?
It may be possible to transfer benefits into the Plan from previous pension arrangements. Individual transfers are accepted at the Trustees’ discretion. Please contact the Scottish Widows Royal Mail Service Team for further information.

arnold cheshire · Post by **arnold cheshire** » 02 Jul 2019, 14:03

Is everyone in the rmdcp?

Post by **RobertT** » 02 Jul 2019, 14:15

arnold cheshire wrote:Is everyone in the rmdcp?

No!

arnold cheshire · Post by **arnold cheshire** » 02 Jul 2019, 14:34

RobertT wrote:
arnold cheshire wrote:Is everyone in the rmdcp?
No!

thanks Robert T

Redvannon · Post by **Redvannon** » 28 Jul 2019, 14:49

I noticed I was paying 6% into the RMDCP which I thought was good compared to my previous job. Am I able to put more than 6% in or is that the maximum?

I do have a nest pension from the government from my previous job, am I able to transfer that money into my RMDCP or is it stuck there?

itinerant · Post by **itinerant** » 28 Jul 2019, 15:19

Redvannon wrote:I noticed I was paying 6% into the RMDCP which I thought was good compared to my previous job. Am I able to put more than 6% in or is that the maximum?

I do have a nest pension from the government from my previous job, am I able to transfer that money into my RMDCP or is it stuck there?

Yes you can pay in extra as Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs). RM do not contribute any more on top but you do get the benefits of paying out of your gross pay, so before income tax and national insurance, via PSE (i think it works out that you pay just 68p for every £1 you put in so there is an immediate uplift). There is a limit on how much you can put in to be eligible under PSE (for me on a 30 hour contract I think it worked out about £100 a week). You can choose where to invest your AVC contributions via Scottish Widows website.

See Robert T comment above regarding transferring in other pensions.

Post by **RobertT** » 28 Jul 2019, 15:26

Redvannon wrote:I noticed I was paying 6% into the RMDCP which I thought was good compared to my previous job. Am I able to put more than 6% in or is that the maximum?

I do have a nest pension from the government from my previous job, am I able to transfer that money into my RMDCP or is it stuck there?

For your 6% contribution RM are putting in 10% which is a good employer rate. Plus you have the benefit of tax relief and salary sacrifice(or PSE as RM calls it), which means your 6% is only really costing you 4.08%.

Yes you can put in more if you want to and those extra payments will also benefit from those tax breaks, but you won't get any more than 10% of RM. See page 10 of your plan guide.

You can transfer out of Nest as their website states. But whether you can transfer it into the RMDCP is at the trustees discretion. See page 9 of your plan guide.

Lots of info about the RMDCP and pensions in general, including the plan guide, can be found on the Scottish Widows RMDCP website.

Redvannon · Post by **Redvannon** » 28 Jul 2019, 16:30

itinerant wrote:
Redvannon wrote:I noticed I was paying 6% into the RMDCP which I thought was good compared to my previous job. Am I able to put more than 6% in or is that the maximum?

I do have a nest pension from the government from my previous job, am I able to transfer that money into my RMDCP or is it stuck there?
Yes you can pay in extra as Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs). RM do not contribute any more on top but you do get the benefits of paying out of your gross pay, so before income tax and national insurance, via PSE (i think it works out that you pay just 68p for every £1 you put in so there is an immediate uplift). There is a limit on how much you can put in to be eligible under PSE (for me on a 30 hour contract I think it worked out about £100 a week). You can choose where to invest your AVC contributions via Scottish Widows website.

See Robert T comment above regarding transferring in other pensions.

Thanks buddy! I'm also on a 30 hour contract so having a rough idea what I can put in extra is helpful info.

I'll see if the trustees discretion allows the transfer though. Far better it in my RM pension than one that costs me to run and not contribute to anymore.

itinerant · Post by **itinerant** » 29 Jul 2019, 07:01

No worries! I had asked a similar question myself and it was answered by heapsy in the following post https://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communi ... 27&t=90935