taking royal mail pension

[heckster]

same old ask I know
I,m 59 , 38 yrs service , will I lose much taking pension now?
anyone say I should?
any one recommend

[zz666]

Lose about 5% of nra60 part. The nra65 - I think about 30% of that part. Personally would wait till 60 and receive nra60 in full with no reduction at very least.

[DGH]

Wait til 60 if you can.

Beyond that, if you can afford to retire with the reduced pension and you're sick of the job, then it's sensible enough to go at 60. However it's worth bearing in mind that you won't be able to claim the state pension at that point, you'd only have the RM one until you were 66.

[Lefantum]

Your NRA 60 taken at 60. Will be based on the best of your last 3 years,or an average of your best 3yrs from your last 10,pensionable pay. Either way, if an agreed pay deal affects your Pensionable allowances. You aint gonna lose on your NRA60. So anyone advising you to take it now. Is giving you bad info.

[heapsy]

same old ask I know
I,m 59 , 38 yrs service , will I lose much taking pension now?
anyone say I should?
any one recommend

As you are asking, let me ask WHY you want to?
I think there is a real problem with people not understanding their pension. Are you thinking it might be changed in some way post 31 March 2018? If that is the case, then you need to know it WONT. Only the pension going forward will be different.
Something else to consider is this.. do you have sufficient assets? The problem with taking a pension early with reductions, is that it might not keep up with cost of living. Statistically, most people run out of cash after only 7 years of retirement. Therefore relying on their pension. Taking your pension early, with reductions, means that you are likely to run out of money EARLIER.

[stephen500]

Wait til 60 if you can.

Beyond that, if you can afford to retire with the reduced pension and you're sick of the job, then it's sensible enough to go at 60. However it's worth bearing in mind that you won't be able to claim the state pension at that point, you'd only have the RM one until you were 66.

I am retiring at 60.
Do what I am doing, if possible.
Divide your lump sum by 6 years and then by 12 months and use as a monthly income to supplement your pension.
Don't waste it on a new car.
By doing this, I am doubling my monthly pension until I am 66 when my state pension kicks in the replace the lump sum.
Btw, have you asked for a state pension forecast. You may find that your state pension is reduced because of opting out.
My projected state pension was less than the full one because of this, but will slightly increase (by around £4 for each year since we opted back in) But you may not have had enough time to build yours back up. My projected state pension was £123 per week, but with 5 years of opting in should see me back to around £143 per week.

[heapsy]

Wait til 60 if you can.

Beyond that, if you can afford to retire with the reduced pension and you're sick of the job, then it's sensible enough to go at 60. However it's worth bearing in mind that you won't be able to claim the state pension at that point, you'd only have the RM one until you were 66.

I am retiring at 60.
Do what I am doing, if possible.
Divide your lump sum by 6 years and then by 12 months and use as a monthly income to supplement your pension.
Don't waste it on a new car.
By doing this, I am doubling my monthly pension until I am 66 when my state pension kicks in the replace the lump sum.
Btw, have you asked for a state pension forecast. You may find that your state pension is reduced because of opting out.
My projected state pension was less than the full one because of this, but will slightly increase (by around £4 for each year since we opted back in) But you may not have had enough time to build yours back up. My projected state pension was £123 per week, but with 5 years of opting in should see me back to around £143 per week.

I'll be doing a similar thing, only selling shares, to fund the gap. I intend to sell around £6,000 worth of shares, per year, for 5 years. This should give me around £500 per month, for 5 years. To do this, I would have to sell the best performing, highest value, block of shares each year. Anything left over will be rolled over till the next year, to make up any slight short fall. The worst performing shares would be held invested, for more chance of price recovery and more dividend reinvestment. I did a calculation the other week. Using the figures at the time, I would have a weekly income of £115 per week, for 5 years. Tax free. On top of my NRA 60 pension.

[RobertT]

I am retiring at 60.
Do what I am doing, if possible.
Divide your lump sum by 6 years and then by 12 months and use as a monthly income to supplement your pension.
Don't waste it on a new car.
By doing this, I am doubling my monthly pension until I am 66 when my state pension kicks in the replace the lump sum.
Btw, have you asked for a state pension forecast. You may find that your state pension is reduced because of opting out.
My projected state pension was less than the full one because of this, but will slightly increase (by around £4 for each year since we opted back in) But you may not have had enough time to build yours back up. My projected state pension was £123 per week, but with 5 years of opting in should see me back to around £143 per week.

As contracting out was abolished in 2016, we are now building up more state pension entitlement at the rate of 1/35th of the maximum amount, currently £159.55, for each qualifying year. So that's £4.56 each year.

It may also be possible for you to buy any qualifying years you're missing to make your state pension entitlement higher. It's pretty good value as you'll get your money back after about 3 years of reaching state pension age and everything afterwards would be 'profit'.

[heapsy]

I am retiring at 60.
Do what I am doing, if possible.
Divide your lump sum by 6 years and then by 12 months and use as a monthly income to supplement your pension.
Don't waste it on a new car.
By doing this, I am doubling my monthly pension until I am 66 when my state pension kicks in the replace the lump sum.
Btw, have you asked for a state pension forecast. You may find that your state pension is reduced because of opting out.
My projected state pension was less than the full one because of this, but will slightly increase (by around £4 for each year since we opted back in) But you may not have had enough time to build yours back up. My projected state pension was £123 per week, but with 5 years of opting in should see me back to around £143 per week.

As contracting out was abolished in 2016, we are now building up more state pension entitlement at the rate of 1/35th of the maximum amount, currently £159.55, for each qualifying year. So that's £4.56 each year.

It may also be possible for you to buy any qualifying years you're missing to make your state pension entitlement higher. It's pretty good value as you'll get your money back after about 3 years of reaching state pension age and everything afterwards would be 'profit'.

That's interesting Robert. Cheers.

[RobertT]

There’s an interesting article on how much you can gain when buying qualifying years here: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/ ... te-pension" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And a guide to actually going about it here: https://www.royallondon.com/Global/docu ... -GUIDE.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And the government site, here: https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-i ... tributions" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[linntroika]

There’s an interesting article on how much you can gain when buying qualifying years here: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/ ... te-pension" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And a guide to actually going about it here: https://www.royallondon.com/Global/docu ... -GUIDE.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And the government site, here: https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-i ... tributions" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Excellent info Robert ,when i checked my national-insurance-contributions with the gov gateway account , even though i have payed 35 years nat insurance ,presently i am still 7 years short NIC of attaining max state pension when i reach 67 . This will be very advantageous to close the gap between taking my royal mail pension and state pension

Many Thanks

[NWpostie]

According to mine I have paid in 29 years NI and have 6 years to go before I qualify for full state pension. the government gateway website did say as well that even once you complete your full 35 years NI payment, you will still continue to pay NI until you actually retire.

It used to be 30 years NI contribution with a much lower pension, this was changed to 35 years and a higher rate of pension.

Prior to 6th April 2016 you would have got for your 30 years NI £122.30
After 6th April 2016 for 35 years Ni you get £159.55p a week.

Don't know why yours is different linntroika, unless you had paid a different rate or lower rate at some point, you can still make extra contributions to top up your state pension.

[jetblack]

According to mine I have paid in 29 years NI and have 6 years to go before I qualify for full state pension.

Exact same as myself.

Wether I continue to pay NI over the next 6 years via RM depends on how my investments do in the interim period - but even if I leave RM I may look at voluntarily topping it up. Will have to look into it.

[linntroika]

Checked it again as follows

Summary

35 years of full contributions
15years to contribute before 5 April 2032

Estimate based on your National Insurance record up to 5 April 2017 -£127.48 per week
Forecast if you contribute another 8 years before 5 April 2032- £159.55 per week

i maybe wrong but i think this is because RM payed 10.4 % NI for many years instead of the 12% NI to get the max

[BeamishStout]

I'm fortunate in only needing an extra 3 years contributions (after I turn 60 in 2018 and retire from RM) to get the full state pension when I get to 66 (my SPA -State Pension Age). It is a no-brainer for me to pay these additional voluntary contributions (class 3 for me). As Robert states you get your money back (in increased pension) between 3 and 4 years after you start drawing the state pension. The other question I need to decide is at what point I pay these additional voluntary contributions. As I understand it I need not pay these additional years until just before SPA so I could just hang onto the cash (invest it safely) until that date.

From the Royal London guide

You may wish to consider setting aside the money that you plan to use for voluntary contributions, enjoying some return on the capital and then using it to buying missing contributions either when you reach State Pension age or within six years, whichever is sooner.

I just wonder how many of my workplace colleagues are aware that they might not have enough qualifying years of a full state pension if they retire a little earlier than 65