MRM.COM : New employee share plan opens Friday 27 July

Post by **teesdale** » 26 Jul 2018, 01:10

I wouldn't go for this. It looks like a desperate move from Rico Backwards to line his pockets a bit more, with a gamble at others expense. Royal Mail is a company on the ropes and he knows it.

Post by **RobertT** » 26 Jul 2018, 04:38

westy23 wrote:Have I understood it correctly that as I am over 60 I could in theory retire 6 months into the share plan and take them all tax exempt?

That for me hits the nail on the head!

In my opinion this scheme is best suited to people in their mid to late 50's or older, who plan to leave RM at age 60+. They can take advantage of the tax breaks when buying the shares and don't need to be worried about the 3 & 5 year deadlines when selling, because as long as they leave RM after 60 they become a 'good leaver', and are exempt.

Anyone else should consider how long they want to be in the scheme and when they would like to access all of their money. So if you pay into it for 3 years for example, you won't be able to have totally tax free access to all your money for 8 years from the start date.

But also factor in that the amount of tax you pay between 3 & 5 years is lower than before 3 years:

Before 3 years:

You can sell your Partnership Shares from the SIP at any time. But, if you sell them within three years of purchase, you will have to pay income tax and NICs on the value of the shares on the date they are sold.

Between 3 & 5 years:

You can sell your Partnership Shares from the SIP at any time. But, if you sell between three and five years of purchase, you will have to pay income tax and NICs on the lower of: –
the money used to buy the Partnership Shares and –
the market value of the Partnership Shares on the date they are sold.

Personally it's not for me and I won't be partaking.

Post by **westy23** » 26 Jul 2018, 06:19

Thanks for the reply RobertT
And glad I understood it correctly.
Can I ask why you will not be partaking as I am wondering if I have missed something obvious?
Thanks.

Post by **milly** » 26 Jul 2018, 07:52

teesdale wrote:I wouldn't go for this. It looks like a desperate move from Rico Backwards to line his pockets a bit more, with a gamble at others expense. Royal Mail is a company on the ropes and he knows it.

You sound like a very wise chap.
Who would take up an offer where you can pay £100 per month to buy shares and it will only cost you £68 per month and they will give you a couple of free shares to boot.

mark.cup · Post by **mark.cup** » 26 Jul 2018, 14:15

It's not as straight forward as that! Yes you do make that saving but the constantly moving goalpost will mean lots will get desperate and sell them early...

Paying tax & NI whilst Royal Mail have already saved their contributions

I can also see a large number of people who are not money minded and didn't take out the share save scheme thinking it's the same I missed out last time and taking part.

If it was another 3 year share save scheme where the end point was fixed I would personally be all over it

Alexei · Post by **Alexei** » 26 Jul 2018, 14:27

mark.cup wrote: If it was another 3 year share save scheme where the end point was fixed I would personally be all over it

I'm sure most people feel the same, but with this offer I feel the positives and negatives are more equally weighted, so will likely pass up.

Post by **RobertT** » 26 Jul 2018, 15:36

westy23 wrote:Thanks for the reply RobertT
And glad I understood it correctly.
Can I ask why you will not be partaking as I am wondering if I have missed something obvious?
Thanks.

It's mainly because of personal circumstances.

I plan to leave and retire in less than 5 years time and will be under 60 when I do that, so won't get the full benefit of this scheme. Plus I don't really want to have too many RM eggs in one basket.

If I was going to benefit from the '60+ rule' or I was planning on staying with RM for maybe another 8-10 years, I probably would sign up.

I would agree with mark.cup that another share save scheme would have been better.

Post by **westy23** » 26 Jul 2018, 16:51

Thank you.
Think I will give it a go.

Post by **postie2007** » 26 Jul 2018, 18:51

I currently pay £50 a week into my AVC. If i wanted buy £20 worth of shares a week in this new scheme how do i know if it takes my outside PSE, i am a regular postie living outside London.

TIA

mark.cup · Post by **mark.cup** » 26 Jul 2018, 21:04

Thou will be fine I pay £125 a week into my AVC outside London and no overtime at all (39 hours)

elteleltel · Post by **elteleltel** » 26 Jul 2018, 22:03

Buy 10 and get 2 free sounds ok but if it's a rolling 5 yr wait to sell as previously mentioned it's money tied up for a long time . Might stick a few quid in but not as much as first thought

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 26 Jul 2018, 23:05

I still have all the free shares plus all the SAYE ones as well which is a fair chunk of money in just one share. Really regret not selling the SAYE shares when the price rose to 620p. Personally I would say there is still too much bad news in the pipeline such as further fallout from RM ignoring the 70% AGM vote, RM continuing negative attitude towards the future of the business, and numerous changes to the way we do the job on the horizon. In short most of the top brass need to go but they are sticking like **** on a blanket and it may be impossible to remove them.

Sputters2017 · Post by **Sputters2017** » 27 Jul 2018, 13:11

Does anyone know instead of taking a dividend. Would it be possible to do a drip .can't see an option in the booklet .also can you do a drip on the free shares

Post by **RobertT** » 27 Jul 2018, 14:00

Sputters2017 wrote:Does anyone know instead of taking a dividend. Would it be possible to do a drip .can't see an option in the booklet .also can you do a drip on the free shares

You can't DRIP the dividends from your free shares in your Share Incentive Plan.

As the shares bought with this new scheme also go into your SIP, I wouldn't have thought you could DRIP those dividends either.

If you could, I'm sure it would be mentioned in the booklet.

RedRich · Post by **RedRich** » 27 Jul 2018, 15:45

Would the money for this be better spent in AVC,s?