Pensions

[andy222]

At what age can we take our state pension out.? I am a bit confused about this. Someone told me we could take it out early. Maybe you guys know about this?

[Rosie1958]

Hi Andy

Although there is a possibility that an occupational pension could be taken out early depending on circumstances, I don't believe that the same can be said of the state pension. The state pensionable date is determined by your date of birth. See the calculator in the attached link to work out the date you will qualify for your state pension:-

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/StatePension/DG_4017919

[andy222]

Thats what I thought thanks.:doh

[stevewool]

i have heard that the state pension cannot be taken out till you come off retirement age but as rosie1958 says a private pension can, i have read somewhere that under differnat circumtamces ie, you ar going to die with in 6 months then you can get at your pension,dont hold me to it though

[stevewool]

i ant wait to leave, and i will not wait until i can claim my pension, that is hy i am saving hard now so i can have time to enjoy what is left of this life, just my thoght

[Rosie1958]

i have heard that the state pension cannot be taken out till you come off retirement age but as rosie1958 says a private pension can,..........

It appears that State Pension age is not the same as retirement age. Retirement age is when you choose to retire, but you can still work after State Pension age.

When you reach State Pension age, you can:

• Stop working and get your State Pension
• Carry on working and get your State Pension as well
• Carry on working and put off claiming your State Pension

If you put off claiming your State Pension, you may be able to get extra State Pension or lump-sum payment when you do claim it.

If you go on working after State Pension age, you don't have to carry on paying National Insurance contributions.

[stevewool]

when many come to the age of state pension or retiremnet age we wont be fit enough to do anything , just wait for the grim reaper, the worl load is getting harder and stress is getting higher in most jobs

[Rosie1958]

when many come to the age of state pension or retiremnet age we wont be fit enough to do anything , just wait for the grim reaper, the worl load is getting harder and stress is getting higher in most jobs

Erm ....... I certainly intend to be enjoying myself and living life to the full when I retire, I'm not ready to roll over and play dead yet :icon_lol: :xxgrinning--00xx3:

People are living much longer these days, which is one of the problems affecting the pension pot at the moment.

[stevewool]

try working for where i work cut backs, but more work coming in, i am sure hes trying to kill us, andyes i dont intend to roll over, the only roll over i will be doing is to get the other side nice and tanned

[Rosie1958]

.............i dont intend to roll over, the only roll over i will be doing is to get the other side nice and tanned

:icon_lol: ....... good for you Steve, make sure you have your factor 30 on! :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[grahamw48]

Retirement age is being pushed further and further away from us.

I think I missed out by a few months on getting on to the 60 bus pass and 65 retirement band-wagon. :rolleyes:

Ok for some....many of whom have hardly worked a day in their lives or have been career criminals. :NoNo:

It's always been ridiculous that men who on average have lives 5 or 6 years shorter than women should have to work 5 years longer. :angry:

[Terpe]

Well it's doesn't make happy reading but since you asked ..........

For men born before 6 December 1953, the current State Pension age is 65.

For women born after 5 April 1950 but before 6 December 1953, their State Pension age is between 60 and 65.


Women’s State Pension age will increase to 65 between April 2016 and November 2018.
From December 2018 the State Pension age for both men and women will start to increase to reach 66 in October 2020.

These changes affect you if you're a woman born on or after 6 April 1953

or

a man born on or after 6 December 1953

The current law already provides for the State Pension age to increase to 67 between 2034 and 2036 and to 68 between 2044 and 2046


The government has recently announced (on 29 November 2011) that State Pension age should increase to 67 between 2026 and 2028.
But this has not yet passed into law and still needs parliamentary approval.

It's a sure fire thing that State Pension age will continue to increase in line with with increases in life expectancy.

As it stands right now your eligibility for payments is dependant upon the numbers of years you have paid the required NI contributions.
For a full pension it's 30 years, anything less and the pension payment decreases. Of course.

Oh and by the way, don't expect to be able to live in the UK on just a state pension.

Andy, your still lucky if you're a member of the NHS pension.

[stevewool]

Well it's doesn't make happy reading but since you asked .........




........ Oh and by the way, don't expect to be able to live in the UK on just a state pension.

arnt we lucky to have wives from a beautiful place, somewhere were our £s may go further then here, bring it on:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Arthur Little]

As it stands right now your eligibility for payments is dependant upon the numbers of years you have paid the required NI contributions.
For a full pension it's 30 years, anything less and the pension payment decreases. Of course.

Really? :rolleyes: ... I've always been under the impression that entitlement to a full State Pension required a minimum of 40 years' worth of contributions.

[grahamw48]

I was born Sept 1951, so looks like I'll be getting my pension at 65 then.

I can't believe I'm writing this actually. I can't be THAT old already ! :omg:

[imagine]

i got my letter from them just last week my retirment pension dates , already wow thats well in advance,

they stated my dob and at 65 is my retirement age, which is a febuary, but pension will not be payable untill june of the same year i retire, seems a long way off yet

i agree with Terpe it is 30 yrs contributions to be able to claim full pension, i looked into it last year

[Arthur Little]

The current law already provides for the State Pension age to increase to 67 between 2034 and 2036 and to 68 between 2044 and 2046

:olddude: ... I'm 671/2 now - so they can strike ME off their list by any of those dates.

[stevewool]

save hard my friends, thats all you will have, if you have your own house that helps too

[hawk]

only got another 16 yrs to wait i dont think am waiting around that long i will have a nice tan and be speaking tagalog lol with my wife am not waiting to get:olddude: to enjoy myself

[stevewool]

gone before then if all goes to plan,

[andy222]

13 years for me. What puzzles me is like others on here I have already paid my 30 years contribution.

SO WHERE IS MY MONEY?

[imagine]

only got another 16 yrs to wait i dont think am waiting around that long i will have a nice tan and be speaking tagalog lol with my wife am not waiting to get:olddude: to enjoy myself

way things are going the gov will have spent it, or gone bankrupt before its time for you to get it :Erm:

[stevewool]

god question andy, let me know if you get a answer

[Arthur Little]

i agree with Terpe it is 30 yrs contributions to be able to claim full pension, i looked into it last year

That's strange :rolleyes: ... I started work at 161/2, and retired on health grounds [2 close family bereavements] just before my 49th birthday. But I still had to "sign on" fortnightly at the 'jobcentre plus' (Employment Exchange as it was in 1993) until my late fifties, in order to qualify for the maximum State Pension at age 65. :doh Why ... :cwm24: ...?

[grahamw48]

You were signing for 'credits'...National Insurance Credits. (Stamps to you and me) to keep your pension up to full rate.

I used to work at the Dept of Employment, so know these miscellaneous facts. :)

[imagine]

i dont know if there had been any change to the amount of years, its possible at some time it was
more than 30 yrs,

the letter they sent me which shows that,,, when i reach my 65th birthday, which is a febuary,, i can retire,,,

but my pension will not start untill june that year , so retirement age itself is not the actual entitlement to pension, it is the date they calculate when you start to recieve it,

[Arthur Little]

SO WHERE IS MY MONEY?

:gp:, Andy ... perhaps I ought to be asking the same question?

[stevie c]

13 years for me. What puzzles me is like others on here I have already paid my 30 years contribution.

SO WHERE IS MY MONEY?

20 yrs for me :doh
I have worked ever since i left school only to be told sorry you know will have to wait until you are 67 to collect your pension....What a shower ofS**T this country has become:cwm23:

[imagine]

im not sure if i will get this the right way round, but a few year ago didnt i hear something about, who pays and who gets,,:Erm:

i think what it is, its the shortfall, so what you pay in you dont get, those now recieving pension are being paid with the money you have paid in, not what they paid in,

now im not 100% sure of that as a fact, but id swear something on that line was how they said it is

[grahamw48]

Retired before 6/4/2010 ? Need 44 years contributions (women 39).

Retire after 6/4/10 ? Need 30 years (both men and women). :)



It's all here guys:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/BeginnersGuideToTax/NationalInsurance/Voluntarycontributionsandtoppingup/DG_190077

[Arthur Little]

You were signing for 'credits'...National Insurance Credits. (Stamps to you and me) to keep your pension up to full rate.

I used to work at the Dept of Employment, so know these miscellaneous facts. :)

I'm not disputing that :NoNo: ... but how come I had to amass 40 years of NI stamps when others claim it's 30?

[grahamw48]

See my post above...:)

I started full-time employment in May 1968, so there's a few years. :Erm:

[imagine]

20 yrs for me :doh
I have worked ever since i left school only to be told sorry you know will have to wait until you are 67 to collect your pension....What a shower ofS**T this country has become:cwm23:

quite a good scam isnt it:NoNo: and its legal,,, very profitable to say many will never live to recieve their pension,

people are living longer now so perhaps they dont make quite as much, but they surely must still be making a big big profit

[Arthur Little]

Oops ... our respective posts seem to have crossed, Graham; :anerikke: I guess I've just been unlucky!

[imagine]

I'm not disputing that :NoNo: ... but how come I had to amass 40 years of NI stamps when others claim it's 30?

was there not a different scheme ?before what we have now, i vagely remember it being changed when i first started out as an apprentice,,,

there may have been 3 items taken off your wage, 1, tax,, 2 a national ins contribution,( but it might have had a different name) 3 there was something else not sure its name, but i think it might have been to cover sickness and or unemployment,
anyway it was changed and a new name which was nat ins contributions, but no one recieved anything back from the old system that they had been paying into, ??

i remember the older guys complaining of that.

[grahamw48]

Graduated pension ?

NI cont. has always been there. They've just changed the percentage over the years, taken from gross earnings....with a lower and upper limit.

It could have been a flat rate in the early years though.

[imagine]

Graduated pension ?

im not sure what it was graham, i just vagely remember a change , and a new name, that the old system would stop and the new one introduced, this was very early on of me me 1st starting work,

i remember my boss and they guys i worked with talking about it, those things were new to me then anyway and i didnt understand what these things actualy was,, i may have got some detail wrong,
but there was definatly a change and a lot of grumping about what happens to what they had paid in already

i was wondering if this was something to do with why Arthur says 40 yrs

[Arthur Little]

i remember the older guys complaining of that.

:angry: ... too bloody RIGHT!!

[imagine]

:angry: ... too bloody RIGHT!!

would you remember anything about that Arthur?
it was too early on in my start to working, to fully remember details,,,

i remember getting my wage pkt, and also i think it was a pale green slip(not tax and ins) i think this slip was the old reciept of what had been paid into the scheme,

it could also have been a one off slip when it ended, but im thinking i got this slip weekly, and seperate to wage tax reciept, after the system changed there was no longer reciept a ticket

[Arthur Little]

would you remember anything about that Arthur?


:icon_sorry:, Stewart ... not really. But then, I never took much interest in these things when younger; all I can remember was getting a monthly salary slip showing the deductions you mentioned.

[imagine]

:icon_sorry:, Stewart ... not really. But then, I never took much interest in these things when younger; all I can remember was getting a monthly salary slip showing the deductions you mentioned.

pity i managed to save many a p60 from years back, but nothing in connection with this from then, if i had i could proberby figure what it was ect

[andy222]

:icon_sorry:, Stewart ... not really. But then, I never took much interest in these things when younger; all I can remember was getting a monthly salary slip showing the deductions you mentioned.

It is still showing on our payslips Arthur. One thing is for sure we are all being screwed,:doh

[grahamw48]

Well, in my even dimmer past I also used to be a wages clerk..doing pay sheets for 200 people. :D

It's possible that what you're thinking of is when the transition was made from actual little stamps that used to be stuck on to your National Insurance Card, to when they started deducting a percentage of your gross wage at source. :)

This would have been around the early seventies.

[stevewool]

heres one to confuse you , who opted out or opted in to their pension, and who dont know what they did when it happened, i am one of the last question, and i have no idea where i am with the state pension too,

[grahamw48]

You can phone up and ask them anytime...or easier, check on their website. :)

[stevewool]

thanks graham i am on their site now, pensions :doh,

[Terpe]

It's pretty straightforward to get a proper individual state pension forecast :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Terpe]

October 2012 - workplace pension

Don't know if this will affect anyone on here:-

Enrolling into a pension at work (http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/Companyandpersonalpensions/WorkplacePensions/DG_183783?cid=Retirement%20&%20Pensions&type=sponsoredsearch&cre=homepage&pla=google)

[imagine]

It's pretty straightforward to get a proper individual state pension forecast :xxgrinning--00xx3:

yes it is, i got a forcast last year, they reply with details of how many years you have paid and state that for full pension is 30 yrs contributions,
they will tell you if you fall short and if so details how to ammend the shortfall if you wish to enable you to draw the full pension

they also answered a question for me, on claiming pension from outside the uk

[stevewool]

yes it is, says i will get £102.15p a week when i am 66 in 2024, add my rental income, savings and private pension and bits and bobs, i may be rich, well not here:NoNo:

[imagine]

i started from this link , then applied for forcast

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/index.htm

here is one about qualifying years
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/StatePension/DG_10014671

and one about pension forcast, and can apply online

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/StatePension/StatePensionforecast/DG_10014008

[andy222]

yes it is, says i will get £102.15p a week when i am 66 in 2024,add my rental income, savings and private pension and bits and bobs, i may be rich, well not here:NoNo:

Give me that £102.15p a week now and i will be gone. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[imagine]

I'm not disputing that :NoNo: ... but how come I had to amass 40 years of NI stamps when others claim it's 30?

depending on when you were born of course
this may explain it Arthur

How many qualifying years do you need?
The number of qualifying years you need for a full basic State Pension depends on your age and whether you're a man or a woman.
Men born before 6 April 1945 usually need 44 qualifying years.
Women born before 6 April 1950 usually need 39 qualifying years.
Men born on or after 6 April 1945 need 30 qualifying years.
Women born on or after 6 April 1950 need 30 qualifying years.

see link

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/StatePension/DG_10014671

[Arthur Little]

It's pretty straightforward to get a proper individual state pension forecast :xxgrinning--00xx3:

:iagree: ... having had several.

[Arthur Little]

depending on when you were born of course
this may explain it Arthur

Men born before 6 April 1945 usually need 44 qualifying years.

That's ME ... born 19 September, 1944. ;)

[Arthur Little]

see link

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/StatePension/DG_10014671

:68711_thanx:, Stewart ... appreciate the link. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[imagine]

:68711_thanx:, Stewart ... appreciate the link. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

your very welcome, Arthur:xxgrinning--00xx3:
glad im some use :icon_lol:

[Arthur Little]

Slightly :icon_offtopic:But, believe it or not, folks ... :anerikke: ... up until my mid-forties, I had a reputation for being a concientious, reliable - possibly even at times, overly meticulous - employee. If I could be faulted at all, it was chiefly for an apparent inability to delegate - hence the most likely reason for my failure to occupy a managerial position. Truth be told, I was [literally] a workaholic ... and, worse, I was something of a perfectionist by nature. :doh

Then, in 1989 ... my father died suddenly of a massive heart attack, complicated by emphysema - the start of a downward spiral - :thumbsdown: because, within months of returning from a period of *compassionate leave, I was transferred from the job I'd painstakingly built up over the previous 14i/2 years ... usurped by a relatively new female member of staff whom I'd trained up to *cover my absence ... to a clerical/administrative post in mainstream Social Services and, although I retained my salary grade, I had, to all intents and purposes, been effectively downgraded. Simultaneously, I found myself struggling to keep a Boys' Brigade Company afloat ... with precious little support from the recently-appointed, modern-minded Church Minister - who seemed unable to reconcile with uniformed, "militaristic" organisations - regarding them as outdated.

Finally, in 1991 ... my wife developed Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma - from which she subsequently died - and I found myself at a crossroads. And so ... with my two children already grown-up and sel-sufficient, I eventually applied for - and was granted - early retiral in June 1993 ... one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life! :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[imagine]

Happy retirment :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Arthur Little]

your very welcome, Arthur :xxgrinning--00xx3:
glad im some use :icon_lol:

:) Stewart ... you're one of the forum's stalwarts, my friend. Honestly.


Happy retirement :xxgrinning--00xx3:

Thanks ... I was ecstatic :BouncyHappy: to be outta that place!

[Terpe]

Everyone,
Lets not forget that our spouses may also become eligible for a UK state pension.
Whether from their own NI contributions or from the spouse.


If you don't qualify for the full basic State Pension

If you reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2010

If you have some qualifying years but not enough for a full basic State Pension, then you will get some basic State Pension. For each qualifying year that you have built up, you will get some basic State Pension. You may be able to take action to increase your State Pension if you don't have enough qualifying years.



If you have worked in the UK and paid National Insurance contributions (NICs) for even a short period, you will now be entitled to receive part of a basic UK State Pension (a pro-rata basic UK State Pension) provided you have at least one qualifying year of NICs.

A qualifying year is a tax year (6 April in one year to 5 April the next year) where you had sufficient income to pay NICs or were treated as having paid or were credited with NICs.

My wife has paid NI contributions for 7 full tax years which means at current rates she has built up a UK state pension of 7/30 x £102.15 = £23.83 per week
That just over £100 per month or P6800 per month :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Arthur Little]

Everyone,
Lets not forget that our spouses may also become eligible for a UK state pension.
Whether from their own NI contributions or from the spouse.

That's EXACTLY the sort of information I have been looking for, Peter ... :68711_thanx: -

- you must be psychic! :)

[Terpe]

That's EXACTLY the sort of information I have been looking for, Peter ... :68711_thanx: -

- you must be psychic! :)

:xxgrinning--00xx3:

I could say great minds think alike Arthur.......
but I'm pretty sure there'd be the expected retort from somewhere. :icon_lol::icon_lol:

[jonnijon]

It was an EU regulation that bought down the amount of NI stamps from 49 to 30 years.Thats about the only useful thing they have done. :cwm3:

[Arthur Little]

It was an EU regulation that bought down the amount of NI stamps from 49 to 30 years.

:cwm24: ... eu serious? ... :rolleyes:



Thats about the only useful thing they have done. :cwm3:

Eu're RIGHT there, chum! :iagree: ... even though it's a bittie late for the likes of me 'n' eu!!

[imagine]

Well, in my even dimmer past I also used to be a wages clerk..doing pay sheets for 200 people. :D

It's possible that what you're thinking of is when the transition was made from actual little stamps that used to be stuck on to your National Insurance Card, to when they started deducting a percentage of your gross wage at source. :)

This would have been around the early seventies.

yes thats sounds like it, i now remember the stamps :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Terpe]

yes thats sounds like it, i now remember the stamps :xxgrinning--00xx3:

Many older folk still call it the stamp :rolleyes:

BTW I used to pay graduated pension, it's not worth much these days though. Just a couple of quid a week.

[fred]

That just over £100 per month or P6800 per month


at what age would she receive such payment these days?
My wife will be entitled to a Uk pension one day but we chose to semi retire whilst we could still walk etc..
I have worked with people that were obsessed with pension payments from the age of 18..
I always considered that a bit sad and always planned to go in a different direction.

[stevewool]

how i look at it, if its not in my pocket or bank i dont count it, money that is

[Terpe]

at what age would she receive such payment these days?

Under the latest legislation my wife will be eligible to claim UK state pension when she is 66 years of age.
The payable amount will increase every year by whichever of the following is the highest
•earnings – the average percentage increase in UK wages that year
•prices – the percentage the cost of living increases by that year
•2.5 per cent


My wife will be entitled to a Uk pension one day but we chose to semi retire whilst we could still walk etc..

Does she still have entitlement Fred?


I have worked with people that were obsessed with pension payments from the age of 18..
I always considered that a bit sad and always planned to go in a different direction.

The vast majority of people in UK are employees. Their employers make deductions of NI payments (so that covers the state pension).
If they are lucky they may join a reasonable occupational pension scheme run by their employer. Or they may choose to contribute to a chosen private scheme, or they
or they may choose to do nothing.

Also don't forget that all contribtutions towards 'pension' schemes get great tax breaks and not bad additional payments from the government, and the words 'pension scheme' can cover all sorts of
diverse investments.
Anyone paying into an occupational pension scheme has no control at all over where the investments are made. That's done by the investment arm of the administrators.
So against a backdrop of 'regular' employment it's easy to see why some people might go overboard if they can actually choose not only where their own hard earned money gets invested, but also the
enhancements paid by the government.

Your comments are perfectly valid and following that same route to determining your own long term direction future financial security is ideal if it's within your capability. Some may go that same route and succeed, whereas other may go that route and fail.
To be fair though, what percentage of people even have the courage to take that same direction you took? Not too many.

Anyway, as everyone knows the state pension can never pay for the lifestyle we all want.
That why the government is introducing new legislation this October 21012:-

Enrolling into a pension at work (http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/Companyandpersonalpensions/WorkplacePensions/DG_183783?cid=Retirement%20&%20Pensions&type=sponsoredsearch&cre=homepage&pla=google)

Fred, I've always respected your views and your opinions.
The direction you took may well yet be the winning formula.
All I'm saying is that, for all kind of reasons, most people end up not being able to exploit the opportunity you grabbed.
That's life.

[stevewool]

so i am reading this right, Emma pays nat insurance but as many know she is on the flr applying fr the ilr this year when do they take the pension from when she started work or when she becomes a citizen, may be a silly question but i dont know the answer

[fred]

Does she still have entitlement Fred?

she paid in on and off for 20 years so I hope so!
I have a private pension that I started at age 27..Stopped paying in to it aged 33/34.
I asked my accountant if I should pay in a lump sum to make up for a about 10 years of non payments..His advice was just to start regular payments again and not add a lump sum..Long story short he said there were better ways to invest my cash. He charged me 40 Quid for telling me that!
We have been very lucky with our small business investments here and if the internet had not been invented things would have been sooo different.
When we arrived 5 years ago our bank on the Isle of man was paying 7.5% tax free! obviously,that deal has gone pear shaped since..I just feel sorry for the savers that thought they could depend on high interest to live abroad and then had their income cut to nothing.If only they had a crystal ball!
One issue that needs to be considered for UK pensioners wanting to retire in the RP is that inflation here may go up more than their pensions do..
Not to mention exchange rates!
I prefer to earn the local currency if I can.