To ask you what annual pension you've built up aged 43 ish?

[Boredbumhead]

Just that really. I chose my career in academia as a lecturer because if the final salary pension scheme, but in 2016 it changed. After 16 years in the profession my pension is so far only 9k per year and a small lump sum. AIBU to be disappointed by this? I feel like I chose the job based on the pension benefits, as well as other aspects about not wanting a corporate job, but now that has all changed. Academia is now like a (badly run) business and the pension scheme has been badly eroded.

How much do you have in your pension pot, aged 40ish?

@Stinkyjellycat what does your husband to if you don't mind me asking?

£37k from a final salary scheme at that point.

@Ellisandra and @TimeToParty thank you so much for your explanations, it's very helpful. I know I should get an understanding, and believe me I've tried, but my brain can't seem to get around it for some reason! My TRS does have a section for each of the schemes it's just that I don't "get it". I also don't understand if I get a lump sum, or if it's a pa payment. But I don't expect you lovely people to spoon feed me 😂

@Stinkyjellycat life isn’t just about your pension provision. Sometimes you need to think about now.

£12k is not a bad pension, that’s £1k a month payable to you at a time in your life when you hopefully will have no mortgage payments or commuting costs etc.

Have a think about what size pension you want and need. Maybe you could move to a job that makes you happier now but with a poorer pension, knowing that you’ve got that £12k already waiting?

@Boredbumhead
He’s in Financial Services in a very senior position. He has a degree but worked his way up from the bottom in effect as he started work when he was a student and stayed in the same field.

@TimeToParty
I absolutely agree. The problem is that is like to retrain in the NHS but the course is two years full time. I have a young child and elderly parents so I’m not sure I can commit to that at this point.

ellisandra I know that what I posted sounds a bit grasping. I don't mean it that way - it is more that DH had two elements to his pension, one of which he deferred to 65. His pension he took at 60 is what my widow's pension is based on, but the 65 element won't be included. We knew he was dying, but thought we had more time - and he would have taken a larger lump sum if he had known how little time he had. I wasn't given a lump sum when I inherited the pension because it is at trustees discretion and they said my age counted against me. So I am annoyed that the only long term security I have from my long and happy marriage is half of what he was drawing down, and it will not be revalorised even though if he had died 4 years later, it would have been a bit more.

My is utter shite. Insanely bad considering my salary.

I did all the right things. Pensioned a good amount of my salary from 23. Just looking at reaching senior type positions with good earning potential at 40. Suddenly pretty much a SAHM for my SEN DC.. ive managed to keep working very part time but all my plans to step up to full time again when they are secondary is totally out the window.. didnt factor SEND into my financial planning...

I have about 500k of equity in my house but fat lot of good that’ll do if the economy crashes. I honestly think I’ll be working until I drop. DH has no pension and doesn’t work.

Late 40s 1k a year, eek!!

Op if you google USS modeller you will get an estimation of how much you would get by the time you retire. You can also make simulations to see how much extra you would get by paying extra into the Uss builder scheme. ( USS stopped AVCs in 2016 I think); or how much more or less you would get depending on what age you would retire.

Yes just found a statement. Mine is a mix of final salary and career revalued benefits

I thought USS was moving to retirement age matching the state pension age? Is that still under discussion?

@NewDOOFUSfor20 don’t worry - some of us find pension chat fun 🤣
It’s like a treasure hunt, trying to find out scheme rules when there have been changes!

So, you’re a step ahead of many as you’re aware of lump sums. No surprise though, the rules are different for each of your two schemes!

1995: it’s actually compulsory that you take a lump sum, in addition to your annual pension - the latter part is just paid monthly in just the same way as your salary. Do you remember that the 1995 accrual rate was 1/80th per year, seemingly much lower than the 1/54th of your 2015 scheme? It’s a bit swings and roundabouts, some things better, some worse. In the 1995 scheme, in addition to that 1/80th accrual, you also get 3x your annual pension amount as a lump sum. You have no choice - you have to take it. (If you’re thinking, why would I want a choice?! - because tax. Will come back to that!)

So, I’m going to assume that you joined the NHS in 2001, as you’ve done 19 years. So you had 14 years in the 1995 scheme, until 2015. I’ll also assume in 2015 your pensionable pay was £30K. (That excludes things like bonuses, or overtime if you’re already full time) They actually pick the best of your last 3 years - so if in 2015 you temporarily reduced your hours after maternity leave for example, don’t panic!

14/80ths of £30K = 14 x £375 = £5250
So you get a lump sum of 3x £5250 (£15750) plus £5250 a year, for life.

Next up, 2015 scheme.
Let’s say you’ve done 4 years in that, and your average salary is still £30K.

No lump sum, but 4/54th of £30K = £2222 per year, paid monthly.
In the 2015 scheme you can actually request a lump sum (maybe you want to pay off your mortgage, buy a campervan, travel the world for a year!). If so, they have a rule for how much they reduce your annual pension by to create a upfront lump sum. That’s called a commutation rate. For this scheme, for £12 lump sum, you give up £1 of pension every year. So you could take £2000 instead of £2222 for life, but have £2664 (12x £222) in your pocket now. If you live for more than 12 years you’ve potentially lost out - but maybe you’d rather just have had that round the world trip!

The maximum lump sum you can take is approx 5x your annual pension (I can get you exact numbers, but that’s close enough for illustration!).

So that’s £15750 lump sum, plus £7472 per annum. In case you’re thinking - what if that’s worth bobbins in 2042 when I’m 67, the schemes have their own rules for increasing the amount each year so that when you retire it should be the equivalent value as £7472 today.

Back to that lump sum... you can take 25% of your pension without paying any tax on it. That’s not an NHS rule, but pension legislation. So generally you’ll not want to take any more than that in one go.

That’s giving you an example up to 2019 - and of course you’ll carry on accruing pension.

Page 5 here compares the schemes in a table that I think isn’t too complex:
www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2018-10/Retirement%20Guide%20%28V24%29%20print%20version%20-%2005.2018%20.pdf

Just to thrown in a final complication you may be aware that you can take your pension early, but in return you get a lower amount. In the 1995 scheme, you can take it without any reduction at age 60. However, for your 2015 scheme you need to wait until State Retirement Age - I think that’s 68 for you?

So you wouldn’t get both in full payment until 68.
You could retire at 60 with one and just wait (maybe rely on other savings) until 68. You could take the 68 one earlier with some reduction. However, all that would need to be explained carefully by a pensions expert with your full details... once you start taking one pension, you’re limited to what you can pay into another. So starting the age 60 one could be a bad idea if you intend to work to 68. It’s not horrendously complicated, just you’d need to understand the implications for you.

Hope that’s some help and I haven’t thrown too much in at once! Again, disclaimer - don’t make any decisions on what I’ve said, but hopefully it’ll make you more confident to talk to your own helpline

And one last word from me (maybe - depends if you have questions 🤣)... there are loads of different clauses in the NHS schemes. So if something looks different in your statement, don’t assume you’ve got it wrong... for example, there are some roles with an earlier retirement age - I think Mental Health Officer is one, but I’m not certain. Your helpline will know more

@1000mangoesinabirthdaycake I think that was finalised in their 2016 changes. It’s in their online documentation. In 2016, age 65 and thereafter pegged to state retirement age. However, anything accrued before 2016 can be taken without reduction at the original scheme age (which I think was 60).