to not want to put money in DH pension and not mine?

[yellowcuptea]

Okay - so DH & I together 20 years, 2 kids. Have had the usual ups and downs.

DH is in highest earner bracket so puts a lot in pension as it's tax efficient. I earn about a third of what DH does. I went part-time for kids, took a hit on promotions, didn't pay into pension in maternity etc. but DH was free to go for big jobs.

DH has close to £1m in pension, I have a quarter of that. DH is now suggesting I basically drop my pension contributions to minimum, we put more of DH money in his pension, and use more of my salary to live off. More tax efficient.
Then when I'm 55 we take the 25% out of my pension that's allowed too.

AIBU that this makes me feel really uncertain?? I don't like the idea that my pension will be worth so much less! DH of course is saying, but it's OUR money at the end of the day and even if we split, pensions are a shared asset so I'd still benefit.

YABU - it's family money. Use your salary to live on and save more in DP pension

YANBU - you should both have separate pensions, and you should be paying more into yours not less...

Hi. I'm not familiar with this. Are you talking about a 50% spouses pension on a secured pension/annuity? I don't doubt your sincerity but we need to be accurate when we start quoting things like this.

Tell him you'll review it when you have pension parity.

It's true, family member does get half. Her DH died not long after retiring. So half the pot was lost.

This is a fact.

Obviously nobody knows who will die first and at what age but it does need to be taken into consideration.

I'm not a pensions expert, but what would happen if he were to die? My understanding is that you can nominate somebody else to be the beneficiary of your pension fund and the trustees can consider your wishes/nomination when distributing the funds. So if for example he were to have an affair, he could name the OW as the beneficiary of his pension pot, separate to any will he has made regarding his other assets.

It was a teacher's pension.

I imagine they all have different terms.

Obviously the OP needs to get independent advice, including what happens in the event of death.

Why?

Because it's not always true, it depends on the ts and cs of the pension. My Dad's (small) private pension actually gave my mum his entire amount on his death but the amount they got whilst he was alive was lower because of it. If he'd had it completely stop on his death, he would have received more each month whilst alive but he wanted her to not struggle when he was gone.

I agree, it's not clear to me how this proposed arrangement would be a tax win.

It sounds to me like your family member had an annuity or secured pension of some description where there was a spouses pension or a 50% guarantee. I don't doubt your accuracy on this specific case but this does not necessarily become the case across the board, especially when it comes to uncrystallised defined contribution schemes.

Apologies, I hadn't seen this while writing my previous post.

So yes, exactly. A teachers Defined Benefit pension, in payment is not the same as an uncrystallised defined contribution scheme.

He’s focussed on tax relief paying in.
He’s ignoring being taxed on drawdown, the ceiling on tax-free withdrawals, and IHT on pension pots (currently potentially if he lives beyond 75).
All of these are relevant now and are likely to become less generous in the October budget.
You will be better off as a couple using your own pension.

You definitely need to hire your own account or independent financial advisor.

This is a huge amount of money we are talking about and any plans that affect it need to be taken seriously and professionally

don't do this. It makes your financial position worse and his stronger. That's a risk for you.

Make sure that his pension goes to you in the event of his death but except that, as you are married, I would do the most tax efficient thing for the household.
In the case of divorce pensions are considered shared assets, aren’t they?

as someone currently going through a divorce after 20 yrs married there is no way I would do that. I get it's family money and I only ever had a joint bank account with ex but after he met someone else and walked out on me and his kids without a second thought there is no way I'd ever rely on someone else financially again.

Pension rules can change. Some advice given on this thread is inaccurate. Pension rules may change, for example my old serps pension currently is being used as part of my inheritance planning by Rachel will probably change all that in the next year or two.

Get proper advice.

Look after your own pension and financial future just in case.

Can you discuss your concerns with your DH? If not, you need to sort out your own pension as a priority?

I would choose common sense over tax breaks etc; I would 100% focus on topping up your own pension - there are too many unknown possibilities if you go down the route your husband is suggesting.

But not all schemes are the same.

In our case, if anything happened to either dh or me, 100% of the pot would go to the other.
In the case of my pension, not only would dh get 100% of my pension pot, he would also get a spouses pension of 25% of my salary every year until he was of pension age - and that's in addition to the 'standard' pension pot.

I think because he will be paying a 60% equivalent tax rate on 100-125k (loss of personal allowance).

But I agree with a previous poster, he will have big tax penalties when he draws it down and the OP has a smaller pot so it may make financial sense to top hers up as she will pay less tax on draw down, it’s definitely worth the OP getting professional advice on this

yes. ditto.

20 years is when you have to watch it.

most of my uni friends would agree.

The TPS has changed as has most public sector schemes. It will depend upon what benefits they had in which scheme eg Final Salary and the CARE scheme.

If you are looking for tax free savings look at

ISAs - Each adult can save up to a maximum of 20k per tax year, tax free

Premium Bonds - Each person can have up to a maximum of 50k, all prizes are tax free

Pensions - Tax free, plus does your employer contribute into the pot too ?

YANBU but mainly because of the cap on TFLS. Without that I would actually agree that your total family wealth would be greater if you maximised his pension contributions Vs yours.

His suggestion makes no sense since he is hitting the limits on his pension. He should be looking to contribute to your pension rather than the other way round. Please consult your own IFA and do not use SJP.

I'd be careful what this man is up to.

If he’s such a high earner, why wasn’t he paying into your pension when you took a career hit to do all the childcare?