Teachers pension

[Susie2dan]

Hi, hoping for an answer regarding my TEACHERS Pension. I left teaching in 2013 and therefore stopped paying into the TPS. I am now wondering what has happened to this money and would it be advisable trying to cash it in to transfer to another scheme or use it to clear some outstanding debt? . I know very little about it all and really need some advice and also approximately how much it is worth having paid it for 10 years?

If you make an appointment with a financial advisor through a bank they will be able to find your funds and tell you the value, plus help you use it to transfer into another pension if you're no longer teaching. If you don't do anything it will on theory just sit there forever but it might be more use to you to track it down and reinvest it.

I think this is correct. This is a test of how much I listen to dh because this is his job!

Bloodybhell don't transfer it - it's a final salary scheme!

Can't you phone them and ask for a projection?

Update- if you were in the scheme for over 2 years you cannot cash it in. Your options are to transfer it or keep it where it is. Dh recommends getting an up to date funds value and speaking to an advisor.

They aren't all final salary schemes now, but it may have been when you started paying into it.

Yes, mine wasn't a final salary scheme. They took 6% from me and 14% paid in by them.

Don't cash anything in and there no need at all to go the bank!

Do you know you're pension number? There's a website where you can log in and find out how much it's worth. Google "teachers pension" and see what comes up.

Thank you! I don't even get letters from them anymore. What I would like to do is try and claim it (if possible) and use some to pay off the debt and use the rest to start a private scheme. My husband has an amazing pension that will suffice for us both when retirement age reaches but I would like a separate one also. Surely if I have paid into it, I should be able to claim it? I am 36 years old and feel I need to secure the future but not with a stale pension?

No you can't get at it, until your 55. That's the whole point of pensions. There're fornwhen you're a pensioner.

I'd also caution very very strongly against relying on your dh for a pension...

You cant get at the funds and no private scheme will be as good as the teachers pension! The teachers pension scheme is way better than 99.9% of private sector pensions!!

May I ask what 'dh' stands for??!

Dh - mumsnet term for husband!

Thank you
So if I paid in for 10 years and am I right in thinking the council (employer) will have also contributed, will that then just sit there until retirement including the councils contributions?

You can't withdraw it. Keep it-it's a good pension and yes the employer contributions remain and you can claim at 58 now I believe.

Teacher pensions haven't been final salary schemes since at least 2002. Wish mine was! Is that why people think they are still gold plated?

You will have it all online now. Log into www.teacherspensions.co.uk/ and you can see all of your details as long as you have your old teacher number. There is also a helpful FAQ page.

And yes to your last question as far as I know.

You can't claim full amount at 58-only a proportion. Full amount is dependent on your contributions and length so in my case, my statement currently says full amount withdrawn at 68 years and 3 months.

Well I have managed to log on to the tps website and see all my details. It said my last contribution was march 2014 (which is correct) and displays lots of figures but I think that is just what I have paid in, I don't think it includes the councils contributions. I probably need to speak to someone! And yes mine says age 68, 0 months.

There are all sorts of 'calculators' on the teachers pension website. It has sliders so you can say how many more years you will work etc (you can put zero) so will show how much you will get when you retire. You need to explore the website more and if really stuck ring them up. I think it's highly unlikely that your employer hasn't been paying for 10 years. Having said that I had 9 months of employer contributions go 'missing' and it took a lot of chasing for it to be found.

You don't have a pot as such and you can't access it until retirement. Your future pension will most likely be a career average arrangement so probably something along the lines of 10/57 of your average salary when you worked. For example, if you averaged 30k/year then you'll get about 5k/year in retirement from your pension.
You can start a private pension any day if you want. It will mean having pension from different sources. Although obviously you can't just pay the money out to clear debts.

Jesus Christ, most of what is written on here is utter garbage.

Please go to an IFA or, speak to CAB. This board is the equivalent of going down the pub and asking for advice, TPAS is better, ring ANY IFA and you'll get more sense.

Just so you know, you can't transfer (except transfer club) a teachers pension. There is no CETV, your pension is held unrtil NRA and revalued on a statutory basis.

You don't need an IFA. You just need to ring Teachers' Pensions and ask them to provide you with a retirement estimate and confirm the earliest date you can claim it. You can't cash it in, and you can't transfer it to a personal pension.

I think they redirect you to the website, but that said it's the best place to start for self help.

Even if it says age 68 (your state retirement age) you can cash it in sooner. That age will probably be 57 (I am older than you and my age is younger - 55 but it was put up to I think 57 although someone esays 58 above - for younger people) . It is usualyl better to take it when you are even older as the longer you leave it the money you take out as pension when the time comes.