Nhs pension

[postitnot]

Hi, I have an NHS pension, which I think (if I've read the report right) is due to pay me £9k a year at 68. I'm 44 now.
I've been part time until the last few years, and now am full time and had a promotion so am putting more in presently than ever before.

My questions are

1. Will that £9k projection be on my past earnings, or go up as I make more contributions
2. Can I put more money in? (I know there's a government 'help' page but I don't find it helpful!) I can afford £200 a month more at the moment
3. Should I find a financial advisor to answer my questions!?

Thank you!

The estimate will be based on contributions to date. It will go up if you continue to pay into it.

You could consider an ERRBO as a means of adding to your pension. Early retirement reduction buy out - extra payments can let you take your pension 1-3 years early without the usual reductions in payout.

I looked into this a few years ago. The options for adding to an NHS pension were very limited and didn’t come with any extra employer contribution.

Instead I decided to start up a separate pension, a SIPP, to run alongside my NHS pension. The advantage of that is that it gives you a whole load of flexibility over when you retire: you can dip into it whenever you want from the age of 55 (soon to go up to 57). So if you want to stop working or reduce your hours before you reach state pension age you can use the SIPP to bridge the gap until you qualify for your NHS and state pensions.

The way it works is that you build up a pot, then when you’re ready to take it you can draw down as much or as little as you want whenever you want.

My SIPP is with Vantage, as lots of people on here recommend it. I chose one of their Life Strategy funds and pay into it every month. It really couldn’t be simpler.

As a nice bonus you get the tax back on everything you pay into it, so it grows pretty fast. I’d definitely recommend it.

Thank you both for your advice, I will look into both options.

Vanguard. Not Vantage.

I would agree with @Hazelnut5 about the separate Sipp/pension. I have done this with advice from an IFA to basically make use of the tax relief as I'm higher rate taxpayer. It has been going 2,5 years now and I elected for a high risk portfolio (which if you read the text isn't that high risk..just means all investment is in equities). It has returned 30% thus far which exceeds the past performance of 8% per annum but means I'm getting a really excellent return

You can buy extra years too, which should help with the fact that you were part time for a while.