Retirement question

[HeatwaveHotty]

If you inherit enough money to stop working and have no income, except a tiny bit of interest off your capital, should you still be paying anything towards health service (in England this is)? If so, how?

I don't know but you may need to continue NI contributions if you may want to claim a state pension in the future as you need a set number of years contributions

You will, as you will be liable for income and capital gains tax as appropriate. Unless you keep it all offshore, which is why people get angry with tax exiles/tax avoiders.

Have checked this and have already made 37 years' contributions.

I retired early at 55, have enough NI contributions for a full state pension at 67 and I pay no Tax or any NI contributions.
I just draw down a regular amount from my savings to pay my bills and have more than enough to last until my personal pension and state pension kick in.

Thanks @Babs1937, give or take a couple of years, that is almost exactly the situation I'm in. I'm looking into getting a financial adviser just to make sure that I haven't missed anything - had it not been for COVID I would have done this more than a year ago!

Do you mean for your own benefit or morally for the 'good of the nation'?

There's no need to for your own benefit and the system doesn't require it as you count as having a low income, despite being cash/asset rich.

As for morally, forget it. You pay tax in other ways (council tax, VAT and likely inheritance tax was paid on the money you have and more could be paid from your estate when the time comes).

As for financial advice, that could certainly be a good idea depending on how much you have, but if it's not a significant six figure sum, say above £200k or so, there's a lot you can do yourself for free, eg SIPPs and tracker funds, after keeping a few years expenses in cash or premium bonds so you reduce the risk of needing to access investments when the market is low.

Obviously pay off any debt and your mortgage unless the interest rate is very low, say 1% or less.

If you're allowed to put money into a pension (I think you can, even if it's not earned income) and don't need it until you are over 55, that's a no brainer due to the tax relief although there's an annual limit of £40k.

Another Mumsnetter has previously posted this financial planning flowchart which is really helpful

flowchart.ukpersonal.finance/?_ga=2.226806746.650920660.1626839039-1208181054.1626839039

But if you're talking about hundreds of thousands, it's more likely to be worth paying for professional advice, although I'd still read up on the basics so you understand what they're asking you and have an idea about what your priorities and attitude to risk is.

@BarbaraofSeville

Do you mean for your own benefit or morally for the 'good of the nation'?

There's no need to for your own benefit and the system doesn't require it as you count as having a low income, despite being cash/asset rich.

As for morally, forget it. You pay tax in other ways (council tax, VAT and likely inheritance tax was paid on the money you have and more could be paid from your estate when the time comes).

As for financial advice, that could certainly be a good idea depending on how much you have, but if it's not a significant six figure sum, say above £200k or so, there's a lot you can do yourself for free, eg SIPPs and tracker funds, after keeping a few years expenses in cash or premium bonds so you reduce the risk of needing to access investments when the market is low.

Obviously pay off any debt and your mortgage unless the interest rate is very low, say 1% or less.

If you're allowed to put money into a pension (I think you can, even if it's not earned income) and don't need it until you are over 55, that's a no brainer due to the tax relief although there's an annual limit of £40k.

Another Mumsnetter has previously posted this financial planning flowchart which is really helpful

flowchart.ukpersonal.finance/?_ga=2.226806746.650920660.1626839039-1208181054.1626839039

But if you're talking about hundreds of thousands, it's more likely to be worth paying for professional advice, although I'd still read up on the basics so you understand what they're asking you and have an idea about what your priorities and attitude to risk is.

The only bit that is incorrect is that you can only put £2,880 into a pension annually if not working. But the government gives you £720 to make it up to £3,600, I do this every year at the end of March.