I threw away a final salary pension and feel sick.

[CommanderTaggart]

I was a teacher for 5 years at the start of my career and I had a final salary pension. I then moved to a local government role. I left my teachers pension in its pot, as all I really knew about pensions at the time was that a final salary teachers pension is an amazing thing that I was lucky to have and should hang onto. So I did.
Anyway I am now older, earning a lot more and researching and learning about pensions. I realise to my dismay that if I had transferred my teacher’s pension into my LGPS pot within 12 months of leaving teaching I could have retained the final salary link for those 5 years. Safe to say my final salary is going to be very considerably more than the 30k ish I was on when I left teaching.
I am absolutely kicking myself. I had no idea. It was a huge financial blunder that will cost me dearly in retirement and I just feel that I was in no way prepared for or helped to make this decision. “Seek financial advice” is all people ever say, but realistically when you are young and have no investments and very little in the way of spare cash, seeing a financial advisor is not something that you do.
I’m not sure why I’m posting here really, I just had to vent my huge disappointment and frustration and am seeking commiseration I suppose.

You must spend a LOT of your life feeling very angry and bitter

@CommanderTaggart Have you registered for online access to both schemes? You can calculate forecasts and get benefit statements to help understand where you are. You need to understand how the schemes have changed over the years, and what protections your contributions before scheme changes occurred might retain. You can study the rules for each scheme and increase your understanding of them. You can also check your National Insurance record online and check whether your state pension can be improved, as you were contracted out. This can all be fiendishly complicated and the information you glean can often not be relied upon without knowledgeable advice.

If you didn't join the LGPS until after 2014, you don't have an LGPS final salary scheme.

Google LGPS and read the scheme rules.

I thought that if I transferred the final salary benefit to the LGPS, then it would link to my LGPS final salary?

No. That could not be sustained by the body paying the Teachers Pension. Imagine doing 5 years in teaching, and then leaving to become a CEO on £250k. How would the Teachers pension fund manage if hundreds of people did that? !

This. It's not that hard to work out but no way would it have been £10,000 anyway for 5 years. That sounds like Daily Mail misinformation.

On another thread I’m on with you, you’re talking about your cleaner and your child in private school 😆 @Ionlymakejokestodistractmyself

That's not what op is saying though. She had the option to transfer her teachers pension to her LGPS. Just as you can still transfer a deffered LGPS if you take another LGPS role. It's nothing to do with transferring it out and into a DC. There are very specific sheme rules for LGPS and Teachers pension schemes.

I dont think it would have made a substantial difference. Maybe you should do what you should have done, and seek financial advice

Well I’m just guessing. I still have over 20 years left to work. In today’s money I might expect to reach £60-£65k if I get a promotion or two before retirement. But considering inflation over the next 20-30 years and the fact the pension age will likely go up and I’ll be working for longer, I’ve bumped it up to £90-100k.

Seeing as both schemes were career average at the time it would have made no difference whether OP got any advice. She will still get her pension based on her five years of contributions into the TPS. She will just get two pensions instead of one. OP mistakenly thought that if she transferred her TPS pot (which by then wasn't even a final salary scheme) into her LGPS pot (also not FS), she would somehow magically get a final salary pension in 20 years time based on her salary at the time of retirement. This is absolutely not the case, so the whole thing is based around a fundamental mistake, seemingly encouraged by Chat GPT, which spouts such nonsense it's not even funny.

To be fair, I transferred 20 years from various employers into the LGPS in 2013.

Subsequently I got a couple of significant promotions. Those 20 years link into the LGPS final salary portion of my pension. It was a very good move.

LOL

Better than cashing it in as some of us may have been stupid enough to do in our 20s, totally failing to understand the employer's contribution and the tax implications.....

Yeah but when you joined, the LGPS was a final salary scheme - it wasn't when OP joined.

No, but I had teacher's pension final salary from before 2014, and the chance to transfer it over. www.lgpsmember.org/your-pension/paying-in/transferring-in/

Grow up. OP has asked about a financial matters on the Money Matters board. She is perfectly entitled to do so. Just because you have a crap pension dosent mean that others cant ask questions to gain understanding about their own finances.
There are far too many people like you in this site that want to shut down the conversation with little digs just because tbeir own circumatances aren't as favourable as others. That's not fair and it deters people from posting for advice.

It’s not accurate.

it’ll be nowhere near a £10k p/a difference.

also you still have that entitlement there, you haven’t lost the teachers pension.

also it’s not final salary anymore it’s career average (CARE).

Basically your post does highlight the value of good financial advice, particularly when it comes to pensions, but I really don’t think you need to be kicking yourself here. The difference will be minimal.

Oh ignore @Ionlymakejokestodistractmyself

has a cleaner and privately educators her child.

On the breadline this poster is not

I don’t think 10,000 a year difference is realistic at all. Assuming the best case scenario and using the most rudimentary calculation (because I don’t know specific rules and enhancement factors of either scheme) let’s assume 90,000 will be the ‘final salary’ your pension income is going to be based on. 5/60 multiplied by 90,000 gives you 7,500 a year (based on your teaching years’ service).

You already told us it’s going be based on a career average salary so it’s definitely going to be less than 7,500. So it’s already not possible for the difference between the 2 scenarios to be anywhere near 10,000 pa.

Compare this with your actual Teacher’s pension 5 years of service and final salary of 30,000 - 5/60 x 30,000 =2,500. This is your base pension at the time of leaving. There will be an enhancement applied for the years between leaving and taking your pension income. So I really don’t think you will have lost out that much by not having taken any action.

All this is not to say my numbers are correct. I used to be a final pension scheme administrator many years ago. I just wanted to offer you a rough estimate that I worked out to fact check the information ChatGTP gave you. 10,000 a year difference is highly dubious and I don’t want you to get yourself upset over something that probably doesn’t reflect the reality at all.

You can request a leaver statement from the Teacher’s pension scheme. They will spell out how your benefits at time of leaving was calculated and what you can expect when you reach retirement age. Good luck.

Yes but it wouldn't have made your LGPS pension a final salary one going forward. You'd essentially get a pension broadly equivalent to if you'd been in the LGPS all along (bearing in mind it became career average in 2014).

Perhaps not, but if her salary has increased so drastically over a short period of time, she would likely have breached her annual allowance over several years with either her having to pay income tax on the excess or having her pension reduced if she used scheme pays.

As I said before, no adviser could have predicted the future and made a recommendation.

I'd just be thankful that you actually joined both the Teacher's and LGPS schemes in the first place (you probably didn't have the option to opt out in those days). Like you, I didn't pay an awful lot of attention to pensions when I was young, but luckily the firm I worked for had a compulsory final salary scheme that I'm very grateful for now as I approach retirement age.

I despair now when I see young people choosing to opt out of schemes like LGPS, NHS pension etc without understanding how much they are giving up, saying things like 'I'd rather have the money now' 'I'll probably never reach pension age', 'The scheme's not as good as it used to be' etc etc....

I think you've misunderstood final salary schemes. Your 5 years in the TPS has no effect on your career average pension. Final salary pensions are based on your best three years salary in the last 10 years of employment during the scheme. The scheme ended in 2014 when all public sector pensions went into career average.
Between 2004 and 2014 was your highest salary (3 years) in the TPS or the LGPS?
You will still get your TPS and lump sum from your five years but it's not likely to make a huge difference in monthly pension. You may lose something off the LGPS lump sum but if your career average is going to be based on £100k and you've got another 20 years in that then the effect is going to be minimal.

Yes. That would be a great way to boost your pension: Spend a few years toiling st the chalkface, then spend the rest of your career in a relatively easy job, but somehow accruing double the benefit for those years of hard graft in a proper job? Sounds too good to be true.

😂 they must have a very sad life then, if all they have to do on a Sunday afternoon is make up lies on mumsnet