Teachers - did you get your predicted pension

[BG2015]

I'm beginning to really think about retiring now after having breast cancer last year. I'm 54 and am now paying more towards my mortgage so I can retire at 56/57.

I regularly check my forecasted pension and lump sum on TPS but wonder how accurate it really is.

Can anyone say whether the (rubbish) calculators on there are any good.

I'm in the Final salary scheme and career average schemes so that complicates things further, plus theres the McCloud judgement to consider to. It's a minefield.

the only reason for taking max lump sum would be if you knew you had a life limiting illness which means you were unlikely to benefit from having higher pension annually also for some paying off the mortgage with a lump sum is better than trying to pay mortgage out of pension so not having to worry about mortgage interest rates going up faster than your pension
most people retiring in next 10 years in public sector since before 2012 will have a normal pension age of 60 meaning that if you take at 60 there are no reductions in annual sum obviously if you work beyond 60 you are still adding to your pot. I'm a dentist and have used Mcleod ruling to take all my pension early at 55 there is a deduction but I reckon working part time in another job for 2 days a week until i'm 60 will cover that at that point DH will get state pension so for me it made sense as had already paid off mortgage so I took minimum lump sum of 3X pension which is tax free, remember pension are free of NI but not tax free so any pension above annual allowance will have some tax so if your pension is under £12700 groos no tax but any pension above that will be taxed at 20%

Thanks for the linked video @BG2015 , and all who have mentioned Dave Fountain.
I have just watched that one and realise I have been blindly walking towards retirement in the good faith of all financial advisors always saying "I can't beat a teacher's pension'" and I have just sort of assumed I would retire at 60 and someone would start paying me my pension.
I am going to spend a couple of days reading through / watching a lot more.

I did speak to someone at Wesleyan and it was news to me they start paying me my pension at 60 whether I retire or not.
I'm a bit embarrassed at how little I know.

Thanks EVERYONE for highlighting all the different things for me and signposting Dave Fountain.

When you retire you are given a salary of reference you are not allowed to exceed this if you return to work or your pension will be deducted this is called abatement. The idea is that your pension and your part time earnings when added together must not be more than your previous earnings. You can avoid abatement by either using the phased retirement option or by leaving before you are 60 even if it is only a week before. The only problem with this is that if you leave before your 60 you have to take both pensions which means that the career average will have a lot of reductions as your normal pension age for this is your state pension age.

Thanks for all the helpful advice on here. I wonder how many older teachers just happen to be reviewing their pensions at the end of August….!
I thought I had missed the cut off to retire at 55, but the David Fountain page suggests I still might be able to, fingers crossed. It is getting a harder job as I get older and more menopausal!

Don't think that's true. You have to apply to teachers pensions 3 months or so before you want to retire. It isn't automatic so Weslyan have got that wrong.

I've just retired at 55. Took the maximum lump sum. My pension will only be about £1000 a month but with my husband's income and no mortgage, we should be fine. I plan to top it up with some casual work (invigilating, supply-if I can bring myself to try it) but honestly, the feeling of freedom is incredible! Thank God we can still retire at 55. Don't think I could've done another day!

I applied in early June for mine and will receive it at the start of September. It took them about 8 weeks to process it and send me my benefit statement.

staffroom.boards.net/

This is a forum set up after the TES forums closed down. There is a very helpful Retirement section on there of which David Fountain will contribute if you ask him a question.

It's very informative

Thanks, I have watched that video now, very helpful!
Our pensions would be a lot simpler wouldn't they if they hadn't split them into two types

Some really useful info on this thread.

I am just going to mention state pension. As we were all contracted out you may find that you don’t currently qualify for a full state pension. All you need to do is a quick pension forecast https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension and this will tell you if you already qualify.

Just popping in to say what a genius and all round good egg David Fountain is 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 also to recommend the fb group teacher pensions teacher to teacher (uk)

Is there an equivalent 'David Fountain' for LGPS please?

What do you want to know?

I retired early at 56. My prediction and lump sum was accurate. I checked and double checked before I actually handed in my notice. I too had invested in btl properties and used this to live on until my pension kicked in at 60. Mine was final salary and average salary too. I managed really well and each year your pension goes up. It went up a lot last year as inflation was high.

Did you retire at 56 and leave claiming your pension until you were 60?

Yes. I relied on income from btl properties and I had a second private pension. I drew down 25 percent from that one tax free at 56. That lasted me well. Then I drew down £1800 each year until I could claim my TP. I deliberately kept my draw downs just below tax thresholds. Then once I got TP lump sum I bought another btl and bought an annuity with the rest of my second private pension. My DH is still working and on a very good salary which was beneficial for me. I planned it out so I could retire early because the travel to school was on M6 (a car park in the morning s), I felt burned out from years of putting in so much effort and I had recurring cellulitis which was made worse when standing on it. Then my Mum got very ill and I wanted to care for her with my sister's so I handed notice in. I loved teaching it was a huge part of my life for 25 years but I've never regretted retiring early. I have plenty to do. I'm still a Foster Mum. I meet friends for trips out and lunches. I helped out my DD when DGS got chicken pox so she could carry on to work. I work in my garden, I read books, watch Netflix, cook, bake and I run the btl houses and that keeps me busy.

Also when I'm 67 I will get a full state pension.

Depending on whether you're affected by McCloud, recommend you check your TPS inbox as they have given an update about this. Although some people received a notification to personal email, for others the only way to find out is to log on to TPS and check.

If anyone is still following this thread, I retired from teaching at the end of August at the age of 64. Both my lump sum and monthly pension are greater than the amounts stated in the pension estimates.

Good to hear!

I'm the original OP and I'm still following.

The McCloud judgement shows I've got an increase in my lump sum by about £11k but my pension has taken a dip, however I believe that's because it doesn't take into account something in the career average bit of the pension so hopefully it shouldn't be too bad.

I've also requested to move a small LGP over to my teachers pension too so that should make a small difference also.

The dip in the pension due to the McCloud move might not be that bad. The Career Average has a NPA of 67 and the Final Salary either 60 or 65 depending on your age. If you retire early, the pensions will be reduced depending on how close you are to NPA, so the FS bit will be reduced by a smaller percentage than the Career Average bit. In most cases it will pretty much balance out but you'll still have the larger lump sum!

OP, sorry, just re-read your original post! I am also planning on going at 57, so I happen to know that you should get 88% of your Final Salary bit (pension and lump sum), and 61% of your Career Average bit unless they change things. Possibly slightly more depending on how far into 57 you are on the actual date. BUT most TPS statements haven't yet included the 11% increase for last year's inflation, things tend to get re-calculated every April, so that might be a nice boost.

September inflation figure was 6.7%. Fingers crossed for those in receipt of TPS payments for a 6.7% increase from April. (All subject for government confirmation of course)