Tax free lump sum, or not!

[loveawineloveacrisp]

I'm retiring at the end of this year and am undecided as to whether I want to take my full tax free lump sum from my DC pot. I originally planned to take it phased over a few years and live tax free for 3-4 years, but I have a niggling thought that the rules might be changed at some point. The other consideration is that I'm going to be moving to a country where the tax free lump sum isn't recognised in the next 2-3 years so I need to get it out before then.

If you're due to retire soon, what are your thoughts on this?

@IsThisEverOkay00 why is £16700 the optimal figure? I know zero rate is just over £12k

16700 is optimal because 25% is tax free lump s sum and 75% is taxable but matches the annual allowance so you pay no tax.

Of course. That makes utter sense.

It would be mad not to use your personal allowance for the years until you move overseas - that is 'tax free cash' too!
So you might want to take less initially and draw your personal allowance on top, you may want to take it all and top up your ISA (so that any growth is then tax-free after that). But don't waste it!

@PosiePerkinPootleFlump yes I'm coming to that conclusion. April brings a new 12k ISA allowance, so I'll take £1000 per month on top of my lump sum and drip feed into that.

This is what I have done. Rachel Reeves completely broke my faith in pensions, I would rather have the money under my own control tbh