Do you have questions about your pensions? Ask PensionBee’s finance and investment expert Becky O’Connor - £200 voucher to be won

[CeriMumsnet]

Pensions are invaluable for our future financial stability and wellbeing, however it can be hard to feel on top of them or know how best to manage them. To help you out, PensionBee has invited their expert to answer your questions around pensions and saving for the future.

• Everyone who shares a question on the thread below will be entered into a prize draw.
• One lucky Mumsnet user will win a £200 voucher
• Becky will be back online in a few weeks to answer a selection of your questions.

About the expert
Becky O’Connor joined PensionBee in January 2023 as Director of Public Affairs. She’s a Personal Finance and Investment Expert and award-winning Journalist with two decades of experience in journalism and communications. Prior to joining PensionBee, Becky was Head of Pensions at Interactive Investor, and previously acted as a spokesperson for Royal London, the mutual insurer. Becky’s also the Co-Founder of the ethical personal finance website, Good With Money; the Author of a book on sustainable investment, The ESG Investing Handbook, Chair of the Ethical Advisory Committee for Castlefield Investment Management and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Here’s what PensionBee has to say
‘We are a leading online pension provider with a mission to make pensions simple, so that everyone can look forward to a happy retirement. We’ve helped thousands of savers feel pension confident by enabling them to combine, contribute and withdraw from their pension, all in one place.’

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw
MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

Does PensionBee have any stats to show what the minimum viable amount of pension a couple should be saving towards, inorder to retire at 65 assuming mortgage is paid off and no luxuries like holidays abroad but ability to run a basic car etc?

When choosing where your DC pension is invested, assuming you are the typical demographic of mumsnet so 30yrs or so from retirement, are there any downsides to just choosing a global equity tracker with the cheapest fees?

If I have a few different work place pensions, is it best to consolidate then all into one or are there benefits to leaving them separate?

I have 3 pensions from different jobs. 2 are DB pensions, I will get one at 60 and one at 67. The third is a DC pension pot of £42k.

I’m retiring at 60 and want to use the pension pot to bridge the gap between 60 and 67, ie to top up my final salary pension rather than buy an annuity with it. I was thinking that I could draw it down as and when I need it, or perhaps as a monthly sum. Is this possible? What would be the most efficient way tax-wise?

What do you think of the LTA and the freezing of it? Do you think it should be scrapped or raised?

I have a managed SIPP and the cost is circa £10k a year in fees . That's in excess of £100k for 10 years until I retire . Would it be better for me to put it in somewhere like Vanguard with much smaller fees . My S & S ISA is with Vanguard and the growth fluctuations appear similar .

One of my workplace pensions is absolutely tiny. A few hundred £ per annum. Is it best to leave it where it is, or to merge it into my current employers pension? I guess there are admin fees associated with moving a pension, so I'm worried that if I move it, all of the value will be eaten up by admin costs.

I have a super annuation pension and have been part time for the majority of my membership. How can I boost my pension as I’m starting to worry about living on not much. I have around another 12 ish years to work.

Is it better to merge company pensions into one a scheme ? I have around £100k across five different schemes and now in civil service scheme - I missed window to transfer into civil service pension but trying to simplify things now ahead of hopefully retiring at 55

What's the best pension for a stay at home parent

I have a DC pension (~£130k pot) from previous employer that I no longer pay into. Monthly management fees are taken from it.

I now have an Alpha civil service pension. Only 3 years old.

Should I combine them? I think I missed the window. How about as AVCs? Not sure what that is tbh.

Should I be doing something with my DC one?

I'm 45.

I worked in the public sector until recently so my pension up to now was in one of the defined benefit schemes. I’ve just started a new job and they’ve said I’ll be auto-enrolled into a company pension with Nest. I’ll put in 5% and my employer will put in 5% also. This 5% is a lot less than my previous job contribution rate which was over 10% but I think the two schemes differ greatly anyway. I am happy to be enrolled. I think. But should I put more in than 5%? Can I choose to do that? I also have a LISA but I only pay £20 a month into that.

Hi Becky,

I am UK based, now paying in to a work pension. I worked for several years in Ireland and would like to secure my pension contributions there aswell as here. Am I allowed to work part time for an Irish based company whilst I live in the U.K. and continue with my full time job here.

I have about six months of contributions to make into the Irish system to guarantee some pension from there ( you need minimum 5 years working contributions). I am unlikely to be back there working now but think that I can make additional contributions from here for the balance once I have the full 5 years working contributions paid in. My plan is to try and find some work there that I can do from here ( the IK) to make up those last six months.

Hope that makes sense!
Many thanks

I have five different pensions with five different pension providers. Is it best to consolidate them all into one? If so, how do I decide which pension provider is the best? How do I go about consolidating them?

I have an aviva pension I pay for 16 years approx £36 pm
i also have a workplace pension which started when compulsory which then stopped when I moved to another company and a new workplace pension started approximately 1 year ago. I also work a part time job in nhs and I’ve been in the pension for about 1 year.
many years ago I joined serps, I had no idea what it was and still don’t.
I don’t have a clue about anything and would love some advice

How do we create different pots to crystallise? How do we keep these pots separate so we can take some pension now and keep saving into the pension that isn’t crystallised?

What's the best calculator to use to ascertain how much we should pay into our pensions?

Previously used Retireready one which makes no sense to me.

I would like to pay extra into my DC scheme to save income tax. How do I work out the best amount to save, and how do I calculate the tax saving?

I have 18 years in an older (better) final salary DB pension and 3 DC pensions. Can I take my 25% tax free lump sum from my DC pensions so I do not impact what I get annually from my DB pension? Are there disadvantages to be aware of doing this?

When will we be able to see all our pensions from different providers on a SINGLE DASHBOARD?

thank you

I have 3 pensions from different companies - how easy is it to combine them to my current workplace pension. ?

Can you take a pension break - then make up the shortfall later in life ?

I did not start work until I was 25 due to health reasons, and even then worked part time - I pay into a pension scheme, and now at 35 I am beginning to fear I will have such a small pension, and will have to wait until approaching 70 for my state pension - what is you best advice (DH will have a good pension but I cannot rely on that) I have looked and applied for a full time position - so far unsuccessfully.

What is the best method of locating and transferring an overseas pension fund ? I worked in Bermuda for 11 years as a teacher, and now want to locate and transfer the pension pot I accumulated whilst there - I have contacted the provider several time but they are very unresponsive. TY

Can I transfer part of my husband's pension pot into mine - I was a SAHM for 10 years. whilst he worked - he is agreeable to this.
I am paying into small pension as I now work term time in a school.