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

Hello, can you help ? I have a Local Government pension pot, and have nominated DS1 and 2 to be beneficiaries - does this also need putting in writing in a will incase my DH contests my decision if anything happens to me.

I’m confused about tax free lump sums. My forecast refers to a “an automatic tax free lump sum of £xx” but later says the amount that can be taken tax free is 25% of the pension value. I have both a defined benefit part and a defined contribution part in my pension pot (USS). Hope you chose this question!!

Is it ever too late to start a pension? If so, is there a good alternative?

I pay into a pension via work, ie it’s on my payslip, and my employer contributes.

I read somewhere that I might be able to claim some tax back due to being a 40% tax payer. Is that right and if so, is it HMRC I need to speak to? Would I have to do a tax return?

Is there any way I can be in control of my contributions, some months pay more and others less - to a pre-agreed minimum - I know I am going to struggle financially at some point but would like to contribute the minimum on some months.

What is the best pension calculator to use to predict on saving ££?? each month - what my approximate pension would be and at what age - I have paid into a company pension scheme and get an annual statement - but would love to have a goal retirement age of 55 (I am 35 now)

My mum has retired and has a pension, however her friends who have spent spent spent and rented all their life get as much (more in the winter) from pension credit, winter fuel and cold weather benefits - so what's the point of saving for the old age - when the state gives pensioners so much to make up a state pension ?? (I have a pension but wonder how much it will be worth due to inflation - and wonder if the triple lock and pensioner benefits will be there when I reach that age). thoughts ........?

I have an NHS dentist pension and am baffled by it - most of it is in the 1995 section- can you or can you recommend someone who can explain how it works?

How do I go about increasing my private pension contributions in the pension my employer set up?

Can you still contribute to a private pension when you start to draw down pension from a final salary pension scheme?
Can you give an overview of the issues to consider when considering inverse commutation in a final salary pension scheme?
For those with a combination of final salary and defined contribution scheme pensions, can you highlight what to consider in planning how to draw down benefits when you don’t need all the income.
For an elderly female relative - I know lots of women have been underpaid their state pension, can you flag how to identify those missing out and how to hasten the backpayment of the money owed as I understand those who die before the mistakes are rectified [increasingly likely for those in their 90s) are missing out.

Thank you.

Do all providers offer "small pot rules" for defined contribution pensions? I have read that you can take out as cash up to three small pot pensions under £10k, but when I spoke to Lifesight the other day they seemed doubtful about this. I have some small old pensions and now pay into a public sector one. Thank you.

yes please, I moved back to Iceland in March last year after 12 years in the UK. During my time in the UK I acquired some pension via Aegon, Royal London etc due to work. When the time comes, how do I claim my pension and will it be heavily taxed? Thank you.

I have a teachers pension, been paying in since I graduated (15 years) have been working part time for last 9 years but about to go full time. Before I get used to extra income is it worth me using some to top up my pension and if so should I/could I add to teachers pension or should I get a separate new private pension? Thanks

How can I add to an old NHS pension? (No longer working there).

What is the order of events with TFPLS and LTA?

e.g. If someone retired with a DC pension pot of £4million, could they crystallize the lot, take a £1million Tax Free Lump Sum, then have a Life Time Allowance calculation on the remainder, meaning an approx. £750k tax bill (25% on the £3million) then take the remainder (approx. £2.25 million) as taxable income over the coming years?

Or would the LTA come first, meaning a £1million tax bill, then a £750k TFLS?

I have several small pension pots and currently work for a major UK company paying 11% of my salary into that pension (company puts in 9%)
I'm 60 now so hoping to return within the next 5 years.
Is there any benefit to me transferring my other pension pots into the company scheme, apart from making it easier to just have one statement every year?
Or should I be comparing all the other schemes (growth? fees?) and use that to decide which one of those to transfer the other "strays" into.
I think I'm relatively money-savvy, but pensions just confuse me !!

Do you have any regulated pension qualifications?

I am in a local government pension. Am I better to put AVCs into that, or to open an independent personal pension?

When you are 55/older, can you take the 25% cash lump sum and then deposit the same amount back into your DC pension scheme (with tax relief), or are there consequences (other than not being able to withdraw another tax free 25% when you actually retire).

It’s called recycling and not allowed

if your annual salary is below the point at which tax is payable, is it worth paying in to a pension or would one be better placed overpaying mortgage?

Is it worth starting a SIPP for my children? When is a good age to start this and what are the advantages and disadvantages of doing so?

I have three pensions, one current, two dormant.

The two dormant ones have £5,000 in each (former workplace pensions), the current one has around £250,000 in it. One is in administration.

Can I cash in the two smaller ones now I'm 55 and if so, how will that affect my income tax? I currently earn over £100,000 but I'm not in the super tax bracket (even if I cashed these pensions in, I wouldn't reach that level of earnings).

Trying to get information on this from both is like trying to get blood from a stone.

What is the best and most tax efficient way to draw down when you have multiple (not DB) pensions?

Does PensionBee actively highlight the pension via its Lobbying the discrimination that exists between DB and DC schemes and the craziness of the lta level.

Furthermore isn’t there a risk that pensioners who take 35k a year, after 30 years (ignoring inflation on both the amt taken and the lta) will be subject to the Punitive LTA tax rate, when they can least afford it - imagine as a pensioner, your starting tax rate is 45%…. I understand the need for a LtA on the super wealthy, but at the level it’s at now, who can justify punitive tax rates for an 85+ year old on their pension pot when their income finally trips over an ever decreasing or stationary LTa - it encourages emptying the pension pot early - and if a goal is to make state pension means tested - then lta is likely to allow those who spend early qualify for the state pension.