[Misc] Retirement

[dazzer6666]

Make sure it's an ISA that is knowledgeable about being non-resident in the UK.

IFA

 

[Triggaaar]

I do not mind doing less days

Maybe spend the spare days on an English course

 

[Seagull58]

IFA

Oops

 

[Professor Plum]

I happened to look into this when I was back in the UK at Christmas time. It would cost me £824.20 per year going back to 2006-07 (I believe self-employed individuals would pay a smaller amount).

Hmm. I spoke to them in June 2022 (when the deadline for topping up was July 2022, now extended I believe).

I decided not to go ahead and buy my missing years of NI contributions (for reasons I won’t bore you with) but in my case it was an average of about £600 a year for the 6 years I needed to get the full complement. I’ve got the figures somewhere but I’m certain that was what they told me. Then I happened to mention that I’d been out of the country for a few years and was told that the NI top up rate in that case was much lower, about £150 a year.

Perhaps this has changed in the last year, or perhaps it depends where you’ve been outside the UK? Not sure why it should but I was mostly in EU countries. Or perhaps it was some other reason. But anyway, it’s a simple matter of doing the sums and deciding if you think you’ll live long enough to make it worthwhile.

Note — I’ve just remembered that my missing years all had different rates for topping up which I guess might be something to do with the prevailing NI rates or tax thresholds or something, at the time.

 

[chip]

Good Qs. My first bit of advice is pad out your CV with lots of teaching and admin if you are concerned about REF. However I have a feeling that once you go part time you become almost untouchable because there is no 'expectation' for research activity for part time staff so no yardstick to evaluate you against.

I may make a certain day a non work day but because I enjoy work I will play it by ear (or nose, or throat). Nobody has much idea how I spend my time anyway...

I am not money-savvy but the moment that AVCs and overpaying the pension became things (in the nineties or early noughties?), I looked into it, and realized it made sense, so I maxed up my pension. I also bough back missing years (I was 28 when I started my pension payments) so I could retire at 62 if I wanted. The changes in the laws meant I have now been overpaying during the last 4 years and the pot got quite big. I was 56 when the USS scheme switched to average salary, but that meant an element based on my salary aged 56 was secure, and the rest was an average of salary from age 56 to 66. So I have managed to squeeze all the available juice out of it.

The 80% option is absolutely fantastic. Because my colleagues like me (astonishing though that may seem) and like what I do I get an easy ride. The fact my research manager washed his hands of me for his own reasons (I work on X and he works on Y and he saw no value to him in what I do) and asks nothing of me I am in a very fortunate position.

The irony is that in his world you are nothing till you get a chair, and he spends his time making it incredibly hard for people to get promotion. And when people get a chair they don't get a pay rise. So as a 'reader' (for the last 28 years) I get a salary almost indistinguishable from the workaholic treadmill runners, and without the grief. I have always been REF returned but not in my 'school'. They think that by not supporting my promotion they are doing brilliant management. But....I have never applied for a chair and never would. What was good enough for AJP Taylor is good enough for me . The rest of the world outside my institution thinks I'm a hot ticket, and I have a great hinterland with journal editing and international committee activity. All in all, a very pleasing set up.

Sometimes being autistic really is a super power.


Now, sensible advice. To get flexible retirement you need this form from USS:

View attachment 186619

You also need to get the support of your employer.

USS then sent me a nice letter:

View attachment 186620


Then I spoke to payroll and it was all agreed in a total time of about 6 weeks.

A word of advice. The pension advisor at my uni did not know about maxing up the lump sum. The value of the lump sum he sent me was the value of the average lump sum. I asked specifically about the max amount I could take and how that would affect the annual pension. The college pension adviser then came back and apologised for giving me false info. Not taking the max lump sum is madness. I calculated that to 'lose out' on the lump sum versus annual pension battle I will need to live till I am 83. With my vices there is little chance of that

Anything else you want to know, PM me

Thank you very much, most appreciated. I think it will be three or four years before I go as my PhD students will all have finished by then. Either that or I'll wake up one day and that'll be it. It would be months before anyone noticed I was absent. No worries about REF, but I definitely peaked around 15 years ago and find it all increasingly tiresome. I wont write another proposal again (unless something really takes my eye) and gave up "leadership" roles years ago. Teaching is well covered with numbers increasing so much and me refusing to team teach. I've noticed that some of my colleagues who have opted for phased retirement seem to get sucked into all the jobs best avoided (interviews, disciplinary, extra MSc marking) while others drop teaching and admin - I know which group I'd be in. I'm happy with the things I've achieved and helped others achieve, I'm sure you are too. Plenty of twats in positions they are unsuited to in my institution (and maybe I've been/am one).

The editor for my first book, early 90s, took issue with my running headers. He told me to avoid creeping capitalism. So don't captialise your headers in your forthcoming manuscript and you'll be doing your bit for the cause and science.

Thanks again

 

[AZ Gull]

Hmm. I spoke to them in June 2022 (when the deadline for topping up was July 2022, now extended I believe).

I decided not to go ahead and buy my missing years of NI contributions (for reasons I won’t bore you with) but in my case it was an average of about £600 a year for the 6 years I needed to get the full complement. I’ve got the figures somewhere but I’m certain that was what they told me. Then I happened to mention that I’d been out of the country for a few years and was told that the NI top up rate in that case was much lower, about £150 a year.

Perhaps this has changed in the last year, or perhaps it depends where you’ve been outside the UK? Not sure why it should but I was mostly in EU countries. Or perhaps it was some other reason. But anyway, it’s a simple matter of doing the sums and deciding if you think you’ll live long enough to make it worthwhile.

Note — I’ve just remembered that my missing years all had different rates for topping up which I guess might be something to do with the prevailing NI rates or tax thresholds or something, at the time.

The £824 per year figure is the rate for Class 3 contributions (basically, employed people who were not working and paying NI for the relevant years). It makes no difference where you have been outside the UK.

Obviously, if have a partial contribution for some years you would have less to pay to make up, but the full contribution is £824 (slightly different figures for 2020-21 and 2021-22 but only by about 30 quid).

 

[Kneon Light]

The £824 per year figure is the rate for Class 3 contributions (basically, employed people who were not working and paying NI for the relevant years). It makes no difference where you have been outside the UK.

Obviously, if have a partial contribution for some years you would have less to pay to make up, but the full contribution is £824 (slightly different figures for 2020-21 and 2021-22 but only by about 30 quid).

Can you point me in the direction of where I need to look to find out about paying NI when abroad?
Moved to Falklands originally for 3 years and never bothered doing it. Now it looks like we will be settling here I want to top up in case we ever need to move back.
Thanks

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

Sounds fantastic, but can’t help think you must be (heavy brummie accent) ‘considerably richer than me’

We do a lot of last minute stuff mate, when we can grab a bargain

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

It’s great that you are fit and wealthy enough to do all this. I wonder what the equivalent thread on Middlesbrough’s chat room talks about…….

I'd guess the time that Dale Stephens got sent off and they made it to the promised land only to fall back again. I was at that game, and the subsequent Wednesday games arrrgghhh

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

I would suggest just put it on mute or Airplane Tim that's what i do. Suppose you or I had a fall or something happened my kids have got me on find my phone so if something did happen they would know exactly where i am. After 3 days when they wanted something

Great shout, airplane mode it is, in my pack pack so I'm not tempted to jump on NSC whilst out!

 

[AZ Gull]

Can you point me in the direction of where I need to look to find out about paying NI when abroad?
Moved to Falklands originally for 3 years and never bothered doing it. Now it looks like we will be settling here I want to top up in case we ever need to move back.
Thanks

You can check your State Pension forecast here.

You can check your National Insurance record here.

(I believe you will need to set up your account, if you haven't already).

I must admit, I think it is a pretty complicated process to pay for missing NI contributions when you are abroad. I started looking into it on my last day I was in the UK at Christmas and after a couple of hours I gave up (for the time being at least). There are forms to fill in, I think you have to phone a number to get a code that you need in order to make a payment, etc. I'll give it another go at some point because as it stands I only have until April 5 2025 to pay for 13 missing years between 2006-07 and 2018-19 (after that the chance disappears forever).

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Thank you very much, most appreciated. I think it will be three or four years before I go as my PhD students will all have finished by then. Either that or I'll wake up one day and that'll be it. It would be months before anyone noticed I was absent. No worries about REF, but I definitely peaked around 15 years ago and find it all increasingly tiresome. I wont write another proposal again (unless something really takes my eye) and gave up "leadership" roles years ago. Teaching is well covered with numbers increasing so much and me refusing to team teach. I've noticed that some of my colleagues who have opted for phased retirement seem to get sucked into all the jobs best avoided (interviews, disciplinary, extra MSc marking) while others drop teaching and admin - I know which group I'd be in. I'm happy with the things I've achieved and helped others achieve, I'm sure you are too. Plenty of twats in positions they are unsuited to in my institution (and maybe I've been/am one).

The editor for my first book, early 90s, took issue with my running headers. He told me to avoid creeping capitalism. So don't captialise your headers in your forthcoming manuscript and you'll be doing your bit for the cause and science.

Thanks again

I NEVER capitalize.

I hope you navigate a good pathway.

All academic 'leaders' are fools. Academia is about having ideas and testing them. Not strategizing output impact. Those who suck on that teat are f***ing wankers, the lot of them

Best wishes

 

[Kneon Light]

You can check your State Pension forecast here.

You can check your National Insurance record here.

(I believe you will need to set up your account, if you haven't already).

I must admit, I think it is a pretty complicated process to pay for missing NI contributions when you are abroad. I started looking into it on my last day I was in the UK at Christmas and after a couple of hours I gave up (for the time being at least). There are forms to fill in, I think you have to phone a number to get a code that you need in order to make a payment, etc. I'll give it another go at some point because as it stands I only have until April 5 2025 to pay for 13 missing years between 2006-07 and 2018-19 (after that the chance disappears forever).

Thanks - that is really useful.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

I know the ambulance chasers are slating the largest IFA group, St James’s Place, but in my experience they’ve been great, solid, sensible advice and better returns than in other investments.

Get some solid advice as it’s easy for a poor IFA to tell you something he or she feels is right but you could lose out significantly

 

[Seagull58]

You can check your State Pension forecast here.

You can check your National Insurance record here.

(I believe you will need to set up your account, if you haven't already).

I must admit, I think it is a pretty complicated process to pay for missing NI contributions when you are abroad. I started looking into it on my last day I was in the UK at Christmas and after a couple of hours I gave up (for the time being at least). There are forms to fill in, I think you have to phone a number to get a code that you need in order to make a payment, etc. I'll give it another go at some point because as it stands I only have until April 5 2025 to pay for 13 missing years between 2006-07 and 2018-19 (after that the chance disappears forever).

You only need 31 years of NI contributions (I think) to get the maximum state pension so you may not need to pay all the missing years.

 

[Albion my Albion]

Arundel mate, walk locally and along the coast. Have started to plan walking The Grand Union Canal either late Summer or Spring ‘25. Will depend on my poorly ankle.

Is that your Project 2025? Hope your ankle is not so poorly.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

The deadline was extended and I think is still available.

Important — if you’re working overseas you should pay your annual NI contribution each year. It’s actually very cheap compared with the cost of living/working in the UK. When I enquired it was only about £150 a year. This is an absolute bargain as it will help ensure you get maximum state pension.

I pay a monthly £13 NI direct debit and get a full year of contributions each and every year.

You’re right about the 150 for missed years. If I look at my online account, which I just did, it still shows as £824.20 for each missed year. When I spoke to them about setting up this DD they said it’s a lot less, I recall it was around 150. I haven't bothered with this as I can easily get to 35 years of full contributions with my £13 DD before I retire.

 

[OzMike]

My official retirememt age if I was there would now be 65 years and one month.
What the month is about, who knows.
I lived and worked there for 45 years. I must be due something.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I don’t have a pension as such, but plan to either live of investments or cash these in and buy a life annuity or a mix of both. Guess I should talk to an IFA….can anyone recommend a non-racist IFA for this?

 

[Papak]

You only need 31 years of NI contributions (I think) to get the maximum state pension so you may not need to pay all the missing years.

Blimey, I have 34 already and still 15 years from "normal" retirement age.