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The Retirement Thread

1 lurker | 172 watchers

Hanneke May 2021 9:28am, 2 May 2021 72,857 posts	Quote Pin Hanneke Um, I didn't know there were exceptions to the 6 year rule but when I tried claiming the only year I could years ago, I got nowhere as they sent me a form that arrived on Good Friday and had to be filed and received by them the day before. The burden of proof is huge! So I gave up as it was only 1 year... So now I have to work 6 years longer for a full pension...
Hanneke May 2021 9:29am, 2 May 2021 72,858 posts	Quote Pin Hanneke Does anyone know if you can pay voluntarily in advance? I.e. pay off those years at retirement age?
GimmeMedals May 2021 9:43am, 2 May 2021 20,852 posts	Quote Pin GimmeMedals Have you requested a pension forecast, Hanneke? How much extra ££ do you get for those 6 extra years of working? It might not be very much.
Hanneke May 2021 10:07am, 2 May 2021 72,860 posts	Quote Pin Hanneke It isn't worth it Gimme! I resigned myself a few years ago, when I found out about it, that by the time I will get my pension it will be so depleted it isn't worth fretting over... I will need to sell up and move to a cheap, warm country and live off the proceeds of my house sale.
Hanneke May 2021 10:13am, 2 May 2021 72,861 posts	Quote Pin Hanneke In fact, my immigration lawyer and I came to the conclusion that I may as well write off 26 years of contributions completely (over £200k) as I now have to pay over £600/year to get no service from the NHS, have to contribute until I am 73 to get a full state pension, if there is anything left by then, and am not entitled to anything else. Which is why I decided I was damn well having those SEISS grants! The only thing I will ever receive from this government it seems...
GimmeMedals May 2021 11:01am, 2 May 2021 20,855 posts	Quote Pin GimmeMedals Dreadful isn't it
ThorntonRunner May 2021 11:03am, 2 May 2021 4,872 posts	Quote Pin ThorntonRunner Makes one ashamed of this country
bja61 May 2021 11:08am, 2 May 2021 1,420 posts	Quote Pin bja61 Hanneke, silly question perhaps but are you entitled to a pension from the Dutch government for some of your missing UK years? Mrs a spent 7 years on the Isle of Man which don’t count for her UK pension but she will get a Manx pension which more than makes up for it… If you haven’t already, it would be worth getting advice on whether your Contracted out years can be bought back in. A lot of schemes actually did this automatically when the rules changed (2016?) and were not great at explaining it to members.
Hanneke May 2021 4:44pm, 2 May 2021 72,865 posts	Quote Pin Hanneke Thanks bja, yes, I do now get a little bit from the Dutch government, all very convaluted because I have been away for 26 years and no longer in an EU country. I need to go to the Netherlands and sort out a certain registration, which I failed at a few years ago and I left it, as it means travelling there by plain, so I can access an ex-pat ofgice at Schiphol Airport. I then have 24 hors to travel back to the uk and activate the code, which is tricky and didn't work last time... I will have to persevere. Buying back in: it is too late for that, as it was 26 years ago!
bja61 May 2021 5:19pm, 2 May 2021 1,425 posts	Quote Pin bja61 H - You may still be able to buy back in the preserved benefits from 26 years ago but it’s tricky and needs a good pension specialist IFA to help. If they were preserved in an insurance policy (as was common 26 years ago…) rather than remaining in the scheme then the policy provider may be able to help. (FWIW I’ve just retired from being a product manager for a pension provider so feel free to f-mail me more details if I can help)

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