Pension advice please

You have four pensions and they are all very simple.
If you are not used to playing with money you need to keep it simple.
Why not talk to your husbands employer?

Please be very wary of that link above called finalsalarytransfer.

One thing I'm absolutely certain of is that it is hardly ever a good idea, and usually a very bad idea to transfer a final salary pension. They are the gold plated pensions of yesteryear, also known as 'Defined Benefit' which means the benefits you get are not dependent on the stock market - they are guaranteed and will be paid to you on retirement just like a wage every month. Also they usually have a spouse's pension of often 50% built in. Your husband's army pension is a good example of that type of pension, and probably a very generous example, so very important to keep that and not transfer out.

There are unscrupulous people (advisers) who recommend transferring final salary pension into a SIPP or some other vehicle because of the commission they will earn. It is almost never a good idea. Please take care.

The other two pensions you mention sound like they might be 'Defined Contribution' pensions, which is when you have built up a pot of savings that are invested for you, usually in a default fund called a 'lifestyle' fund which moves the money into more cautious investments as retirement approaches.

In your case you have two 'pots' - one sitting dormant (you will have been sent annual statements saying how much you have invested) and your husband's current company one (which could be a final salary one - he needs to find out what type it is, or both are in fact).

Depending on which type of pensions they are and how much you have in each of those, you could merge them into one 'pot' for ease of administering them, though I don't see the need as they can be accessed separately as and when you need the money,

If they are pots and not final salary pensions for absolute security and peace of mind by far the easiest way to access the money long term would be to buy an 'Annuity' with the money invested. Annuity rates are low but they are guaranteed and if you're not familiar with managing investments for many people they are still a good idea.

Contact PensionWise: www.pensionwise.gov.uk/en
in the first instance and take it from there.

First you need to find out what type of pensions you have - Defined Benefit (Final Salary - like golddust) or Defined Contribution (known as personal pensions, or your 'pension pot').

I don't think you should have to pay a financial adviser - I've done the lot myself over the last 5 years from a similar starting point as you and managed to sort it out so good luck!

We also used a pension adviser. Heres a link to the one we used: www.finalsalarytransfer.com/.

They are very professional and have earnt us money

1. Think about deferring the state pension for a year or two years - if you can afford to.

2. Do you have a pension apart from the state?

3. You might like to think about nominating the other one to receive half of their pension, if they die before you. It does mean that the original beneficiary will receive a smaller pension during their lifetime. This doesn't apply to all pensions, certainly not the state pension.

4. With IFAs be wary - commissions can be quite high so you may chose to pay a fee (they also can be quite high too.

5. Synchroswimmer refers to switching pensions to a SIPP and managing it herself. I would say that if you follow the stock market it's probably beneficial but if you don't, and haven't been interested it's not a good idea.

6. Think about risk - how risk averse are you?

7. If necessary, and it suits you, think about continuing to work, something part time maybe. There are several of us on here or have continued to work into our seventies.

8. If necessary, think about downsizing. It can be liberating.

Good luck

Excellent link to Citizens Advice, which covers a lot of options and useful information, especially regarding Tax.
Pension wise are not going to be doing face to face appointments at the moment, but it is worth ringing to see if you can get a telephone appointment. But first, gather all the information together, pension forecasts etc. And do a budget.
They won’t give you a specific way forward, but will discuss pros and cons for your situation.

Before I retired I was fortunate to get free advice from an independent financial Advisor through work. He explained the rules of my main occupational pension ( including how for very little money I could buy added years) and also advised on and set up an annuity for me from the small personal pension pot I also had. He also advised me of the benefits of deferring my state pension, which then brought me in an additional sum. I have nowbeen retired long enough to feel the benefit of all this. I would not rush into paying an IFA if you have only a small sum, so do your homework first.

Your state pension and, I think the army pension will just pay out a weekly/monthly sum. So those two will come in from the date your retire, no problem. Just make sure that both have your current address and bank details. Write to them and they will tell you everything you need to do.

Here is a link to the Age UK Fact sheet on Pensions www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs12_planning_your_retirement_money_and_tax_fcs.pdf
Contact the Help and Advice line at your local Age UK and they should be able to help

The CAB also have a help link www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/pensions/

I am not drawing on mine yet, but if it helps, this is what I did

In my case, I consolidated 3 small-ish pensions from different organisations into my own SIPP (self invested pension).

I sleep comfortably knowing that I am in sole control and have everything there in the one place.

It keeps things simple, I don’t get lots of post, I have my finger on the controls and I can see online at a glance.

I make my own investment decisions on a fund platform, the platform has all the research tools plus reading the press for research ideas.

Periodically, when a fund is doing well and grows say 10% or 15% I cash in that bit of the gain within the SIPP and keep re-investing, into something else - so the SIPP keeps growing.

There are lots of platforms that you could look at for ideas, the press money sections etc. I am currently with Hargreaves Lansdown, as just one example of many available.

You can use and adviser matching service like this www.pensionadvisers.co.uk/ for a free chat to see if you would benefit from advice and what it might cost

I would be a little wary of Financial Advisors. My own (and I accept it is not like that for all) is that thy like to 'do things' with your money and are not necessarily good value for relatively small amounts. I will share my own experience:

I am similar to your husband: I had my State Pension, totl of18 years' NHS pension, and a private pension (that I made DH pay into when I was a stay-at-home-mum!)
I got forecasts for them all.
You say you have little time,but try to gather the information into one file, and set aside a couple of hours will a calculator and pencil & paper.

State Pension: just as it is, with possibility of deferring (look up on gov.uk)
Army pension: almost certainly should be kept as it is.
Private pension: what is the small print? Work out how much it is, if it gets increased in line with inflation, if there is a lump sum option.

Workout your budget. If you don't have much time, a very broad rule-of-thumb is 2/3 of your pre-retirement budget, but of course, individuals will vary (ours was about half!)

Savings needed? Add up things like major family gifts, replacing a car, work needed on house (or wanted, for future-proofing) + 'rainy day'.

If you can make this work, then you probably don't need an IFA. If there are issues around the private pension, then you may.

It also occurs to me that there may be some Armed Forces charity / welfare association that might offer advice.

Looking at the posts above it would seem our situation is a great deal simpler than others - maybe that is why we don't have much money!

You simply notify the pension providers of the date of retirement and they do the rest! When it comes to tax, you get issued with a code which is used by each pension provider to remove the tax at source. We filled in a form for the tax folk when we knew what our income would be.

We used an independent financial adviser. The hard work is in finding one you can trust. Here is a useful link :- www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/choosing-a-financial-adviser
I have to say that the financial advisor we finally consulted has given us nothing but excellent advice (she has been advising us now since 2008, we first asked for help with managing my mother's affairs). Of course, she takes her commission, but we have always benefitted from her advice and she has been able to set up beneficial (to us) financial products that we would never have heard about otherwise.

We also found the Pensions Service really helpful on the phone. It is worth calling them.

It is so important to get good advice at this time, don't put it off.

I think the advice from Pensionwise (presumably?) was good. After you get your forecasts (which should come with options, I think) do as suggested or go back to Pensionwise or consult AgeUk. The forecasts might help you decide what to do by yourselves.