You are unauthorized to view this page. Username or E-mail Password Remember Me Forgot Password Questions: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:03:54 - While still wishing to maintain a high risk profile in global tracker funds investments ie: 100% equities, with the improving performance of bonds is it actually worth considering moving to a split with 20, 30 or even 40% bonds to benefit from their performance? Investments are not intended to be touched for at least 5yrs, more likely 8-10yrs. Thanks 00:05:57 - I have a partner with a guaranteed NHS db pension providing 30% of our retirement needs. So I am providing 70% of our retirement needs. If I have an 80/20 equity/bond split are we actually (mathematically) only 56% exposed to equities? Is that the way to look at it? 00:07:17 - How close to retirement would you recommend someone considering taking the “Retirement Planning” course? (I’m 45 and 15 years from retirement - hopefully!) 00:08:43 - Having run through the google sheets exercise, 7 yrs out from retirement on an 3% mortgage rate til next Autumn if I should reduce my overpayments and put money into an ISA (or something) to get better returns towards my longer term goals. Which state I should save roughly what my mortgage overpayment is to achieve my goal. 00:11:17 - In google sheets, I understand liquid assets being ISA and DC etc. But how should I treat company stock options and Share save schemes etc (as they can go up / down and are not diversified?) Should I try to transfer them into an Isa or cash in and invest in ISA once option price met or exceeded? (Sorry I'm in Build Wealth at moment but interested in guidance when I should enrol on Retirement planning. 2030 would be my 1st no penalty option.) 00:13:27 - I am re-visit Pete's Meaningful Money book - 'review regularly 'chapter and have a question about what funds to should I sell if they are not performing as expected: in 2020 there were 182 ETF closures ( source: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/exchange-traded-fund-closure ) . How do I know the ETF funds I have is going to close? For example some fund I bought lost more than 20% of value already, should I just sell it and wait? If I wait, what if one day it is going to close? Thank you 00:16:03 - Is there a way to compare platform performance say for managing passive risk 6 SIPP portfolios ie Parmenion, 7IM etc. Clearly one can see underlying fund performances via Morningstar etc, but these Platforms work out the allocation according to their own algorithms? Possibly linked to my former question about Platform comparisons, but what is your view on the Morningstar X-Ray tool? 00:18:22 - Markets feels more positive than expected, thoughts? 00:18:33 - You mention that Pershing backs 7IM. What would be the equivalent for Vanguard and II? Btw Pickafund looks very useful. 00:20:37 - Do you have views on company like Flagstone? Seems a great idea for managing cash funds, and keeping within the FSCS 85k cap? 00:21:43 - I have just started taking 3 DB pensions on my 60 th birthday and taken the 25% tax free cash. I have 2014 fixed protection at £1.5 m and have not contributed to any pension since 2013. I am still working parttime for a different company and they offer the statutory workplace pension scheme. I have opted out inorder to not lose protection up until now. “However the government now requires them to re-enrol me. “They and I would both pay into the scheme run by Aviva. I can choose to opt out and must tell them by end of July. My question is does this breach the fixed protection? I dont earn much through them so would not be worth getting a penalty tax on existing pensions. Thanks 00:24:38 - Are there any situations when you suggest someone on a low income should not save into a pension, since it would just prevent them claiming pension credit when they retire? 00:27:40 - It's not really a question. More of an observation that you might be able to confirm or discuss. I've been informed that I can use AVCs to provide the tax-free cash element of my DB pension when I start drawing it. I thought I'd model it in Voyant to see the effect of doing that. Initially, I was disappointed because it seemed to show that I wouldn't be better off until I got to my late 80s. My assumption was that although my pension income would be larger, it didn't make up for combination of the amount I'd "lost" in growth on the AVC plans I'd have to cash in, and the increased tax on my now increased pension income. However, what I realised was that my view on whether any "what if" plans were better or worse was skewed by the fact I was using total Assets or Net Worth for the comparison. In particular, because the extra assets I held if I didn't "cash in" my AVCs were help in pension plans, I would have to pay tax on 75% of the value to use them. So I believe I've now established that using AVCs to provide the TFC is preferable because I've compared the "Investment Returns" and "Retirement Spending" measures for both plans. These seem to be much better indicators of whether a plan is better or not. Also, I should say that having a larger DB pension income also reduces my exposure to market fluctuations. 00:31:06 - I touched on this question on the FB Retirement page and did some further research / thinking, now want to double check. I retire 15 September 😊. I these questions might be slightly related in terms of tax free cash. I plan to make an additional AA contribution in the next few weeks of around 15-20K (I’d be at around 10K contributions by mid September). I got clarification that I can in theory contribute to 60K. There was mention on FB that I need to be careful if making higher pension contributions than normal and later taking TFC from the DC scheme as it could be classed as TFC recycling. I've been looking into this as hadn't considered this. I don’t plan to make any more pension contributions, and have looked at your Tax Free Cash recycling video and I don’t think I will have any issues just because I’m making an additional AA contribution to top up my pension pot (although of course I’ll be taking my pension and possibly additional tax free cash a month later). Or have I missed something? 00:32:02 - I have a USS DB pension, will have foreign French state pension, and a USS DC pension pot. I have other cash and investment savings. I get a Tax Free Lump Sum with my DB pension. I was planning to leave my pension pot untouched for IHT purposes – hopefully I wouldn’t need it. However, from the USS modeller I see that I can get up to 45K more tax free cash (in additional the normal lump sump) if I take it when I retire, although there’d be less in the pension pot then. You mentioned in your April video (around 25 minutes in) that you had recommended someone with a similar pension take the tax free cash as it was such an advantage (LTA would be around 47% but I don’t think this is relevant now). I see that in one way it’s a no brainer, but since I’d only re-invest it, might it still make sense just to leave in the pension pot wrapper and let it grow there? 00:34:18 - Are you leaving the Voyant planning assumptions for your clients’ plans the same (I.E. inflation and return)? Also, are you rebalancing the equity/bond allocations for your clients? 00:36:16 - Hi Pete - my teacher pension comes with an additional tax free lump sum. I don't need it for at least a year so was planning to put it in a 1 year fixed rate bond. I was planning half in my name and half in my wife's so can max £1000 interest for each without paying tax. The best rates suggested by MSE are institutions I've never heard of e.g. Atom Bank, Shawbrook. Is this a good idea? Don't want to be caught by a run on the banks! Many thanks. 00:37:45 - My question(s) are as I have exceeded the old LTA, what should I do when now, with Labour claiming they will reverse the scrapping of the LTA and 20 points ahead in the polls. 00:41:33 - My second question is more around the implications of pensions being subjected to income tax after being inherited, does this radically change the inheritance planning approach? thanks 00:43:00 - Hi Pete & team - Could you briefly explain the "small pots" set up? Might be mistaken but thought I read somewhere that up to 3 small pots of £10k each can be taken tax free. If so, is it possible to create these smaller pots from a larger pot during the process of transferring them from various old schemes? Thanks 00:44:26 - My question is that I will be able to take just over £100k tax free out of my AVCs (related to my DB pension). That’s 3.5 years away. My AVCs are all in equities and I’m wondering how to gradually move the £100k to cash. It goes against the grain to do it now! But I think I must start… help! 00:46:01 - I am 72 and have a DC pension that I have not accessed yet. Currently I do not envisage having to access this, the plan is my wife or three children will inherit this. If I die before I am 75 they will inherit it tax free, this is not the option I am planning on. If I die after I am 75 does the 25% tax free die with me or do my beneficiaries still have access to this? If it is lost would I be better off taking the 25% before I reach 75? This could be an early inheritance for our children. 00:47:07 - I appreciate it may not be particularly relevant to this group but can you comment on the Jeremy Hunt pension 'reforms' that increase the risk profile of UK pensions? I know Damian Talks Money has been talking about it but I'd appreciate your thoughts? 00:49:00 - I’m a bit confused about crystallising a pension and then continuing to pay into a pension when no longer working. I see that I can invest £10k gross into a pension after taking my main pension. Does this mean I can continue to pay into my “old” fund or should I set up a new one? And if I do set up a new pension after retiring what are the rules about accessing the new one? Many thanks! Martin 00:50:36 - I’ve just received a ‘Chargeable Event Certificate’ for a Scottish Widows Flexible Options Bond that my mum had when she died. The insurance pays out 101% of the bonds value on my mum’s death, shared 50/50 between myself and my brother. The policy was not held in trust, and income is treated as tax paid. My brother is a basic rate tax payer, so I believe he won’t have any tax to pay on his half. I’m a higher rate tax payer, so am I correct in saying that I will pay 20% tax on half of the amount of gain? 00:53:28 - Perhaps I've missed something in the training but I'd like to update Voyant Go with some new actuals. i.e. I did a plan a year ago, but want to update it with my actual savings today. Ideally so I can see the difference between what I planned initially and what I actually have today to improve my planning in future. (As an aside - have you read the book "Superforecasting"? Excellent read) 00:57:17 - If I get hit by a bus tomorrow, what happens to my SIPP? (I'm 45, my wife is 51) 00:58:14 - Question if we have time, Hi Pete, what are you thoughts on Jeremy Hunt's plan to have DC pensions default option place 5% in UK start ups wirh horrific fees......Damian has been very vocal on subject.....god love him for trying to get some sense from FCA, TPR and PRA re JH quoting specific growth %s......(he would have got more sense if he had really rang Toby Carvery 😆.....sorry to anyone who has not seen Damian Talks Money video on this subject) Ps I keep away from my DC default options and choose my own funds. Good news is that in Sept 2023 my employer is finally adding a low fee (0.17) global index tracker so I'll be moving to that. 00:59:43 - Following on from Ellie's question I'm wondering if that makes VC funds less risky as they would be much better funded or in fact tougher to invest in as they would be more subscribed to by the pension schemes. 01:02:34 - Evening Pete (and Cally)Being new to this process of retirement planning, and somewhat of a rabbit in headlights – I am considering as an alternative to buying an annuity for each of us with the DC pots that both myself and my wife have accumulated, is to engage a business – such as Fisher Investments - to actively manage the combined pot circa 225k. However this route comes with some hefty fees 2.25% of the pot at start up, and around 1.6% thereafter. The uptick being that the Company historically have consistently outperformed the market and provide a good return (and provides the route to break away from lifestyling) How do I go about establishing if these fees are ‘reasonable’, and offer good value for money? If not, what alternatives are worth exploring. I should say this is on top of DB pensions likely to provide a combined income circa £30k per annum when we reach 65 in a couple of years time. Alasdair 01:10:37 - Hi Pete, a general question on drawdowns please. I have a couple of pensions that do not offer FLEXIBLE ACCESS (Drawdown etc.), and they don’t seem to be performing particularly well. But I am allowed to transfer from those pensions to other providers. I don’t need to take an income for some years, so want to continue to grow the investment. Drawdowns seem to allow me to convert to other options at a later stage if desired (Annuity etc.). So a drawdown fund seems the perfect solution. Is my understanding correct, and are there any potential issues with a drawdown that I should know about? (e.g perhaps not the best option to grow my investment). Thanks 01:14:17 - Are annuities seen as income? 01:16:06 - Hi Pete, as you said, you “try” and (I’d say you do) empower people with their finances. Can I ask you why are you “so busy”? 1. Are you not great at empowering people? “I don’t think so” 2. Are people a bit like me thinking that they don’t know what they’re doing but after listening to you and other great financial channels we should and I think can do it? 3. Or are they using you as their finances are a lot more complicated than mine? 01:21:20 - If time, and if there is a quick simple explanation re segmentation in offshore bonds.....yes still trying to sort dad's offshore bond 01:26:37 - Next year my wife should have a DC pot total of £300k. We are thinking of taking tax free lump sum next year when she is 60 and the rest to buy a short term annuity of 12,500 un til state pension age and then buy another annuity with the residual to top up state pension at age 67. what do you think? Prev LessonNext Lesson