Drawdown funds - help me choose

[Jaguar steve]

Have already taken 25% tax free from my pension and the remainder is parked in Scottish Widows Pension Portfolio C series 4.

Going into drawdown this year with a view of taking between 5-10% of the fund value each year as income. Doing that obviously means it will eventually run down to nothing which I can live with so part of my cunning plan could be to shift assets to a fund that is low to medium risk with some potential for growth and reasonable charges to make the cash last a bit longer if I can rather than leave it with Scottish Widows.

Any suggestions where to start looking? H&L perhaps?

Cheers Chaps

[Mr Pointy]

There's a big sticky post at the top of this forum you could have a look at.

HL are very efficient & have a good web platform but aren't cheap.

Edited by Mr Pointy on Wednesday 24th April 12:28

[Ginge R]

Steve,

This isn’t a recommendation, but you could ask SW about their baskets of Drawdown funds to better inform you? Most providers offer something similar.

https://www.investmentweek.co.uk/investment-week/n...

[Jaguar steve]

Ginge R said:

Steve,

This isn’t a recommendation, but you could ask SW about their baskets of Drawdown funds to better inform you? Most providers offer something similar.

https://www.investmentweek.co.uk/investment-week/n...

I've just seen exactly those earlier today which prompted me to post.

Problem is from past conversations I'm not convinced a IFA would earn their fee for advice otherwise I'd just pay one to sort it for me. At the 'mo I'm looking for some direction and what I think I want to start with is a kind of best buy or top fifty listing like H&L do with their investment funds but independent and whole market to look at but I can't seem to find anything like that for Drawdown funds.

[JulianPH]

Jaguar steve said:

I've just seen exactly those earlier today which prompted me to post.

Problem is from past conversations I'm not convinced a IFA would earn their fee for advice otherwise I'd just pay one to sort it for me. At the 'mo I'm looking for some direction and what I think I want to start with is a kind of best buy or top fifty listing like H&L do with their investment funds but independent and whole market to look at but I can't seem to find anything like that for Drawdown funds.

If at this stage you are seeking some information and guidance on the options open to you then, as Mr Pointy has said, the sticky thread at the top of this forum may be a good starting point without you having to pay for financial advice unless you discovered you actually needed it.

[Ginge R]

Jaguar steve said:

I've just seen exactly those earlier today which prompted me to post.

Problem is from past conversations I'm not convinced a IFA would earn their fee for advice otherwise I'd just pay one to sort it for me. At the 'mo I'm looking for some direction and what I think I want to start with is a kind of best buy or top fifty listing like H&L do with their investment funds but independent and whole market to look at but I can't seem to find anything like that for Drawdown funds.

Well, that would depend on the complexity that you need. You could spend time and additional looking for the needle in the haystack or you could just buy the haystack. Here are the RL equivalents.

https://www.royallondon.com/pensions/investment-op...

A lot will depend on your situation as well. If you don’t intend to touch the money for ages, then you could just fire and forget. If you have an intricate drawdown strategy to contend me, then an adviser might we worth considering over some bloke over the phone who doesn’t hold the liability for any bad counsel.

Hargreaves offers a great service, it really does. No one does it better. But do you really want to pay extra for no advice, but instead, a glorified ‘concierge’ customer service and which might end up costing you the same anyway as advice?

The only thing you can control at outset is cost. Most retirement income ‘haystack’ portfolios mean you don’t have to worry about the management but don’t have to either pointlessly pay extra for a no advice service for funds you can get anywhere, or pay extra for an advised service if that’s what you really don’t want to do.

[JulianPH]

Ginge R said:

Well, that would depend on the complexity that you need. You could spend time and additional looking for the needle in the haystack or you could just buy the haystack. Here are the RL equivalents.

5% to 10% exhaustive drawdown down to zero with higher risk investments. I belive the OP simply wants some information and guidance on the pros and cons of this.

Ginge R said:

https://www.royallondon.com/pensions/investment-op...

A lot will depend on your situation as well. If you don’t intend to touch the money for ages, then you could just fire and forget. If you have an intricate drawdown strategy to contend me, then an adviser might we worth considering over some bloke over the phone who doesn’t hold the liability for any bad counsel.

The OP has already stated this. You just didn't read it before replying.

Ginge R said:

Hargreaves offers a great service, it really does. No one does it better. But do you really want to pay extra for no advice, but instead, a glorified ‘concierge’ customer service and which might end up costing you the same anyway as advice?

It would be helpful if you explained how the OP could pay more for a non-advised service than for an advised one.

Ginge R said:

The only thing you can control at outset is cost. Most retirement income ‘haystack’ portfolios mean you don’t have to worry about the management but don’t have to either pointlessly pay extra for a no advice service for funds you can get anywhere, or pay extra for an advised service if that’s what you really don’t want to do.

You seem to be suggesting that the OP, when wanting a needle, should pay for the haystack.

The major cost is that of the adviser (like yourself) and your advice does not seem to stack up in anyone's favour other than your own.

These are obviously only my thoughts. Others can form their own opinions.

[Ginge R]

Hello Julian,

As an adviser, I hear what a client wants but it’s my role to explore it further and push back and challenge if need be. Advisers aren’t order takers. A client doesn’t know what they don’t know. That’s why so many of them end up in sub optimal solutions, old chum.

No, we all want a finely machined needle. But we know too, that we have to diversify. So I quite specifically said we have to waste time looking for the needle. My point is, a haystack on the other hand, offers a broad and well diversified bundle of competitively priced funds. I know advisers who are offering an all-in service at sub 1%.

I think it can certainly be the case that an adviser is the most expensive component in a professional arrangement, yes. I’m not saying that expensive is best or cheapest is worse. I’m not saying that it’s always the case that the adviser *is* always the most expensive aspect (you seemed arbitrary on that).

I hope you’re well.

[Derek Chevalier]

Jaguar steve said:

Have already taken 25% tax free from my pension and the remainder is parked in Scottish Widows Pension Portfolio C series 4.

Going into drawdown this year with a view of taking between 5-10% of the fund value each year as income. Doing that obviously means it will eventually run down to nothing which I can live with so part of my cunning plan could be to shift assets to a fund that is low to medium risk with some potential for growth and reasonable charges to make the cash last a bit longer if I can rather than leave it with Scottish Widows.

Any suggestions where to start looking? H&L perhaps?

Cheers Chaps

What will you do when the money runs out? Do you have alternative sources of income? Or will you just reduce your expenditure? Or maybe state pension kicks in?

[williaa68]

Jaguar steve said:

Problem is from past conversations I'm not convinced a IFA would earn their fee for advice otherwise I'd just pay one to sort it for me. At the 'mo I'm looking for some direction and what I think I want to start with is a kind of best buy or top fifty listing like H&L do with their investment funds but independent and whole market to look at but I can't seem to find anything like that for Drawdown funds.

I'm not at the drawdown stage so it isn't an exact parallel but I happily paid for advice when I moved my DC pension pot. It was the high ongoing cost of the platform of my former employer (ironically a large bank) that triggered the desire to move - it was the advice that moved it in a direction I hadn't considered (Royal London - see a different thread). If you'd asked me before my consultation with the IFA, I'd probably have expected to end up in a SIPP with someone like HL (I have other investments with them). What I have realised is that it is the overall ongoing fees, whether they come from the adviser, the platform or the funds where the real long term damage to performance is done - the cost of my advice (which went much broader then just the pension transfer) has I think paid for itself in <12 months. I guess this is what Ginge R means - the cost of advice from my IFA + the cost of the product they recommended is less than the fees from a platform like HL, where I wouldn't have had the benefit of the IFAs advice (which was a one off - no ongoing "trail" fee).

[jeff m2]

At least you realise taking 5 - 10% will probably whittle it down to zero at some point.

Maybe use the 25% as your income for the first few years and delay starting the draw down. This would allow some extra growth.

If you could stick to 5% for the first couple of draw down years that might increase your chances of being able to eat in your later years.

[JulianPH]

Ginge R said:

Hello Julian,

As an adviser, I hear what a client wants but it’s my role to explore it further and push back and challenge if need be. Advisers aren’t order takers. A client doesn’t know what they don’t know. That’s why so many of them end up in sub optimal solutions, old chum.

No, we all want a finely machined needle. But we know too, that we have to diversify. So I quite specifically said we have to waste time looking for the needle. My point is, a haystack on the other hand, offers a broad and well diversified bundle of competitively priced funds. I know advisers who are offering an all-in service at sub 1%.

I think it can certainly be the case that an adviser is the most expensive component in a professional arrangement, yes. I’m not saying that expensive is best or cheapest is worse. I’m not saying that it’s always the case that the adviser *is* always the most expensive aspect (you seemed arbitrary on that).

I hope you’re well.

Hello Al

I trust you are well and no too fatigued from running round Port Talbot helping all those people with lots of new found money.

As always, you use a lot of words to say very little.

Could you give me some examples of these advisers you know who offer an all-in-service at sub 1%?.

I am glad that you can confirm "that an adviser is the most expensive component", this puts that issue to bed.

Perhaps you could also help the OP in some way...

[Jaguar steve]

Derek Chevalier said:

Jaguar steve said:

Have already taken 25% tax free from my pension and the remainder is parked in Scottish Widows Pension Portfolio C series 4.

Going into drawdown this year with a view of taking between 5-10% of the fund value each year as income. Doing that obviously means it will eventually run down to nothing which I can live with so part of my cunning plan could be to shift assets to a fund that is low to medium risk with some potential for growth and reasonable charges to make the cash last a bit longer if I can rather than leave it with Scottish Widows.

Any suggestions where to start looking? H&L perhaps?

Cheers Chaps

What will you do when the money runs out? Do you have alternative sources of income? Or will you just reduce your expenditure? Or maybe state pension kicks in?

.

I have income from other sources.

At the moment I work a few days a month to supplement that income but going into drawdown means I could potentially stop working as doing so with a view to exhausting the fund in 10 to 12 years will bridge the gap between now and when my state pension kicks in and at the proposed drawdown rate of up to 10% p/a should provide a similar monthly income.

Nonetheless I want to screw every penny of value from it - hence the original post about how to choose the best value fund tailored to that strategy.

[Ginge R]

Jaguar steve said:

I have income from other sources.

At the moment I work a few days a month to supplement that income but going into drawdown means I could potentially stop working as doing so with a view to exhausting the fund in 10 to 12 years will bridge the gap between now and when my state pension kicks in and at the proposed drawdown rate of up to 10% p/a should provide a similar monthly income.

Nonetheless I want to screw every penny of value from it - hence the original post about how to choose the best value fund tailored to that strategy.

Hi Steve,

Just so I’ve got it right, you’re mid fifties, and want to plunder a relatively small personal pension with a view to it being on fumes/spluttering empty when you come to draw the basic state pension. This personal arrangement is intended to provide a relatively minor % of your current income needs, and roughly equates in value to what the basic state pension will replace it with. You’re working on a drawdown rate of up to 10% a year, you’ve already taken tax free cash, and your objective is to look for a suitably priced and profiled fund/s to make it last as long as possible. You haven’t stated what growth you need to make.

The first thing I’d comment on, is, if you’re working on that basis, and if your anticipated decumulation rate is pretty much linear, there isn’t much fat on the bone with that strategy. How resilient is it.. in other words, if you’re more highly dependent on it to replace a specific amount of cash each month, and being in receipt of that cash allows you to stop work which is an ‘enabling objective’, then your capacity for loss (cfl) is much reduced. If you had wriggle room, if you looked on the cash as superfluous to current needs and if you could stop work anyway, an adviser may suggest your cfl is a little more relaxed.

There’s a saying, ‘no plan survives first contact with the enemy’, so what are you going to do if there’s a big loss in, say, the early years - and what will life look like in terms of impact? Working on the basis that income from this pension appears vital, and given the fact it looks like you’re going to be gunning it pretty hard, have you modelled what a ‘loss event’ or sustained low growth for an extended period would look like? Most advisers would probably tremor involuntarily at the seeming lack of resilience in the plan, and ask what life would look like with a lower drawdown rate or working a few years longer. For maximum purity, an adviser will wonder if an annuity can achieve that which you desire (probably not!).

Notwithstanding that, if the downward trajectory of your fund appears to be etched in stone, then cost will play a vital a vital role in achieving that. If there’s not a lot of freedom in loss capacity, most advisers would probably suggest you draw a sum sufficient for a few years and park it in cash, in the bank, and draw on that. That would allow the remaining 50-60% of the fund to be invested relatively more normally in the meantime. Of course, you have taken tax free cash, so without knowing your tax status in light of the taxable nature of your other income, that could well be a factor. But it seems to me, the success of your drawdown strategy with this pot should not be predicated on what you make, but on what you don’t lose.

And that’s one reason why a simple basket of funds predicated on drawdown needs is important. It’s a truism that volatility is favoured by institutions as a measure of risk, whereas you will think about risk as a permanent or sustained loss of capital or lack of liquidity when funds are needed. You don’t have time to make up loss is what I’m saying. Your need is going to be measured as increasing your chances of achieving an absolute return and not a relative one. I’m assuming that you aren’t a particularly well informed investor, so what are you going to do if you buy a so-called top 50 portfolio and then the market goes Pete Tong? This isn’t what the Regulator calls ‘a value judgement’, but if I were you, I’d be mindful that you need as many factors on your side as possible, and with this strategy, I’d be thinking volatility and cost.

The Vix (the measure by which we measure volatility) has dropped like a stone this year, so active managers are having to work hard for their money again. Keep it simple, keep the costs down, and unless you think you can outperform the fund managers, your first port of call might be to simply do the rounds of the major insurers and ask what they’d charge you to run a fully crystallised (tax free cash taken) basket of funds (such as that which I have suggested) with a simple ten year drawdown strategy. I suspect that if you asked them for the percentage probability of success of your strategy, they’d run the numbers and their eyes would widen. If my assessment of your facts and intentions is right, there’s a big chance of your pot not providing you with the income that you need if you embark on it now. There’s not enough fat on the bone, and there are too many aggravating and contributing factors conspiring to work against you. Hence my point about taking a little less or working a little longer.

Bear in mind too, HMRC will tax you at the emergency rate if the pension provider isn’t in receipt of a P45 this year, so that means there’s less to be invested until you recover it, and that too, will also have an impact on any returns. Finally, you are running what appears to be a normal strategy - but one that has a highly accentuated risk profile based on your circumstances and irrevocable consequence of loss. Taking regulated financial advice that you trust certainly wouldn’t do you any harm before you embark on it. Most advisers will offer you a free session, that would be time well spent if you wanted just to better inform yourself.

[Ginge R]

JulianPH said:

Hello Al

I trust you are well and no too fatigued from running round Port Talbot helping all those people with lots of new found money.

As always, you use a lot of words to say very little.

Could you give me some examples of these advisers you know who offer an all-in-service at sub 1%?.

I am glad that you can confirm "that an adviser is the most expensive component", this puts that issue to bed.

Perhaps you could also help the OP in some way...

I don’t run any longer, ohhh.. but there once was a time that I could. Nowadays, I content myself with napping in the sun, involuntarily twitching every now and then like a snoozing old spaniel dreaming of the days it was once able to chase butterflies in a meadow. I suppose I amble with a leisurely, loping gait. Are you any good at running?

Measures are now firmly in place to recover the situation. There will be a series of public meetings to remedy matters, with FCA, FOS, FSCS, MAPS etc in attendance. You, of course, are already familiar with the provision of financial advice in the Port Talbot area, so would you be able to attend an event and offer the steelworkers your insight about what happened? I’m happy to offer you a chair at a very busy public forum if you so wish. Maybe you’d like to think about it.

I have also nearly finished putting together a panel of advisers with an unimpeachable reputation to deliver what advice is needed to help the men. So far, I have nine advisers. Advisers who, I should point out, are advisers who I’d have no issue in turning to myself, and I’m delighted that they have chosen to help, humbled and incredibly grateful. All on the panel are willing to conform to a standard service at a price commensurate with that which I have mentioned.

Maybe top drawer advice at a competitive price from them all could be marketed as a collective on the lines of “pensionheads”, exclusively for members of this esteemed place.. what do you reckon?

[Jaguar steve]

Ginge R said:

Jaguar steve said:

I have income from other sources.

At the moment I work a few days a month to supplement that income but going into drawdown means I could potentially stop working as doing so with a view to exhausting the fund in 10 to 12 years will bridge the gap between now and when my state pension kicks in and at the proposed drawdown rate of up to 10% p/a should provide a similar monthly income.

Nonetheless I want to screw every penny of value from it - hence the original post about how to choose the best value fund tailored to that strategy.

Hi Steve,

Just so I’ve got it right, you’re mid fifties, and want to plunder a relatively small personal pension with a view to it being on fumes/spluttering empty when you come to draw the basic state pension. This personal arrangement is intended to provide a relatively minor % of your current income needs, and roughly equates in value to what the basic state pension will replace it with. You’re working on a drawdown rate of up to 10% a year, you’ve already taken tax free cash, and your objective is to look for a suitably priced and profiled fund/s to make it last as long as possible. You haven’t stated what growth you need to make.

The first thing I’d comment on, is, if you’re working on that basis, and if your anticipated decumulation rate is pretty much linear, there isn’t much fat on the bone with that strategy. How resilient is it.. in other words, if you’re more highly dependent on it to replace a specific amount of cash each month, and being in receipt of that cash allows you to stop work which is an ‘enabling objective’, then your capacity for loss (cfl) is much reduced. If you had wriggle room, if you looked on the cash as superfluous to current needs and if you could stop work anyway, an adviser may suggest your cfl is a little more relaxed.

There’s a saying, ‘no plan survives first contact with the enemy’, so what are you going to do if there’s a big loss in, say, the early years - and what will life look like in terms of impact? Working on the basis that income from this pension appears vital, and given the fact it looks like you’re going to be gunning it pretty hard, have you modelled what a ‘loss event’ or sustained low growth for an extended period would look like? Most advisers would probably tremor involuntarily at the seeming lack of resilience in the plan, and ask what life would look like with a lower drawdown rate or working a few years longer. For maximum purity, an adviser will wonder if an annuity can achieve that which you desire (probably not!).

Notwithstanding that, if the downward trajectory of your fund appears to be etched in stone, then cost will play a vital a vital role in achieving that. If there’s not a lot of freedom in loss capacity, most advisers would probably suggest you draw a sum sufficient for a few years and park it in cash, in the bank, and draw on that. That would allow the remaining 50-60% of the fund to be invested relatively more normally in the meantime. Of course, you have taken tax free cash, so without knowing your tax status in light of the taxable nature of your other income, that could well be a factor. But it seems to me, the success of your drawdown strategy with this pot should not be predicated on what you make, but on what you don’t lose.

And that’s one reason why a simple basket of funds predicated on drawdown needs is important. It’s a truism that volatility is favoured by institutions as a measure of risk, whereas you will think about risk as a permanent or sustained loss of capital or lack of liquidity when funds are needed. You don’t have time to make up loss is what I’m saying. Your need is going to be measured as increasing your chances of achieving an absolute return and not a relative one. I’m assuming that you aren’t a particularly well informed investor, so what are you going to do if you buy a so-called top 50 portfolio and then the market goes Pete Tong? This isn’t what the Regulator calls ‘a value judgement’, but if I were you, I’d be mindful that you need as many factors on your side as possible, and with this strategy, I’d be thinking volatility and cost.

The Vix (the measure by which we measure volatility) has dropped like a stone this year, so active managers are having to work hard for their money again. Keep it simple, keep the costs down, and unless you think you can outperform the fund managers, your first port of call might be to simply do the rounds of the major insurers and ask what they’d charge you to run a fully crystallised (tax free cash taken) basket of funds (such as that which I have suggested) with a simple ten year drawdown strategy. I suspect that if you asked them for the percentage probability of success of your strategy, they’d run the numbers and their eyes would widen. If my assessment of your facts and intentions is right, there’s a big chance of your pot not providing you with the income that you need if you embark on it now. There’s not enough fat on the bone, and there are too many aggravating and contributing factors conspiring to work against you. Hence my point about taking a little less or working a little longer.

Bear in mind too, HMRC will tax you at the emergency rate if the pension provider isn’t in receipt of a P45 this year, so that means there’s less to be invested until you recover it, and that too, will also have an impact on any returns. Finally, you are running what appears to be a normal strategy - but one that has a highly accentuated risk profile based on your circumstances and irrevocable consequence of loss. Taking regulated financial advice that you trust certainly wouldn’t do you any harm before you embark on it. Most advisers will offer you a free session, that would be time well spent if you wanted just to better inform yourself.

Yup pretty much it and thanks for such a detailed reply. More to think about.

[Derek Chevalier]

Jaguar steve said:

Derek Chevalier said:

Jaguar steve said:

Have already taken 25% tax free from my pension and the remainder is parked in Scottish Widows Pension Portfolio C series 4.

Going into drawdown this year with a view of taking between 5-10% of the fund value each year as income. Doing that obviously means it will eventually run down to nothing which I can live with so part of my cunning plan could be to shift assets to a fund that is low to medium risk with some potential for growth and reasonable charges to make the cash last a bit longer if I can rather than leave it with Scottish Widows.

Any suggestions where to start looking? H&L perhaps?

Cheers Chaps

What will you do when the money runs out? Do you have alternative sources of income? Or will you just reduce your expenditure? Or maybe state pension kicks in?

.

I have income from other sources.

At the moment I work a few days a month to supplement that income but going into drawdown means I could potentially stop working as doing so with a view to exhausting the fund in 10 to 12 years will bridge the gap between now and when my state pension kicks in and at the proposed drawdown rate of up to 10% p/a should provide a similar monthly income.

Nonetheless I want to screw every penny of value from it - hence the original post about how to choose the best value fund tailored to that strategy.

Assuming starting pot is £50k and you are looking to draw £2.5-£5k pa

1. First thing to do (if possible) would be to tie that withdrawal amount down a bit - closer to £2.5k or £5k?
2. Would you want to increase your withdrawal amount with inflation each year?
3. Given the choice, would you accept a lower withdrawal amount and for the money to be less likely to run out, or is the withdrawal amount essentially fixed and you want the money to last as long as possible (even though it might run out before 10-12 years have elapsed)?

[Jaguar steve]

Derek Chevalier said:

Jaguar steve said:

Derek Chevalier said:

Jaguar steve said:

Have already taken 25% tax free from my pension and the remainder is parked in Scottish Widows Pension Portfolio C series 4.

Going into drawdown this year with a view of taking between 5-10% of the fund value each year as income. Doing that obviously means it will eventually run down to nothing which I can live with so part of my cunning plan could be to shift assets to a fund that is low to medium risk with some potential for growth and reasonable charges to make the cash last a bit longer if I can rather than leave it with Scottish Widows.

Any suggestions where to start looking? H&L perhaps?

Cheers Chaps

What will you do when the money runs out? Do you have alternative sources of income? Or will you just reduce your expenditure? Or maybe state pension kicks in?

.

I have income from other sources.

At the moment I work a few days a month to supplement that income but going into drawdown means I could potentially stop working as doing so with a view to exhausting the fund in 10 to 12 years will bridge the gap between now and when my state pension kicks in and at the proposed drawdown rate of up to 10% p/a should provide a similar monthly income.

Nonetheless I want to screw every penny of value from it - hence the original post about how to choose the best value fund tailored to that strategy.

Assuming starting pot is £50k and you are looking to draw £2.5-£5k pa

1. First thing to do (if possible) would be to tie that withdrawal amount down a bit - closer to £2.5k or £5k?
2. Would you want to increase your withdrawal amount with inflation each year?
3. Given the choice, would you accept a lower withdrawal amount and for the money to be less likely to run out, or is the withdrawal amount essentially fixed and you want the money to last as long as possible (even though it might run out before 10-12 years have elapsed)?

Fund is closer to £70k. Having already taken my 25% tax free I can now only add £4k a year to it and how much I drawdown I take is flexible and can be delayed if I carry on working part time. This isn't urgently needed cash to pay the bills at the end of the month it's about shifting the balance away from working and still having money to spend on beer and holidays.

I have another small pension of less than £30k too which I could do trivial commutation on to reinvest in existing H&L income funds to get a better return than the pension offers and boost income that way but I know I'm going to get screwed for tax if I do. Swings and Roundabouts on that one at the moment.

Much appreciated advice Chaps - some stuff I knew about, some stuff I though I knew about and some stuff I didn't have a clue about. Ta

.

Edited by Jaguar steve on Thursday 25th April 09:59

[Mazinbrum]

Jaguar steve said:

Fund is closer to £70k. Having already taken my 25% tax free I can now only add £4k a year to it and how much I drawdown I take is flexible and can be delayed if I carry on working part time. This isn't urgently needed cash to pay the bills at the end of the month it's about shifting the balance away from working and still having money to spend on beer and holidays.

I have another small pension of less than £30k too which I could do trivial commutation on to reinvest in existing H&L income funds to get a better return than the pension offers and boost income that way but I know I'm going to get screwed for tax if I do. Swings and Roundabouts on that one at the moment.

Edited by Jaguar steve on Thursday 25th April 09:59

I thought you can only do trivial commutation if your total pensions (excluding state) are less than 30K ?

[Jaguar steve]

Mazinbrum said:

Jaguar steve said:

Fund is closer to £70k. Having already taken my 25% tax free I can now only add £4k a year to it and how much I drawdown I take is flexible and can be delayed if I carry on working part time. This isn't urgently needed cash to pay the bills at the end of the month it's about shifting the balance away from working and still having money to spend on beer and holidays.

I have another small pension of less than £30k too which I could do trivial commutation on to reinvest in existing H&L income funds to get a better return than the pension offers and boost income that way but I know I'm going to get screwed for tax if I do. Swings and Roundabouts on that one at the moment.

Edited by Jaguar steve on Thursday 25th April 09:59

I thought you can only do trivial commutation if your total pensions (excluding state) are less than 30K ?

I don't know for sure - anyone?