Moneymakeover Almost 65 advice on what to do re pension

Kismet2

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Personal details

Your age: 64
Your spouse's age: 68
Partner's age if not married:

Number and age of children: 2 children in 30s who are self sufficient i.e. employed with own homes etc.


Income and expenditure
Annual gross income from employment or profession: took early retirement - receiving JB : €12,688
Annual gross income of spouse/partner: state Pension €15k

Monthly take-home pay: €2,100 ( this is short term as @ 65yo I will avail of DB Pension)

Type of employment - e.g. I was an employee
Employer type: e.g. public servant, private company. Private company

In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn. At the moment yes as I am unemployed.
(b) saving - saving period has ended since I took early retirement


Summary of Assets and Liabilities
Family home value: €850,000
Mortgage on family home: N/A
Holiday Apartment Abroad: €250,000
Holiday Apartment Mortgage: N/A
Net equity: €1,100,000


Cash:
Equities: €250,000

Total net assets: €1.35 million


Family home mortgage information
N/A

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
N/A

Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes, no other borrowings


Pension information

DB Pension €58,500 p.a.
Spouse receives €29,250 p.a. on my death in retirement

AVCs €420k

Notes about the DB Pension scheme
Fully funded: Yes
Annual increase if inflation is greater than 2%: i.e. 3% gives a 1% increase & 4% gives a 2% increase - max increase pa is 2%.
So it will not keep pace with inflation.

Buy to let properties
N/A

Other savings and investments:
None

Other information which might be relevant
Life insurance: None


What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
I will be 65 shortly and I need to make a number of decisions regarding my pension and my AVCs.

I took early retirement some months ago and we have been living off job seekers benefit, my wife state pension and our savings.

I have been given a number of options regarding my pension payment and lump sums based on a combination of a reduced pension and a lump sum or the full pension and a lump sum from my AVC pot.

I believe I also have the option to transfer out of the scheme under DC rules and combine the transfer value with my AVCs to avail of a 25% lump sum and using the remainder to invest in an ARF.
My first question is, should I consider this at all?

I am conscious of having to pay the higher tax rate if my DB pension + my wife’s state pension + my interim payment (65 to 66) + income from ARF exceed the annual threshold for a married couple.
So my second question is, how do I proceed in the most tax efficient manner?

I am open to suggestions, thank you in advance.
 
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Edit: ignore the following as it's misleading/inappropriate in this context...

In case it helps at all, you may be able to split your AVC pension pot into separate smaller policies so that you can retire/ARF smaller amounts at different times rather than it being an all or nothing/one time only event.
 
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case it helps at all, you may be able to split your AVC pension pot into separate smaller policies so that you can retire/ARF smaller amounts at different times rather than it being an all or nothing/one time only event.
No, this is not allowed.
 
I was also part of a DB scheme which offered the option to take a Transfer Value before reaching my pension age. However, as I got closer to my actual pension age, that option was taken away and I had to proceed with the DB which I was happy to do. So I would check that that is still an option for you before worrying whether to consider it or not.
 
Wouldn’t this depend on the numbers offered? Ran it through Standard Life’s annuity calc and a rough cost for an equivalent annuity would be €1.465m - that gives you a ballpark of the value of your DB pension.

But tbh, I wouldn’t be considering this a tax question. My questions would be around providing sufficient income for my spouse should I expire early, and secondly, do I want to leave an inheritance for my kids should we both expire early? Against that, I’d be concerned about us both living long lives and running out of money if I reverted to an ARF model.

Tax treatment would come a good way down the list.
 
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