And that is very difficult to do in the Single Scheme, as it is based on career average earnings rather than final salary (as in older PS schemes). And, in turn, career average earnings are impacted not only by starting salary and final salary but whether promotions occur relatively early in the career or relatively late.
But as an example, here is a rough estimate. Lets say the OP accumulates 35 years service and has career average earnings amounting to €171,600 pa (in todays terms). At normal retirement age this should yield an annual pension in the region of €63,000 and a lump sum in the region of €225,000. (This annual pension excludes the State Pension, which does not count towards the Standard Fund Threshold).
In any event, the SFT should not present any barrier in his wife's case.
Thanks Early Riser, this is very informative - starting at a high salary at a still young enough age was an important factor in joining the public sector given that I'm on the single scheme. I work with many senior colleagues in their late 50s/early 60s who are on 130k+ and started at the very bottom, that doesn't seem like a good route for senior posts at all now for my generation.
It's good to know that the SFT currently is not an issue - do you know if the threshold is indexed?
Anyway, on avcs it seems my plan should be:
1: Decide if I want to put any money into them at all
2: if yes to 1 then put money into wife's avc where possible
3: if I use up all wife's allowance in a year put them into mine
If my wife stopped working/took a career break can she still contribute avcs from other sources of income such as rental income/ dividends etc?