School pension kicks in soon and the dreaded forms arrived. I don’t know what it is about official forms that sends me into a tiz but they do. I think I subconsciously think I will be thrown into jail if I do them wrong.
For such a tiny amount there sure were a lot of forms, 10 sides of them depending on what I wanted to do. Did I want to make my lump sum bigger by converting some of the pension into a slightly larger lump sum. I wasn’t going to, then realised I would need to collect this pension for nearly 14 years before I got back the loss of £6 a month for doing so, so I did.
Who knows how long I will live after receiving it. Normally I think long term but for such a small amount didn’t this time.
DB sat with me and I still managed to make a couple of mistakes. We shall see in due course if I have done it correctly.
I dreaded it, I really did, and left it for too long really, although the system is very forgiving. It was a relief to get it all done and, yes, it was comp;icated.
ReplyDeleteWell done!
xx
Got the government paperwork to do when I’m eligible, heaven knows how I will react with that lot.
DeleteMy civil service pension was straight forward but my small private Coop pension I bought was a pain. The Coop sold all their pensions to Royal London. I had a guaranteed amount which complicated things but it was eventually sorted.
ReplyDeleteSome small savings bonds have changed companies, not always for the better.
DeleteMy military pension was an easy one and I have a couple of years to go before I have to do the government paperwork.
ReplyDeleteThings to look forward to for us both!
DeleteGoodness...as if everything in life wasn't complicated enough already...next top will be thinking about pensions...well about how and when to start taking them anyway. x
ReplyDeleteI waited extra years for this one as it was so small.
DeleteI recently cashed in a pension of mine. I calculated that I'd have to live to be in my nineties to get as much back as I would by cashing it in as a trivial commutation. It is highly unlikely I will live that long, so I took the money now.
ReplyDeleteWe cashed in a savings bond for the same reason.
DeleteWhen my school pension came up about 9 months ago I took the lump sum payment as well. With it I bought a new entertainment stand, desk, carpet for the front room, and with the tax return bought a smoker, a propane firepit, and now a mini computer to add to the television set up. My TV will now become a computer, making life just a bit easier overall.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I hope to get a new computer with some of it.
DeleteI still have quite a lot of my lump sum tucked away - it's a very comforting thing. xx
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