millenium

Hi Domino,

Many thanks for the advise, this company comes highly recomended and are regulated, I will keep you updated

kerrygreen

Domino

I think you have misunderstood. I have already sorted my 2 UK pensions into QROPS and taken the cash. All hunky dory!

Mitzyboy

Heh heh, you could almost be an employee with those glowing recommendations
Thanks

Domino

Kerry i dont think I have misunderstood, all I am saying is that having cashed in those pensions could be a serious mistake in the future when you have no earning capability to make up any shortfall

Just that I see it as short term gain leading to long term pain.
as you said
Don't trust anyone, don't believe anyone. Politicians, bankers and companies will screw the people without a second thought as has been proven.
just remember who is advising you falls into that category

kerrygreen

Nobody advised me. I gathered all the information myself, made my decision and found a company to do the transaction.

I just can't see the point of having a fairly irrelevantly small pension in 10 years time to having a decent lump sum now. Could be dead by then!!

millenium

Hi Mitzyboy,

No like i said i have done lots of homework and talking to people that have cashed in their own, in quite a few the same company came up as the one giving best advise and also one of the cheapest, some I spoke to quoted very high fees and seemed more interested in getting names of people I thought might be interested in their services.

Mitzyboy

Well .... as usual thats all down to opinion. You need money when you get older, there's absolutely no doubt about that. Yes, you could be dead. I could be hit by a bus tomorrow. But as things stand, I have pensions timed to come in at specified earlier periods (starting in 2 years), and they pay tax free lump sums also.

A decent lump sum now might get me 2 or 3 %, whereas the pension funds seem to be rising now at more than twice that thankfully. Investments have to be looked at long term, not in the short term. I'm sure some of us would have considered Hari Kari a few years ago when things were looking grim, but its beginning to look better again now.

Im_and_Er

kerrygreen is clearly beyond persuasion but it would be interesting to know if he found a home for his €80k which has outpaced inflation

In the current climate paying down mortgages or loans would be the only sensible thing to do with such a windfall.

Mitzyboy

Well, you get naf all in interest on accounts
Santander had a 3.15% loyalty tracker bond
Saga were doing 4.65% 5 year fixed savings

Last time I looked that was the best around

kerrygreen

You just don't seem to understand my take on 'investing', or piss poor interest rates and leaving my money in institutions that I have no faith in.

I don't give a fig whether I get 2% or 3% or whether inflation will eat away at my money - like's too short.

But my main reason is that I think the whole shebang is going to fall around our ears in the not too distant future. So what's the point.

Not a view that many will share I admit, but it's mine

Cuthbert Rizla

I've sort of,kind of tried to follow this thread but I'm still at a loss to understand how a lump sum of pension money is transferred out of the UK and into you local bank account without attracting the interest of either the UK or your local tax authorities.

I certainly like the idea of not having to buy an annuity or leaving the balance of the pension in my estate when I die but I don't understand why, if this legislation has been in place for some time, more people don't do it.

I would certainly like to read the definitive article explaining how this can be done legally.

Mitzyboy

You DONT have to buy an annuity when your pension matures any more. As I said long ago, if you get a lump sum like that, it does NOT mean that it wil not be taxable, depending on the circumstances. If I get a UK tax free lump sum here in Spain, it is taxable in Spain

Horus

Starting to lose track of this so asked the new oracle - Wikipedia. Here's what they say

Im_and_Er

One of the cardinal rules of a QROPS is:

at least 70% of the funds transferred will be designated by the scheme manager for the purpose of providing the member with an income for life,

If you read the HMRC technical pages http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/rpsmm...sm14101030.htm this seminal and defining point is made time and time again and leaves little doubt that any scheme which violates this places it's members at risk of punitive taxation.

Notwithstanding the above, any conceivable argument supporting the lawfulness of a 100% payout cannot be considered until the QROPS has been in existence for the 5 year reporting period.

Mitzyboy

Interesting

satisfy the requirement that, at the time of the recognised transfer, the rules of the scheme provide that:
at least 70% of the funds transferred will be designated by the r scheme manager for the purpose of providing the member with an income for life,
the pension benefits (and any associated lump sum) payable to the member under the scheme, to the extent that they relate to the transfer, are payable no earlier than they would be if pension rule 1 in section 165 applied, and
membership of the scheme is open to persons resident in the country or territory in which it is established.
Pension rule 1 in section 165 provides that no payment of pension may be made before the day on which the member reaches normal minimum pension age, unless the ill-health condition was met immediately before the member became entitled to a pension under the scheme.