blahblahla

I am a British Resident and Permeant Resident of Canada. I live and work in Quebec and expect to stay here for the next five years or so. However, my long-term plan is to move back to the UK. I’m 35 at the moment.

My question is – how should I handle my pension plans?

I have a small pension which both me and my employer pay into. I am also paying into a group RRSP. Not worried about my National Insurance as I already have 14 years of stamp.

I’m not sure whether it’s better to a) pay into the group RRSP and remove the money when I leave, b) leave the money until retirement date (and draw from it from the UK?) or c) just to put the money into a savings account for now and put it into whatever pension scheme I am enrolled in when I return to the UK.

I was also wondering if anyone knows if I will be able to access the money I’m paying into the Quebec Public Pension scheme when I retire, even though I won’t be living in Canada?

Any advice or perspectives appreciated!

christmasoompa

You need 35 years to get a full pension, so might be worth looking at voluntary NI contributions whilst in Canada in case you want to retire early?

Almost Canadian

You need to look into the with holding tax that is deducted when you make withdrawals from your RRSP. If you are not going to be in Canada when you retire, that will likely have a huge effect upon the best place for you to put those funds.

glendem4

Contribute to a TFSA first. When you leave Canada you can cash out without any tax implications. Draw on your Canadian RRSP whenever, but make sure you do it tax efficiently. With a UK tax free allowance you could take out CAD 20k annually without paying tax. One drawback is you can't tax split any RRSP withdrawals in the UK and you need to be 65 to tax split in Canada.

Kingsboy48

If you have 14 years of NI contributions now you need another 21 years of contributions to get your full UK state pension (under current rules). When you go back to the UK to work (why would you!) will you still have a working life of 21 years or more? If not you should consider paying voluntary NI contributions whilst in Canada for however many years short you'd be when retiring, you can apply to pay class 2 contributions which is significantly less than class 3

glendem4

I would keep your RSP and invest in non UK related stocks. If your employer is paying into your pension, it is like FREE money. The UK government has a lifetime limit that quite a few people will hit if they save 20% of their net income.