izzi81

We've been living in Canada for almost 8 years now and I'm starting to think I ought to do something with the pension I left behind. I have 7 years of a full time govt pension (plus a few years of part time work as well), but I also have 7 years of a public sector pension (Scottish police). It doesn't seem to make much sense to leave it in the UK but I don't know what my options are to move it (I've searched the forum and all the posts seem to relate to govt pensions - and are pretty confusing!). Can I just take out the money I've paid in? Does it need to be transferred into a specific type of savings account or pension plan here, or can I just get the money to do what I want with? We're self-employed here so currently don't have any kind of pension plan (or income has not allowed anything in the way of saving yet - yes, that's stressful).
We're in Nova Scotia, in case anyone can recommend a financial advisor here who would have experience with this kind of thing....
Thanks!

Mordko

Read this: https://pensions.gov.scot/police/you...g-benefits-out

P.S. Even if you can transfer it to Canada, your best option is to leave your police pension alone.

P.P.S. Independent financial advisors prefer wealthy clients because they can charge a lot. Unlikely they’ll take you on. Financial advisors who are not independent are not actually advisors. They are product vendors. You don’t really need an advisor.

P.P.P.S. You need a plan. Once you have a plan the stress will go away. Invest a bit of time and a few dollars into books. Here is a good one to start with. https://www.amazon.ca/Value-Simple-P...=UTF8&qid=&sr=

4PS. good forum if you have any more questions. https://www.financialwisdomforum.org/forum/index.php

Siouxie

If you want to transfer it to Canada you will need to put it into a QROPS (Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme) or similar, you can't just take it out at will until you are over a certain age, as I understand it.

You can read more in our wiki https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Trans...ions_to_Canada

If you decide to leave your Police pension where it is, (you can't be refunded after you have worked for 2 years) you will need these forms to get payment on retirement: https://pensions.gov.scot/police/police-forms - take into consideration the bank charges to send payments to Canada.

If you are self employed and have net earnings of more than $3,500 a year in Canada you are required to pay into CPP (Canada Pension Plan).. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-age...-employed.html (you get a tax break, receiving a tax credit for part of it) https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-age...-earnings.html

Mordko

Transferring pensions isn’t always possible. Depends on the scheme. If it is possible, its a really bad idea because:

1. You are required to consult an advisor in the UK to transfer out of a DB scheme. The advisor will almost certainly tell you not to do it but for a price.

2. The cost to transfer, if you are able to, is high.

3. You are only permitted to use 3 specific RRSP schemes in Canada; they offer a very limited range of expensive products.

4. Unless you have experience with and knowledge of investments, moving out of a DB scheme to an investment scheme does not make any sense, even if problems 1-3 suddenly disappeared.

Costs to transfer future payments to Canada will be negligible in comparison. The main downside of keeping your DB pension in the UK is currency risk (and opportunity) but the alternative isn’t really viable as things stand.