Simon.and.Kate

On my list of things to do is work out what we do about our UK Teachers Pensions. I've been teaching for 4 years, and Kate for 6. We've both been paying the standard PAYE Pension.

What's the deal? Do we just 'freeze' these? Can we 'transfer' them with us?

Any pointers or starting points appreciated...

hereshoping

No idea, but on my list of things to do is calling the teacher pension offices. I've been told they are very helpful.

Will let you know what we're told, we don't want to cash them in as we'd lose some of the money so really hoping we can transfer to a superanuation.

Simon.and.Kate

I did some asking around at work today, and was told to contact Teachers Pensions: 0845 6066166 (I didn't even know who they where before today).

Nothing much to say really. I can either 'freeze' my pension and leave it here, or transfer it later when I start a pension in Aus...

sniffydog

Really depends on how much your UK pension (frozen) will be when you retire - you should get a staement about this time of year anyway from the pensions agency. If you're on a high whack with a few years remember its final salary scheme then it may be best leaving it here - except you have the fluctuations in exchange rate to worry about...

wheresnick

I spoke to them today and will definately leave it here. It's a far better scheme than superannuation and you can claim a reduced sum from 55 onwards if required.
Yes, exchange rates will be an issue but you do have the option to take larger lump sum up front if exchange rates are particularly high as you retire (or not if they're low!) They'll also index link your final salary upto when you retire to keep it 'real'!
My main question would be, why throw all your eggs in one basket? My mother-in-law has a superannuation in Oz and is just about to retire. With the markets as they are at the moment her 'pot' is now worth significantly less than it was a couple of years ago. At least with the teacher's pension, you're guarranteed a given lump sum and yearly pension.
I've been teaching here for 16 years and will probably end up with $20,000 a year (at today's prices) inc. the (tiny) state pension. My aim would be to put away enough to have the same again from superannuation (or the equivalent) $40,000 a year plus whatever my wife gets isn't such a bad pension when you have no mortgage or car loans to pay off!!

hereshoping

presumably this is only a good idea if you've been teaching a few years... with only 4 years of contributions each my OH and i are thinking we will transfer. is this a bad idea?

sniffydog

Basically take 4 years teaching divide by 80 then mulitply your answer by you annual salary - this gives your annual pension.

I'm lucky I have 15years only but have a big salary (relatively speaking) of £62k - this gives me £11625 a year on my service so far. For me this means no question - leave it where it is as my salary distorts the picture. I'm not sure for you - at least the uk is a "known" and I doubt whether a transfer to Aus would give a significant boost to a new fund. Might be worth freezing anyway (you can pick it up if you ever come back to the UK too).

Worth stressing I am no expert, I've just worked out that for me it's fairly straightfoward I think....

hereshoping

Thanks for that, very useful. According to that we would have an annual pension of about £1400.

I think the best thing may be to freeze it for the moment, then think about transferring further down the line when we have more idea about superannuation.

sniffydog

Sorry - as I say I'm no expert but I suspect that there may be a timelimit if you want to transfer it to Aus.......

Also - dont forget you get a lump sum on retirement of 3x what you calculated above...