What the ? Pension actuary

[Minkey]

I recently received a letter from my pension people with a forecast of what my pension will be when I get to 65, so I thought what I'd ask what it would be if I decided to take it early, they replied as it was complicated they would have to refer it to the pension actuary? Who and what does the actuary do ??

 

[andyBeaker]

I recently received a letter from my pension people with a forecast of what my pension will be when I get to 65, so I thought what I'd ask what it would be if I decided to take it early, they replied as it was complicated they would have to refer it to the pension actuary? Who and what does the actuary do ??

Essentially a statician that works on future probabilities/assumptions to value in this case your pension at a given date in the future.

Sounds like a fairly antiquated set-up - I would expect them have an algorithm set up so they can press press a button and give you an answer.

When I was given the figures for my pension they gave me an online tool so I could fiddle round with the numbers myself.

 

[derek kelly]

Due to my RN time I had maximum contributions to my pension well before 55, under my t&c’s I was eligible to draw my pension at 55.
I approached our business partner at work & asked if I could take it a year early, the reply I got was “yes, but your pension age would go to 60 but you could buy those years back at 5%,” this would have cost me over £30,000.

 

[andyBeaker]

Due to my RN time I had maximum contributions to my pension well before 55, under my t&c’s I was eligible to draw my pension at 55.
I approached our business partner at work & asked if I could take it a year early, the reply I got was “yes, but your pension age would go to 60 but you could buy those years back at 5%,” this would have cost me over £30,000.

And??

 

[Me!]

And??

For once your comment / point is far more valid than Dirks.

 

[derek kelly]

And??

Beware when considering taking your pension early.

 

[Lee337]

Considered taking my pension 3 years early at 57 instead of 60 as I'll be made redundant then. I could have either taken a reduction of around £1500 per year or bought extra years and reduced my redundancy figure accordingly. It would have pretty much wiped out any payout I could have expected. When I sat down & worked out the figures, the buyout figure came to 110% of what I could expect to receive in pension for the additional 3 years.

Figured I'd wait.

 

[andyBeaker]

It's all down to individual circumstances - what might suit one won't suit another.

I really wanted to pack up as soon as the pension rules would allow and take the hit....but happily the 'promise' of redundancy intervened.

Just for the record, any 'promise' of redundancy needs to be treated with caution as quite simply it cannot be 'promised' in any binding way.

 

[Minkey]

I must admit I thought they would just change the date on their system and it would spit out the answer. It's a final salary pension with an additional amount that was transferred in when they took over the company I worked for.