Advice

[rob1970]

Does anybody know who I should seek advice off in regards of how much I need to pay into my pension via AVC to help increase my pension upon retirement as I’ve only worked for Royal Mail 11 years and 7 of those years I was part time,I’ve 13 years left and no other pension other than state pension

[yellowbelly]

Does anybody know who I should seek advice off in regards of how much I need to pay into my pension via AVC to help increase my pension upon retirement as I’ve only worked for Royal Mail 11 years and 7 of those years I was part time,I’ve 13 years left and no other pension other than state pension

This is not financial advice just my thoughts:

As a starting point I'd suggest (if you haven't already done so) getting a state pension forecast from DWP to see how much
state pension you'll get when you retire.

Are you absolutely sure that in any previous employment you weren't contributing to a pension (or the employer wasn't contributing for you)?

I'd also check which RM pension plans you are/have been in and their current value(s) (you should get statements).

Make sure you have enough current income and easily accessible savings to cover your living costs now and short term emergencies
as any money you put into a pension is obviously not going to be available for some time.

Then you can start thinking about potentially putting more money into pension AVC's.

In theory any amount of AVC contribution may increase in value as long as the underlying investments increase
over the thirteen years you have left, giving you more financial options when you retire.

Also have you read the latest booklets about the new collective pension coming in in October
(particularly lump sum booster and AVC contributions)? through the RM website and links here:

https://www.myroyalmail.com/collective-plan

[RobertT]

The best place to go for proper advice would be an IFA.

This site can give guidance, but as everyone's situation is going to be different and most people don't divulge much information, it can only ever really be general guidance rather than specific to any individual.

To add to YB's thoughts:

Always take full advantage of your employers pension plan and pay into any additional schemes that they also pay extra into. It might only be a small amount of money per week, but that will add up over the course of 13 years.

When paying into AVC's, make sure you stay within PSE limits to take full advantage of the savings on NIC's.
As a guide to the max you can pay, do this bit of maths:
Hourly pay rate – minimum wage hourly rate x basic contracted hours = max AVC payment

If you can afford to save more then do so. Consider a personal pension for the tax breaks or an ISA for the flexibility.

[kazardaimenu]

Have a look at opening a SIPP, most providers have some sort of retirement calculator.

[rob1970]

Thank you for your time and very useful advice

[yellowbelly]

Thank you for your time and very useful advice

This was mentioned on another thread and is referred to as a possible source of information/help in one of the RMDCP booklets I received:

https://web.hubfinancialsolutions.co.uk/RoyalMailHome