Been in pension less than 2 years can I still remove myself?

postiepoo · Post by **postiepoo** » 16 Apr 2008, 21:27

Hello people,

I have been paying into the pension fund for less than two years, have now decided that I want my money out of the shambles that is RM. Will they try and deny this because of the recent changes/proposed changes??? Who knows whats going on we get told nothing! Many thanks in advance :)

Post by **POSTMAN** » 16 Apr 2008, 21:35

Yes i think you can,2yrs is the cut off limit.
But hold on for others to confirm.

postiepoo · Post by **postiepoo** » 16 Apr 2008, 21:39

thanks for the quick reply POSTMAN, I hope so can't see there being much left at all in 35 years, will try save my own cash

Post by **Carnoustie** » 16 Apr 2008, 22:43

postiepoo wrote:thanks for the quick reply POSTMAN, I hope so can't see there being much left at all in 35 years, will try save my own cash

DON'T BE SO HASTY !

The changes to the RM scheme are bang out of order, we're all agreed on that, but if you plan to stay with RM long-term, staying in a weakened company pension scheme is still going to give you a far greater retirement income than you would get from any private scheme or from 'saving your own cash'. Even a weakened RM scheme is far better than either the cash or private scheme options.

For starters, if you go into a private pension scheme, it's only your contributions that will be going in each week (or month). At least in the RM scheme, there will be both your contributions and your employer's going in each week. On that basis, any private scheme would need to have spectacularly good performance every year for 35 years just to come close to matching the pension you would get from the RM scheme (even after all the changes come in).

And just 'saving your own cash' for 35 years is a very poor retirement strategy. What sort of return do savings accounts pay at the moment ? Not even enough to keep pace with inflation, especially when you consider that any interest rate quoted is before tax is deducted. And even though you may start out with every intention of saving such-and-such amount every week, it's all too easy to not actually save money at all, when it's sitting in your bank account and available for you to spend. Pension contributions deducted from wages at source are still the best way to make provision for future retirement income, in my humble opinion.

Post by **Carnoustie** » 17 Apr 2008, 18:56

linkinpark wrote: Before you either come into or out of any pension scheme you should talk to an independant financial advisor who for a modest charge should be able tell you the pitfalls of any choices or options available to you.

You should also apply a modicum of common-sense and realise that private pension schemes don't have your best interests at heart, they have the best profits for their shareholders as their chief motivation.

Look back at the pensions mis-selling scandal, where hundreds of thousands of people were sold private pension schemes with ludicrous claims about the potential growth of the funds and outlandish claims about the size of the pension those gullible enough to listen would be getting.

Although legislation has reigned-in these rogues, it stands to reason that a scheme that has 2 sets of contributions paid into it (company scheme) is going to be better than any scheme where it's only you that's paying in.

Unless of course they appoint Ward and Hayes as trustees of the pension fund

Tall Guy · Post by **Tall Guy** » 17 Apr 2008, 21:01

postiepoo wrote:Hello people,

I have been paying into the pension fund for less than two years, have now decided that I want my money out of the shambles that is RM. Will they try and deny this because of the recent changes/proposed changes??? Who knows whats going on we get told nothing! Many thanks in advance :)

CArnoustie is right, think twice. The RM fund is bombproof after the promises that have been made to plug the gap. No other private pension scheme will give you anywhere near the guarantee of a payout you can get here.

redhand · Post by **redhand** » 17 Apr 2008, 23:27

Can you transfer money into the Royal Mail Pension Scheme from previous employment?

Post by **POSTMAN** » 18 Apr 2008, 15:26

redhand wrote:Can you transfer money into the Royal Mail Pension Scheme from previous employment?

Yes i did that.Can't rem the process though,but it can be done.

Post by **Carnoustie** » 18 Apr 2008, 21:36

redhand wrote:Can you transfer money into the Royal Mail Pension Scheme from previous employment?

You can, but why put all your eggs in one basket if Royal Mail plan to break one egg and leave you with less ??

postiepoo · Post by **postiepoo** » 19 Apr 2008, 01:21

Thanks for the opinions people :)

Darren Bent · Post by **Darren Bent** » 24 Apr 2008, 17:28

I would suggest investing in property to give you 2nd income. So if your house is worth say 250 grand (For sake of debate)

Sell it when you are sixty then use the money to buy a house in the sun for say 150 grand for example and buy another property for 100 grand and rent it out.

Just an idea, as long you can afford to do this.

redbox · Post by **redbox** » 03 Sep 2008, 16:11

Ive been paying in for around 5 years and im about to leave,is my money stuck in this pension scheme now then or is there anyway of getting it out?

Post by **POSTMAN** » 03 Sep 2008, 16:44

redbox wrote:Ive been paying in for around 5 years and im about to leave,is my money stuck in this pension scheme now then or is there anyway of getting it out?

You can't have the money back by law,you can either leave it to mature,or transfer it into another one.

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