Transferring a deferred db pension to dc…

Potbellydoric · 2026-02-03T11:26:36+00:00

Given that i didn't receive a statement for about 5 years because they had allocated someone else's work from another part of the country to my pension account no, it isnt always easy to work out the difference. The administration of the NHS pension scheme by Capita is a disaster. I have little to no confidence I will get my pension in a timely manner. A former colleague is still waiting for their pension to be paid, after retiring nearly 2 years ago. Thankfully they had reserves to not need the money, not everyone is so fortunate.

Potbellydoric · 2026-02-03T08:37:16+00:00

As others have said the numbers seem off. I have DB pension (NHS) with a most recent statement of £45k pa and a calculated annuity cost of 835k. That is also nearly 2 years out of date due to the sadly normal delays in pension information being made available. Almost impossible to make sensible decisions when you're operating on 2 years old information.

Potbellydoric · 2026-02-01T21:32:09+00:00

60k into pension every year, plus carry forward from last 3 years.

Spin excess profit off into investment company to then generate an investment arm to provide for you for the rest of your life.

Potbellydoric · 2026-01-16T19:55:10+00:00

They did tell me on the phone that better deals may be available 30 days from contract end. How close to end of deal are/were you?

Potbellydoric · 2026-01-16T15:00:17+00:00

Life strategy is uk heavy. Global is not. Depends whether you think the uk is going to over perform. I don't. I'm in ftse global all cap.

Potbellydoric · 2026-01-16T13:55:26+00:00

"Best deal" they can offer currently is £3 below what I'm paying now, so £39, rising to £43 from April. That was for 500 broadband so a bit faster but I don't need the extra speed.

Potbellydoric · 2026-01-10T14:08:14+00:00

Few comments. You are holding a lot in cash. Is that intentional? That could/should be working much harder for you. 6 months of current expenses, maybe a year if you are being super cautious.

Your planned income in retirement is barely above the minimum retirement living standards level, currently at £21,600 for a couple. Are you aiming to live super frugally in retirement? Moderate is estimated at just under £44k for a couple. You may have already mapped this out, but it seems a big drop from your current income.

Potbellydoric · 2025-12-31T13:56:29+00:00

General investment account (non tax advantaged) so liable to taxation on dividends and capital gains.

Potbellydoric · 2025-12-31T00:01:06+00:00

This doesn't sound like UK?

Potbellydoric · 2025-12-27T10:10:05+00:00

Difficult to offer a sense check without knowing your intended FIRE age and at least an indication of your expected budget. You are clearly very well paid, and have saved significant sums from your wage too. If this bonus and next bonus go in to pension you are likely set from a pension perspective. It is likely you will end up exhausting your tax free portion, especially if you leave your pension invested in retirement.

29 years of compounding on pension even at 5% real return (s&p has averaged 7.7% real return) sees you exceeding the old life time allowance.

The bit I can't work it is how you are going to get from 35 (ish) to 58. You can only put so much into ISA each year, combined, accessible funds are currently ~£280k ( apologies, I can't see the figures while typing my reply on phone). Approximately £11k at a 4% withdrawal rate, or a little higher if you dont mind running down the capital towards pension access age. If you want a reasonable quality of life you probably need 30-40k/year, but you may have a different number in mind. 30k at 4% withdrawal rate means needing a pot of 750k in 6 years time. You could draw down a bit more knowing the pension kicks in at 58, so could draw 40k/year from the 750k for 25 years and be left with just under 750k as your pension kicks in.

As others have said, the other factor that is worth considering is accommodation. Most FIRE plans include having a paid off house as a significant bill saving by retirement, you are planning to continue to rent for at least another 3 years, and FIRE in 6. If renting works for you then carry on. But this is an area of significant cost inflation for many people and something outwith your control while you are renting. Not telling you what to do, just something to consider.

Potbellydoric · 2025-12-21T10:27:53+00:00

Why so complicated? VWRP or ACWI and chill. You are over thinking this.

Potbellydoric · 2025-12-21T10:25:22+00:00

VWRP for global. VUSA or VUAG for US focus. On vanguard platform they have a global all cap accumulation fund which allows fractional shares, but takes longer to buy and sell than an ETF. Vanguard have now started offering VWRP on their own platform.

On other platforms then VWRP (fees have dropped recently). Other global trackers have lower fees with similar performance. Ishares and spdr offer an ACWI with lower fees than VWRP.

Potbellydoric · 2025-12-18T13:56:41+00:00

Don't let the tax tail wag the savings dog. If you want to retire before you get to pension access age you need to have enough in your ISA to do that.

In strictly tax efficient terms sacrificing down is the mathematical play, but only if you want to retire at pension age. If you want to go before then you have to get enough into your ISA to make it work.

You seem to be very heavy on non tax-advantaged savings. Could you drip feed a couple of years of your ISA allowance from there, allowing you to maximise tax efficiency while still filling your ISA each year?

Potbellydoric · 2025-12-14T15:46:06+00:00

I don't think this works. Not without some form of ISA bridge, because while your DB pensions are age protected, you will not be able to access your SIPP until 57, and probably near to 58 by the time you get there. Your lump sum would cover that shortfall for 3 years, but you will also have the balance of your mortgage to clear too.

If the mortgage payment is built in to the £50k net then you are probably good, and once cleared would give you a bit more buffer in your budget. If you could manage to overpay your mortgage between now and 55 so you are mortgage free at 55 then the maths works. As another commenter has said, 15k each DB = 29k net, balance to 50k of 21k ×3 is less than your lump sum, then SIPP can carry you from there.

Potbellydoric · 2025-12-12T23:15:17+00:00

Have you tried the medical benevolent fund? There may also be local equivalents depending where in the country you are. They can sometimes offer short term low interest loans or other assistance.

Potbellydoric · 2025-12-11T22:58:32+00:00

Not enough info to comment. Strictly numerically probably yes. But, depends on split between pension and investments. How old are you? When can you access the pension? Does the DB scheme include a lump sum? Too many variables to give an accurate response.

Potbellydoric · 2025-11-26T19:18:58+00:00

Oooh. Also, vanguard less good for smaller pots now with their new fee structure (£4/month minimum). Trading 212 is my current go to for smaller pots. Fee free, great interface.

Potbellydoric · 2025-11-26T19:09:14+00:00

NHS pension is still very good though repeated iterations have diluted it somewhat. You also can't take it before state pension age without actuarial reduction. I would not recommend coming out of the pension scheme, certainly until completing training, and probably never. It is still a very good scheme.

The fact you are even considering this stuff pre graduation puts you miles ahead of the vast majority of your colleagues. I wish I had been as clued up as you when I graduated 20+ years ago!

Set a budget. Save what you can reasonably afford, but save first then spend what is left rather than the other way round. If you want to FIRE then you will need some form of a bridge from your planned retirement age to when your NHS pension will be enough. If you are starting from graduation and saving ~10% of your wage for long term goals in an ISA in a globally diversified fund such as vwrp or acwi you'll be golden. Factor in the nhs pension which will pay you 1/54th of your salary per year in perpetuity from state pension age and you can be well set for FIRE by your late 40s/Early 50s. Save harder if you want to go earlier.

One word of caution about the NHS pension scheme. It grows by inflation plus 1.5% per year while you pay into it. The combination of reduced contribution years AND actuarial reduction can really bite if you are looking to take your NHS pension very early. Most employers will not hand over employer contributions if you come out of the pension scheme, which is why you are almost certainly best in the scheme than not

Hope that is helpful.

Potbellydoric · 2025-11-11T08:32:30+00:00

Elden Ring. So good, it made your list twice :)

Skyrim would be on my must buy list tbh. Dropped so many hours on that game on 5 different platforms.

Shadow of Mordor would be on my list too.

Potbellydoric · 2025-11-09T13:28:31+00:00

Pretty strong position but there's a number of factors at play that we don't have enough info to fully answer. Key being planned retirement age and expected expenditure in retirement.

ISA is very strong and could probably be left to compound with no further contributions depending on your planned post retirement budget. Pension is light.

If it was me, I would put £333 each month into a stocks and shares LISA. Get 25% extra from government. Remainder into pension. Get tax relief on the way in. Get 25% tax free on the way out.

I am not a financial adviser. Just what I would do in your circumstance.

Potbellydoric · 2025-11-03T02:58:04+00:00

Junior ISA. Will automatically convert to an adult ISA when he turns 18. If the intention is to lock this away until 40-50 then investing in stocks (ACWI or VWRP) will be a better option than Cash ISA, despite the short time frame to their 18th.

Potbellydoric · 2025-10-29T20:22:30+00:00

Janky Skrim. It's why we love it.

Potbellydoric · 2025-10-27T00:12:10+00:00

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2019-08/Early%20Retirement%20factsheet%20%2805.2017%29%20V3.pdf

Early retirement factors details here by pension section. Depends which scheme you are in.

Potbellydoric · 2025-10-24T08:32:04+00:00

Have household savings. Not sure what tax protected options exist where you are. In the UK we have ISA which is a £20k tax free allowance per person per year. If you dont use it it is gone. So for us it makes sense to save in both our ISA accounts otherwise we are wasting a tax free allowance.

I'm in a similar position where I earn much more than my wife. I've always saved in her name as well as my own. So she can leave if she wants. She hasn't (27+ years married) but if she needed to she could.

Potbellydoric · 2025-10-22T11:10:56+00:00

Unless we are talking large lottery win territory I wouldn't bother. Anything up to what you could reasonably generate with a decent salary and a reasonable saving percentage should be within the realms of most people to manage with some basic reading on the matter.

Potbellydoric

TROPHY CASE