We all know we live in uncertain times and with an increasingly aging population and the pension coffers running dry, it’s never too early to start planning for retirement. Although we plan to work for as long as we can, when we do retire, my husband and I dearly want to live as well as we can. We don’t see retirement as a time to stop enjoying the good things in life and have always tried to look for the best pension advice to make sure we can enjoy our retirement.
Naturally we both have private pension schemes, mine in the public sector, my husband’s in the private. We couldn’t possibly envisage trying to make ends meet on a frugal state pension and I really don’t know anyone who could. We don’t lead lavish lives, but we do love to travel abroad and plan to do far more of that when we retire. In fact what we really want to do is retire abroad.
Our savings are not great because we’ve always tried to help our family: putting our daughter through university and trying to ensure she avoids accumulating a student loan millstone around her neck; as helping our son get established on the property ladder; and taking care of my husband’s mother who spent her last years in a nursing home. To put it bluntly, all these commitments have eaten considerably into our savings and this is why our pensions are so important to us.
Being in control of your finances gives you much greater freedom for your future plans. Ours, as I mentioned, were to retire abroad and lead a much more relaxed lifestyle than retired people in Britain ever seem to enjoy. We didn’t see it as running away because we planned to encourage our family and friends to come and out and visit whenever they could. I suppose we chose Spain because it seems to be the ideal Mediterranean retreat for migrating Brits.
For one thing our pensions, which will be our sole source of income and therefore extremely important to us, could be seriously affected. Moving within the EEC will not affect our state pensions or my public sector pensions, but my husband’s private pension was a different matter. If we moved outside of the EEC there were other complications to consider, like state pensions being frozen and possible tax consequences.
Although QROPS (Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes) were introduced in April 2006, we had never heard of these schemes until we started being proactive in our investigations. The schemes were part of the work and pensions reforms of that year and aimed specifically at the growing number of Brits who were choosing to leave British shores and retire abroad. Their aim was basically to safeguard pensions from unscrupulous practices and give retirees some extra benefits.
QROPS were set up in April 2006 as part of the massive work and pensions reforms operating at that time. Some of the benefits they offer are the ability to draw a 30% tax free lump sum; better investment flexibility, and avoidance of UK inheritance tax. There are, however, exclusions and not all pensions are suitable for transfer into the schemes.
The main thing we have learned is the importance of keeping up to date with pension changes and choosing a properly qualified professional to give the best advice. Trying to find out everything by yourself is possible, but it is complex and time-consuming. For most people pensions will represent their chief source of income, so it’s very important to make sure these work for them in the best way possible, particularly if, like us, they plan to spend their retirement years in another country.
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Our UK pension is important to us as we get on in years so it makes sense that you always look to get the best deal. Now, with changing legislation you can transfer your pension to an overseas fund using a QROPS scheme.
This offers a chance to release equity and structure the pension to suit your requirements and not the governments so before you do anything else, look into transeferring your existing scheme into a QROPS Pension fund today. It will save you hundreds of pounds and it's so easy to do when you take advice from a company such as this.
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