bigdog
Retired many years ago
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- 19 July 2006
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https://www.theage.com.au/money/sup...-30-year-british-pension-20190117-p50ry5.html
It looks like I will get the UK pension and am able to top up at the cheaper Class 2 rate. None of this would have happened without your help and advice! Thank you so very much - you are really doing an awesome job. [Name withheld]
Wow, that makes me so happy! Now, I don’t usually publish success letters such as yours – and I get a few. After all, this is supposed to be a column about problems.
But this letter is about a rapidly closing opportunity that I highlighted last year for thousands of other Aussies who have also worked in the UK for as few as three years, to secure a cut-price British pension for perhaps three decades. And there are probably only days to act.
Here’s how it worked in this very satisfying case…
The person is an Australian passport holder (British too, but that’s not necessary) who lived in the UK from 2002 to 2008 while in her late 40s and early 50s and worked as a visual artist. Over that time, she chalked up seven years of National Insurance contributions – compulsory premiums deducted from employees’ salaries to fund state benefits.
For an outlay of just over $2000 from age 66 she will receive an annual pension that is today $6391.
She then left without giving that a second thought until, in 2018, she chanced upon my article about how you can turn a working holiday into a work-free payday.
“I was given the choice [by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs] to top up from three years to eight years and I’m going to top up eight years – it’s so worth the money!” she says.
In fact, for an outlay of just over $2000 (here is how that is calculated), from age 66 she will receive an annual pension that is today $6391.
Did you catch that the last figure is annual?
This is because they were able to convince HMRC she should be allowed to contribute at a cheaper (Class 2) rate of National Insurance, an ability scheduled to disappear on April 6. (Note they will initially quote you far more expensive Class 3 contributions.)
Could this work for you too?
Pension Transfer Specialists, the commercial outfit I quoted in my story and [name withheld] used to arrange her pension, says: “We have had people top up who lived in the UK a very long time ago.
“Three years either living or working in the UK will allow you to purchase additional years… and it’s certainly a worthwhile exercise to see if you can top up at the cheaper Class 2 contribution rate.
“I haven’t had any rejected based on leaving the UK a long time ago – HMRC may take some months to respond but the UK will generally still accept a top up.”
And that’s your urgency – there are about 11 weeks of this UK fiscal year left.
But hooray: the Brexit turmoil and impact on the pound means additional contributions are now far cheaper… if you have confidence the UK will honour/be able to honour its pension commitments.
Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon is a money educator and consumer advocate: themoneymentorway.com. Questions: nicolehelps@fairfaxmedia.com.au.
I am not eligible for above
It looks like I will get the UK pension and am able to top up at the cheaper Class 2 rate. None of this would have happened without your help and advice! Thank you so very much - you are really doing an awesome job. [Name withheld]
Wow, that makes me so happy! Now, I don’t usually publish success letters such as yours – and I get a few. After all, this is supposed to be a column about problems.
But this letter is about a rapidly closing opportunity that I highlighted last year for thousands of other Aussies who have also worked in the UK for as few as three years, to secure a cut-price British pension for perhaps three decades. And there are probably only days to act.
Here’s how it worked in this very satisfying case…
The person is an Australian passport holder (British too, but that’s not necessary) who lived in the UK from 2002 to 2008 while in her late 40s and early 50s and worked as a visual artist. Over that time, she chalked up seven years of National Insurance contributions – compulsory premiums deducted from employees’ salaries to fund state benefits.
For an outlay of just over $2000 from age 66 she will receive an annual pension that is today $6391.
She then left without giving that a second thought until, in 2018, she chanced upon my article about how you can turn a working holiday into a work-free payday.
“I was given the choice [by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs] to top up from three years to eight years and I’m going to top up eight years – it’s so worth the money!” she says.
In fact, for an outlay of just over $2000 (here is how that is calculated), from age 66 she will receive an annual pension that is today $6391.
Did you catch that the last figure is annual?
This is because they were able to convince HMRC she should be allowed to contribute at a cheaper (Class 2) rate of National Insurance, an ability scheduled to disappear on April 6. (Note they will initially quote you far more expensive Class 3 contributions.)
Could this work for you too?
Pension Transfer Specialists, the commercial outfit I quoted in my story and [name withheld] used to arrange her pension, says: “We have had people top up who lived in the UK a very long time ago.
“Three years either living or working in the UK will allow you to purchase additional years… and it’s certainly a worthwhile exercise to see if you can top up at the cheaper Class 2 contribution rate.
“I haven’t had any rejected based on leaving the UK a long time ago – HMRC may take some months to respond but the UK will generally still accept a top up.”
And that’s your urgency – there are about 11 weeks of this UK fiscal year left.
But hooray: the Brexit turmoil and impact on the pound means additional contributions are now far cheaper… if you have confidence the UK will honour/be able to honour its pension commitments.
Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon is a money educator and consumer advocate: themoneymentorway.com. Questions: nicolehelps@fairfaxmedia.com.au.
I am not eligible for above
