Hello everybody

I will very shortly be 60 year old  and I am considering buying an annuity then, rather than waiting, I think we all know that interest rates are now going lower and I feel that annuities will follow.  Also when interest rates eventually rise again maybe Annuities will not follow so much as people are living longer.

If all tax allowances have been raised to allow for the 10p tax band being discontinued how come it doesn't apply to the over 65's?

My wife has now given up work to become a housewife.  She has a pension pot of £50,000.  I continue to work and contribute to my pension which is currently also about £50,000.

As a 40% tax payer, I make a small AVC every month as I know the government also then contribute.  I understand that for evey extra £6 I put in, the government puts in £4.

I understand that while there are tax breaks when putting into ones pension, the actual pension is taxable when you get it back once retired.

 My question is at what point do you start paying and how much?  I keep reading that a pension pot of £100,000 gets you about £6k or £7k per year.

 Is this taxed, and if so how much?

 regards,

Sparky

As a standard rate taxpayer who will be retiring within 12 months at age 62, and who is anxious to boost his income in retirment, I'm about to commit a lump sum from easy-access savings to a pension plan. If I do so before April 5th, it will be instantly enhanced by 28%. Afterwards it will be 25%, due to the reduction of tax rates from 22% to 20%. Is this the no-brainer I believe it to be?

Having read the 'Pension' article in January's issue of MONEYWISE (p 77:81) I am in a position of wanting to retire in 5 years time, I am in a final salary scheme but am looking to increase my monthly pension by contributing to an 'in-house' AVC, (no charges attached) which is administered by the Prudential.

Is this the best way to do this as in the article it states that "there's no great benefit. AVC's were more valuable before April 2006"?

I am unable to purchase additional years in the scheme so AVC's appeared to be the option because of the limited time I have to save.

I don't know if it's the cold affecting my brain (such as it is), but I've started to think about what I'm going to do when I retire.

Now, it's not for another 40-odd years, but I'm going to need a decent nest-egg to pay for my fruitless trips to the Lane! (Watching Spurs probably isn't worthy of inclusion in 'Retire in style', in all honesty)

So, any recommendations as to where I should start planning for a decent retirement?