Investing a large sum of money ? - Page 2

basegreen · 02-11-2020, 15:26

Yes, you can get products which are v v low risk, and ones that are v v high risk.

The high risk ones tend to invest in overseas businesses. They're also typically private.

It has dropped a lot before, like 20 odd % in a week, but picked back up again quickly. They took a large position in Zoom last year which has helped a lot.

I invested in Tesla on the big drop in March/April and then sold again last month. Spent the proceeds with Tesla ironically.

I have a smallish position in Bitcoin and Etherium and Gold. So basically hedged against small losses in any. one place hopefully. Most of it just sitting in a crappy savings account though as psychologically with Mrs Basegreen not working at the moment it is good to have some liquidity.

Edit, I checked it's up around 217% versus what I've put in over 5.5yrs (I keep underestimating time this year

) bit less than the guess but not shabby.

Arthur Fowler · 02-11-2020, 16:16

We just finished paying off our mortgage and didn't really know what to do with the additional money each month due to the dire savings rate.

Decided that as I am only 4.5 years from retirement (hopefully), I would up my pension contributions dramatically. I hadn't previously planned to take the whole 25% tax free lump sum at retirement but with these extra savings it seems like a tax efficient way to save a chunk of extra money.

Can always drop the contributions back down if we hit harder times before then.

AdamBrunt · 02-11-2020, 17:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arthur Fowler

We just finished paying off our mortgage and didn't really know what to do with the additional money each month due to the dire savings rate.

Decided that as I am only 4.5 years from retirement (hopefully), I would up my pension contributions dramatically. I hadn't previously planned to take the whole 25% tax free lump sum at retirement but with these extra savings it seems like a tax efficient way to save a chunk of extra money.

Can always drop the contributions back down if we hit harder times before then.

That's the situation we are in - well once the money comes through from my, deceased, parents' house sale.

We'll be mortgage free with a circa �100k lump sum and an extra �650 per month to play with. Plenty of room to substantially up my pension contribution - by about �350+ per month - [ still roughly 10 years away from retirement ] but still have a considerable amount with a wide array of possible options for what to do with it.

What I also can't seem to find out is ... does the �40k annual contribution limit include any pension pots that you have transferred over from another scheme ?

cjanderson · 02-11-2020, 18:46

40k is new money going into pension
Not transfers
Abd you can do more than 40k, just need capacity from past 3 years and enough salary to cover it.

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AdamBrunt · 02-11-2020, 18:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by cjanderson

40k is new money going into pension
Not transfers
Abd you can do more than 40k, just need capacity from past 3 years and enough salary to cover it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ah, ok.

So it is 40k new money plus as many transfers as you like ?

And as long as you have a current annual salary of �Y, your total new money in - for a rolling 3 year period - can be �Yx3 ?

cjanderson · 02-11-2020, 19:52

No the Salsry thing is that you get tax relief up to your salary.

So you can pay in �100k if no previous pension payments

But if your salary is �50k, you�d only get tax relief on that (and strictly you aren�t taxed on first 12.5j anyway)

So money can go in but no benefit putting it there if no tax relief over just Into normal shares

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AdamBrunt · 02-11-2020, 20:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by cjanderson

No the Salsry thing is that you get tax relief up to your salary.

So you can pay in �100k if no previous pension payments

But if your salary is �50k, you�d only get tax relief on that (and strictly you aren�t taxed on first 12.5j anyway)

So money can go in but no benefit putting it there if no tax relief over just Into normal shares

Gotcha, that makes more sense

So unless it is a very good performing pension fund then there is no real reason to pay in more than your salary each year ?

cjanderson · 02-11-2020, 20:28

You can always pay into that same fund not as a pension generally

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driver8 · 03-11-2020, 07:26

Anyone bought in to gold ? Do you just keep it (for decades), or buy/sell depending on the market trends?

basegreen · 03-11-2020, 10:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by driver8

Anyone bought in to gold ? Do you just keep it (for decades), or buy/sell depending on the market trends?

As mentioned above, I bought in at a modest amount - more just to hedge against riskier stocks I hold.

You can buy on Revolut.

AdamBrunt · 03-11-2020, 11:52

Another stupid pension question ...

When you get the annual statement and or projection forecasts, do the projections take inflation into account ?

In other words "your pot is worth �x which could give you an annual income of �y" ... Is y at today's prices ?

Arthur Fowler · 03-11-2020, 13:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdamBrunt

Another stupid pension question ...

When you get the annual statement and or projection forecasts, do the projections take inflation into account ?

In other words "your pot is worth �x which could give you an annual income of �y" ... Is y at today's prices ?

Yes, it will be at today's prices. Assuming it is talking about buying an annuity with your pot, you can index link it but if course the annual income will start lower than the flat income rate that I expect they have suggested.

AdamBrunt · 03-11-2020, 13:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arthur Fowler

Yes, it will be at today's prices. Assuming it is talking about buying an annuity with your pot, you can index link it but if course the annual income will start lower than the flat income rate that I expect they have suggested.

Thanks, that's what I thought or - rather - was hoping

Arthur Fowler · 03-11-2020, 14:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdamBrunt

Thanks, that's what I thought or - rather - was hoping

Hoping? Why is that? If the statement is showing for example you could get �15k per year and you are due to retire in 10 years then �15k will buy you a lot less then.

AdamBrunt · 03-11-2020, 15:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arthur Fowler

Hoping? Why is that? If the statement is showing for example you could get �15k per year and you are due to retire in 10 years then �15k will buy you a lot less then.

That's what I meant by "today's prices". So it sounds like it doesn't take inflation into account

Could have sworn there was a ruling a while ago that said expecting the owner of the pension to factor in inflation was unfair/unnecessary.

Arthur Fowler · 03-11-2020, 16:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdamBrunt

That's what I meant by "today's prices". So it sounds like it doesn't take inflation into account

Could have sworn there was a ruling a while ago that said expecting the owner of the pension to factor in inflation was unfair/unnecessary.

Sorry, I misunderstood.

jockosjungle · 04-11-2020, 09:14

When you buy gold, do they keep it for you or do you keep the bars buried in the garden? I never really understood how you buy and sell it.

Problem with a lot of foreign stocks at the moment is our low exchange rate, not saying they cannot be good. But you are buying at a disadvantage and if our rate goes up, then selling at one as well.

Still just got my money in premium bonds, had some money in a few shares but couldn't cope with the up and down nature of it.

AdamBrunt · 12-11-2020, 17:45

Another question .... SIPP v S&S ISA:

SIPP: Gets tax relief but final pot is liable to income tax, �40k limit (and is this a limit for each pension you have or a total limit for all pensions ?), no access until age 55
S&S ISA: No tax relief but withdrawals are tax free, �20k limit, access anytime

Other than that, they are pretty much the same.

Does that sound about right ?

cjanderson · 12-11-2020, 18:46

Yes that�s about right. The �40k is payments in across all pensions.

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AdamBrunt · 15-11-2020, 15:27

On the subject of pensions ... I phoned up HMRC the other day as their website claims I don't need to do a self assessment tax return any more ( despite doing one for the past 3+ years ). When I finally got through, I was told that if the only reason you're doing one is for the 40% tax relief on pension contributions then you now just phone them up with the figures.

Does that sound right ?