Listener Questions - Episode 2

The Meaningful Money Personal Finance Podcast

It's time for another listener Q&A! This time we cover paying off student loans, old pensions, alternative to pensions and ISAs and much more.

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA2

00:40 Sophie - My question is that I am about to start earning a lot more than I thought I was as a graduate. I have always been told to ignore my student loans by my parents as it's essentially a tax, but looking at some calculators I would pay it all off in 25 years before it gets cleared and pay more than double the £45,600 in interest. I'm thinking of trying to overpay it off more quickly than that as it seems very big to have especially with 7.3% interest rate. I'm not sure if I should prioritize this, as I could start now, but as I'm starting work I'm still very uncertain of what to save and how I should treat this debt. Or should I not worry about it this early on?

06:55 Ellie - My partner recently traced a pension from an old employer. When he contacted the company they told him the pension was all paid out to him when he left the company, 9 years ago. He was 28 at the time. Is that possible? I believed it wasn't possible to access pensions until 10 years before state pension age. The exceptions I'm aware of (certain types of job/illness) aren't relevant here. I can't believe this pension would have had particularly special properties. It was while he was working for Experian. He doesn't remember receiving a lump sum, and is checking with his bank (it's too far back to see online). Did the person he spoke to just make a mistake? He is reluctant to go back to them without anything concrete, and it is hard to trust what they say. Any advice on what to do next?

12:15 Joanne - I am a higher rate tax payer and contribute to a SIPP on top of my employer pension (very generous DB scheme) to keep my earnings underneath £100k so that I can benefit from free childcare hours and about the 60% tax trap bracket between £100-£125k. However, I am now breaching the annual £60k pension allowance and so end up paying significant tax on the additional pension contributions in my self assessment. I am so aware that this is a privileged position to be in and want to contribute my fair share of tax but I wondered what other channels I should be exploring to be as tax efficient as possible please (I have never dabbled in VCTs!)

18:44 James - How do I weigh up the relative value of AVC on my DB pension rather than investing in a LISA or S&S ISA where I retain my capital?

22:25 Giles - I have fallen into the 60% tax trap on a number of occasions, to mitigate this I have tried to top up my pension to get my earnings below 100k to reduce my tax bill. Being the main earner and with 2 very expensive teenagers I don’t have enough spare cash to do this easily so have taken the money out of a S+S ISA in the past. I know this shifts the balance of my assets massively into pensions but it seems worth it to reduce tax. My question being is this a reasonable plan? Is it a good idea to do this or am I better keeping retirement options more flexible with a larger ISA pot?