PLANNING FOR EARLY RETIREMENT

When planning your early retirement strategy it is important to give careful consideration to your precise objectives, such as what levels of income you are likely to need when you retire and what possible capital you will have available to you to generate that income.

In addition you will need to be aware of the impact on your NHS Pension scheme benefits on issues such as Actuarial Reduction (early retirement penalty) factors and Abatement (pension offset against income).

Each individual's circumstances and needs are different, therefore please contact us for Specialist Independent Financial Planning advice so that you can achieve your retirement objectives.

You may apply to your Health Authority and the Trustees of the Pension Scheme to take retirement benefits once you have reached the age of 50. prior to 2010. The earliest retirement age post 2010 will be raised to 55. In doing so you should be aware that they would be subject to an Actuarial Reduction. The reason for this is that you will be potentially in receipt of benefits for a longer period than had you stayed on until normal retirement age. The reduction applies both to your annual pension and to your tax-free lump sum.

Please note: An Actuarial Reduction factor would not be applied in the event that you had to take early retirement through ill health.

An Actuarial Reduction factor will be applied to the benefits accrued by purchasing ADDED YEARS as well as the main scheme benefits when taken prior to your normal retirement age.

Planning for Early Retirement Using Private Pension Options

There are a range of private pension routes that you can take to improve your retirement benefits, and these can be particularly useful if you are contemplating early retirement. Visit our Private Pensions page for further details.

Next: Private Pension Arrangements