Navigating Pension Contributions and Tax Allowances

This week, Pete is rested after his holiday and may even be more tanned than Roger, for once! We answer a mixed bag of questions ranging from financial planning if you’re on benefits to tax-free cash recycling and lots besides!

Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA24 

01:38  Question 1

Hi there! I'm one of the very many people who look set to lose disability benefits (PIP and ESA) at the end of next year. I was disabled following an industrial injury 15 years ago and have a lifetime award of Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit assessed as 70% disabled which currently brings £155/week. It's definitely not enough to live on let alone pay the additional costs of being disabled. (there's no chance of recovery enough to work as I can't access healthcare but that's a long story) I am 50 and conventional life plans involve maintaining saving/investing  through midlife on the expectation of reduced income on retirement. But I'm now facing acute poverty for 15 years until I hit the relative luxury of state pension. (Assuming I can find the cash to buy the missing NI years!) I have some assets that are pretty badly managed on account of my being unwell, and in particular a second flat which has £7000pa post-grenfell service charges and so can neither be mortgaged, sold nor rented out until those repairs finally complete-if they ever do! I think I can afford to cover costs from cash savings/investments for maybe 5 years. But after that... Can you speak to the general point of financial planning for people with unconventional life trajectories, particularly disability, and especially what sort of financial information/support resources are available? I'm unsure if you've any specific suggestions for my situation to get me through a decade of sub-living income/cashable assets against potentially sustained high costs? Obvs I love what I can manage to get from the pod and was particularly interested when you've spoken of financial coaching. Cheers! Sam

10:06  Question 2

Hi Pete & Roger

Loving the Q&A sessions. Even when topics aren’t relevant to me it’s still insightful to hear from other people and always educational to listen to your response.

I suspect the answer to my question is simple but have yet to see an answer to it anywhere online!

I have a cash ISA with T212 from 24/25 tax year and will have a new £20,000 to invest come April (cash ISA’s are my preferred vehicle - long story!). Can I just add the new 20 to the existing ISA or do I need to take out a new one? And also, do I benefit from compound interest if I leave it all alone?

Regards Maxi

13:06  Question 3

Hello

I am loving the podcast and finding out about situations I would not have considered before listening. I don’t know if you can help on this one, it’s a bit of a tax question on CGT.

We are a couple both with dual citizenship (Aus/British) and are planning a sabbatical break from working in 2026 for a minimum of 3 months, but this may turn into years.

We have a house purchased in 2003 with no mortgage and want to know our CGT obligations if we were to be non residents when we sell our house? Also is this CGT obligation a tapering obligation like IHT when moving abroad?

Kind regards, Sam

19:42  Question 4

Hello gents,

Enjoying the podcast as always. Especially the Q&E episodes as I like to test myself to see if I would answer the questions the same as yourselves!

My question, I am 20 years old and have recently got my Level 4 diploma with the CISI, and now looking to take the next steps in becoming a planner myself. The obvious route is to stick with the CISI, competing their Level 6 Advanced Financial Planning then the Level 7 Case Study to become CFP. However, just because it’s obvious doesn’t mean it’s right! I seen that the CII’s set up is completely different, lots a smaller exams, with the outcome being Chartered (not CFP). Am I overthinking this or are there pros and cons for each exam board. Also what is the different between CFP and Chartered?

Many thanks, Lewis

27:28  Question 5

Hi Pete and Roger, Firstly, thanks for a great podcast - I’ve been listening for many years and often catch up with the latest episode whilst on the rowing machine at my local gym! I have a question regarding the pension recycling rules.

In Feb 2024, I initiated a DB pension, taking £108,000 lump sum and a yearly amount of £15800. This was to pay off my partners property that we are both about to move into mortgage free. My total contribution was £200k and the remainder of the balance was from my savings. I currently earn £80k salary and have additional rental income from two properties I own of approx 10k net per annum.

I am in the process of selling one of my properties and want to use the proceeds (after CG) to maximise my pension contributions  in tax year 25/26. So in total it would be about  £66K contributions (as I have carry over allowance from the past three years). Over the past 3 years my pension contributions on average have been approx. 35k per year.   I’m likely to retire within the next 18 months hence wanting to maximise my contributions during this time.

However, my question is, would this higher pension contribution likely trigger the pension recycling rules because of the pension lump sum I took in 2024, even though that amount was used solely to pay off a property at the time? Many thanks and keep up the great work. Phil

37:05  Question 6

Hi Pete and Roger

Thank you both for all you do. What do you think about keeping an emergency fund in a money market fund, rather than cash?

Many thanks, Rob