Private pension

Bubbles12

New member
Dec 9, 2018
2
0
Hi. My husband who is 54 has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers. We were wondering if he could cash in his pension now? We know that he can get access to it when he is 55 but being as he is self employed and probably wont work properly again, we wondered wheather he could get the money sooner? Any advice please?
 

karaokePete

Registered User
Jul 23, 2017
6,534
0
N Ireland
Hello @Bubbles12, welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately we can't give advisory financial advice on the forum. I would only say that the answer may depend on the terms of the scheme to which your husband belongs and the providers may be able to answer your question.

Now that you have found the forum I hope you will continue to post.

You may find some information that is of benefit to you in the Publications List, which covers all aspects of dementia, including financial matters, and can be found by clicking this link https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/publications-factsheets-full-list

If you want to check for support services in your area you can do a post code check by clicking this link https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/find-support-near-you
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,081
0
Bury
The best thing to do is ask the pension provider, you may have success by playing the 'ill heath early retirement' card.
 

Rosettastone57

Registered User
Oct 27, 2016
1,839
0
Hi. My husband who is 54 has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers. We were wondering if he could cash in his pension now? We know that he can get access to it when he is 55 but being as he is self employed and probably wont work properly again, we wondered wheather he could get the money sooner? Any advice please?
It depends on the pension scheme but general rules are that HMRC will tax your husband up to upper rate of 40% if he takes it before age if 55. After age of 55 he may be entitled to 25% of the pot tax free. I would take some financial advice beforehand . I'm not an expert but my husband took early retirement and I know tax rules could have hammered him without proper consultation
 

Kevinl

Registered User
Aug 24, 2013
6,064
0
Salford
Hi Bubbles, welcome to TP
As Pete has said you really need to get some professional advise and as Rosetta says there may be tax implications if you take out money as a lump sum and a lot depends on the type of pension he has.
It could be it's his pension alone or it could be if he predeceases you then you still get some or all of the pension, in which case taking money out now might cost you in the long term because if he predeceases you and the pension stops you may be worse off and if he ever needed to go into care you would get half his private pension for yourself whilst he was in care, cashed in in his name and it could all go in care costs.
It's an absolute minefield sat on top of quicksand, a "good" decision made now might turn out in the future to be the absolute worst decision you could make, only time will tell.
My wife was diagnosed mid 50's and nearly 10 years later I can't see any reason why she might not outlive me and I'm only 63 last month, I never saw her diagnosis as an end of everything, we just carried on as normal for years before things changed.
There's a whole load of in depth questions about your personal circumstances, debts, income, financial commitments and all the rest which obviously we can't go into on here but only someone who can do a full assessment of your overall situation can make an informed decision and even then it's still a gamble.
You could start by asking your local Citizens Advise Bureau (CAB) or AZ Society as even if they can't help you they may well be able to point you in the direction of local financial advisors who are known to them and are specialists in this area of finance.
As I say it's a minefield, get it wrong and long term it could cost you a lot more than you might think.
K
 

allchange

Registered User
Nov 29, 2015
83
0
As the others above have rightly suggested you should be very careful about taking the pension early. You could seek advice from an IFA (independent financial adviser) who will charge you, or from pensionwise a free government scheme for over 50s for initial advice. See https://www.pensionwise.gov.uk

If at all possible investigate benefits such as ESA, DLA/PIP, and carers allowance to help you meet the gap.

Sorry for your situation at such an early age.