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The Meaningful Money Personal Finance Podcast

Pete Matthew
The Meaningful Money Personal Finance Podcast
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  • Listener Questions Episode 28
    It’s another mixed-bag of questions this week, covering income protection, the local government pension scheme, avoiding the 60% tax trap and much more besides! Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/2025/10/08/listener-questions-episode-28/    01:33  Question 1 Hello Pete & Rog I like to think of you as a couple of great mates offering me life changing information in a relaxed & entertaining fashion. When putting income protection in place, how do people/planners typically frame a target? Just replacing essential income? Or also replacing  large contribution to pensions (including lost employer contributions) and S&S ISAs for long term wealth building? Thoughts on how I should frame these questions are very welcome! Many thanks, Duncan 11:27  Question 2 Dear Pete and Roger, Firstly thank you so much for all the free resources you put out there to try and help make the world more financially literate and astute. I myself started a journey of self awareness a few years ago thanks in no small part to your content. I have a question about pension recycling and what is allowable. I've read the rules on the criteria, all of which I think have to be met in order to fall foul of the rules, but am not clear on my wife and my specific situation. My wife and I met later in life and have been married for 13 years in a happy and stable relationship. I've just turned 50 but my wife is eight years older. In summary when we came together I brought earning potential but no assets (previous divorce wiped me out!) and she brought assets (house, SIPP pension built up, inheritance) but, through mutual agreement, no earning potential. Fortunately we have a healthy open discussion about money. I am an additional rate tax payer and use my £60,000 limit of pension contributions every year. We have paid off our mortgage and we have always lived using my salary for all our outgoings and live within our means with little consumer debt. I max out my ISA allowance too. Essentially I have no more tax breaks we could take advantage of by her giving me money, save for CGT or dividend allowances. After thinking about her tax implications I have encouraged my wife in the last couple of years to start to withdraw from her DC pension the maximum amount that would result in no income tax being paid (currently £16,760 of which 25% is tax free). Since we don't need the money for living expenses she tops it up with her savings to £20K and puts it in a S&S ISA so really is just moving investments from a less flexible tax free wrapper to a more flexible one while she pays no income tax. We will do this for the next ten years until she reaches state pension age and I retire myself. She'll still have a sizeable SIPP at this point as this strategy won't deplete all her pension. She still has significant other assets that attract tax as she earns more interest than the starter rate for savings allows tax free. She's fully paid up all her NI through additional contributions, has the maximum in premium bonds and I also have started to get her to put £2,880 into a new SIPP in her name every year to get 20% tax relief. My question (sorry it took so long to get here) is that now she is drawing an income of sorts from her DC pension could she recycle more than £2,880 into a SIPP? Clearly it fails on the intention front, on the >30% of the tax free cash and the fact she has actually taken tax free cash. But she's not taking in excess of £7,500 of tax free cash in a 12 month period (another one of the criteria) and I'm also not sure if her taxable DC withdrawals (on which she pays no income tax as Any advice gratefully received, Tom 15:56  Question 3 Dear Pete and the lovely Roger Weeks, Hope you are well. Thanks for all the amazing work you are doing to support people to have a better understanding of their personal finances. I have recently bought and read your new book, it’s fantastic. Plus, I have bought several copies of your first book and given them to family and friends as presents. I love a practical gift haha; not sure the recipients feel the same but it’s a gift that will keep giving if they follow your advice. Anyway, my question is related to a defined benefits pension. Background info, I am 49 (50 in a few weeks) and my husband is 64. From 1996 to 2000 I built up benefits within Merseyside Local Government Pension Scheme. I transferred this along with a DC pension from the voluntary sector (at the time I heard this was a good idea, I literally didn’t have a clue about pensions but can’t change that decision now) into my Wiltshire LGPS, which I was in from 2006 until mid 2012. After listening to your podcast on the Bill Perkins book Die With Zero, I started to run the numbers on accessing my DB pension scheme at 55, as this would enable me to pay off mortgage earlier and maybe work part time. This is a big consideration for me as my husband is almost 15 years older than me and I want to be able to spend some quality retirement/semi-retirement years with him whilst he is still in his ‘go go years’. Wiltshire LGPS has a good portal and all the information states my normal retirement date is July 2040 (65). I know the government is increasing the normal pension retirement age for works pensions in 2028 to 57 years old. However, I recently read this on the LGPS website and wondered if I would have protective rights and would still be able to access my pension at 55. https://www.lgpsmember.org/your-pension/planning/taking-your-pension/ Taking your deferred pension If you left the LGPS on or after 1 April 1998 Your deferred benefits are payable in full from your Normal Pension Age in the LGPS. You do not have to take your deferred benefits at your Normal Pension Age, you can take them at any time between age 55 and 75. If you were a member of the Scheme before and after 1 April 2014, the benefits built up before 1 April 2014 will have a protected Normal Pension Age – usually age 65. The Government has announced the earliest age that you can take your deferred pension will increase from age 55 to 57 from 6 April 2028. This will not apply if you apply for your pension early because of your ill health. I have emailed Wiltshire LGPS and got a one liner back saying I can’t access my pensions until 57. The limited response makes me wonder if they had considered the dates, I built up my benefits; 1996 to 2012. Or am I just clutching at straws hoping I will have protected rights when I do not. I would really appreciate your opinion on this matter, as I am only 5 years and 6 weeks (clinging on to my 40’s LOL), away from 55 and this is not a long time in the world of personal finances to try to get my ducks in a row. Thank you sooooo much Liza 21:58  Question 4 Hello Pete and Roger I’ve been a listener for almost 2 years and love the show. It helps that you both make it entertaining and I laugh along whilst I’m walking the dog. I’m single, 49 years young and aggressively investing so I can retire early in approximately 5 or 6 years time. I earn £120Kpa, annual bonus of £24K and quarterly bonuses possible but these are erratic. They can vary so I would roughly estimate they could be an additional £20k to £50k per annum. I salary sacrifice £60K into my pension in a global index tracker by paying 24% of my monthly salary and 100% of any bonus received. Once I max out the £60K I can stop payments for the remainder of the financial year. I also pay £20k into a stocks and shares ISA effectively maxing both tax advantaged accounts out. I also add £2880 into each of my 2 children’s pensions per annum and some into their JISA’s. My question is, how am I best avoiding the 60% tax trap whilst also wanting to make the best use of tax advantaged accounts? I honestly wish everyone had a coup regarding this tax trap. It feels so unfair! First world problems I know. I have a fear of my annual earnings falling at £125K after my pension contributions effectively making me pay 60% tax on £25K. Any advice would be helpful and appreciated. Thank you for the advice and entertainment! Hope. 27:47  Question 5 Hi Pete & Roger, Love the podcast and have been a frequent listener for a number of years now. I'm in my early 30's and feel that as a family (Wife and 2 kids) we are in a great position to build wealth and a good future retirement due to the knowledge you have shared. I have a question with regards to Stocks & Shares ISA's and when is deemed a suitable reason to actually use the money invested in them. We have been investing monthly into global index funds as part of ISAs for a few years now without a real planned end goal aside from it being money that we know we didn't need in the immediate future and likely money that would allow us the option of an earlier retirement in the future should we choose. These ISAs are currently sitting at around £25k. We budget well, have cash savings for our short term goals plus an emergency fund in place so mentally the money in the Stocks & Shares ISA isn't really allocated. We are currently looking at extending our property and are weighing up how best to fund this. The work will cost around £50k and have equity in the house which means we could get this funded via an additional mortgage loan. The other option would be to get a smaller loan and cash in our Stocks & Shares ISA however mentally we are finding it difficult to do this as we see them as long term savings rather than something for now. Does it make sense in your opinion to use the money in the ISAs for something like this or would it be best to keep building them as we have been doing for a future early retirement as that is the primary reason I see mentioned as Stocks & Shares ISA funds eventually being used for. Thanks, Adam 33:55  Question 6 Hi, New to the site and finding it a superb resource. My question is about DB stepped pensions. I had to stop work due to ill health and am due to take a small DB pension @65. The pension has a stepped option which makes sense for me because my analysis shows taking the stepped option pays the most over 12 years which is probably all I have got. The figures: Basic pension £5000 p/a or Stepped pension £12000 for 1 year until state pension then £3600 p/a. However I have been told this increases my pension input. I have been told HMRC assume this 112k is a single contribution in a tax year and as it is a discretionary award it will be tested against the Annual Allowance. I have no other income and have been unable to make pension contributions that would allow tax relief (other than the 2.88/3.6k which I have done). It seems to me if I took the stepped pension I would have to pay a 25% tax charge on the HMRC perceived £112k pension input. i.e. £28k (112k x 25%) in a pension tax charge, double the first years stepped pension! This seems crazy, can you shed any light if this is correct? Regards, Ray
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  • Listener Questions - Episode 27
    This week, we have questions about planning property purchases together as a soon-to-be-married couple, investing an inheritance, balancing an age gap between spouses and much more besides!   Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA27    00:52  Question 1 Hi Pete and Rog, I’ve been listening to the show since 2020, and I absolutely love it. It keeps me grounded in a generation that frivolously spends for the sake of Instagram. Thank you for offering such helpful advice for free. I’m in my early 30s, I have no bad debt, regularly contribute to my workplace pension, and have been saving for a 2–3 bedroom house over the past three years. In 2 months I’ll have the 10% deposit (the minimum I want to put down) saved in my LISA. I'm currently renting a really affordable flat with a great landlord. I started saving when I was single, but I met my lovely boyfriend almost two years ago. We’re serious and are planning to get married and move in together in the next 12 to 18 months. Here’s my question: Should I delay buying a house for a year or so until I'm married, or should I buy now and plan to keep it for at least five years—even if, during that time, my boyfriend and I buy a different house and I end up renting this one out? Many thanks, Leah 07:50  Question 2 Love the Podcast guys My Question is about what to do with an unexpected inheritance (likely to be around £150,000 from the sale of my late parents' house) a year before remortgaging. For context; both my Wife and I have recently become Additional Rate tax payers with a defined benefit NHS pension. We can max out ISA contributions for a few years (including LISA for the next 6yrs) but with no personal saving allowance and only being able to effectively get savings rates of 4%). Would welcome your thoughts on this Gareth + Helen 12:27  Question 3 Hi Pete and Roger, I've been following your channel for over a year now, and I’m really grateful for the practical insights—wish I’d discovered you years ago! Your guidance has helped me make some much-needed improvements to my financial planning. My question is: Could you provide any guidance for couples with an age gap on balancing pension contributions and withdrawals, as well as utilising ISAs, to effectively phase-in their retirements together? My Civil Partner and I have an 8-year age gap, which didn’t matter in our 20s and 30s, but 20 years later, with some middle-aged aches and pains! We want to align our plans better to enjoy more time together, rather than one of us retiring much later or sooner than the other. We underutilised pensions, unfortunately, but hold equity in two properties and decent cash savings. We are now mortgage free and plan to boost our pensions.  Within 10 years, we might buy a small flat in Malaysia (his home country) and downsize our UK home from Manchester to Scotland (my 'home country'!). We hope to split time between the UK and Malaysia or possibly settle over there, drawn by the affordable living and our fondness for the country. Best wishes, James 18:53  Question 4 Love the show, you guys accompany me on walks when I have a break from work. I have two questions but this may be a bit much so I have broken them down I have possibly an easy question for you but one that I can’t find the answer to online. My wife is a teacher with a final salary pension estimate of £23.5k p/a. We’re unsure whether or not this will provide for a comfortable retirement, so we are considering making additional savings for retirement. My wife is a basic rate taxpayer and currently 39 so my question is whether it is better to invest the money in a lifetime ISA and effectively get the tax relief through government top up, as when she comes to retirement the additional income that would come from the LISA would be tax-free and not subject to income tax, or invest in a SIPP but this would incur income tax when accessed? To me it seems a no brainer as the tax benefit on the way in is effectively the same but there is no tax burden on the way out of LISA versus a pension am I being dim or is this the right way to go? I am a higher rate taxpayer so I know that to get the most tax efficiency it should go in my pension but there’s a possibility I would be a higher rate taxpayer in retirement too so not sure it’s sensible to have it all in my name (also mindful of lifetime allowance being reinstated) Other question is more complicated and around planning for me. I’m 38, a higher rate TP recently earning £90k p/a, I currently have c.£215k in a few employer pensions. My current employer pension scheme is based on qualifying earnings only. My employer pays 3% (so I live a fairly modest lifestyle with my wife and two primary school aged kids with 1 week holiday p/a, I’m worried that I might be scrimping now and over saving rather than enjoying my time with my kids by having more disposable income. Fully understand that you can’t give advice now but is there any fairly standard target for the comfortable pension age and reliable calc to figure out what I should do. Now that inheritance tax is likely to apply to pensions the incentive doesn’t seem to be there for me to save as hard, I’m slightly lost. Many thanks, David 30:28  Question 5 Hi Pete, Roger and team, I've been enjoying the question and answer sessions enormously. I have a question regarding pension recycling as the rules are not very clear to me. I am a higher rate tax payer and pay into my workplace pension to keep my taxable income below 100k. I have built up a pot of around £260k in the DC part of my pension. I also have a DB part to my pension which should provide around £34k when I retire. My wife stays at home and therefore doesn't use her personal allowance. Can I gift her my tax free cash so that she can buy a pension product in her name as she gave up the opportunity to grow her own pension by looking after our family. Am I right in thinking this could be a good idea when we retire as it could help us make use of both personal allowances with the added benefit of keeping my income within the basic rate tax bracket? Are there any potential problems with this situation that I haven't considered? Regards to you both Chris 33:21  Question 6 Hi Pete and Roger Thanks for your informative and thought-provoking podcasts. My late father’s house was valued for IHT following his death last year at £975k and my sister and I are looking to sell it. Since the valuation, planning permission has been achieved for the development of the garage and the estate agent I’ve spoken to suggests that the property could now achieve £1.15m (either selling as one or separating into 2 lots ie the main house and the plot). Therefore there is likely to be a significant capital gain. Currently the property is still owned by the estate. My understanding is that it would be more CGT efficient for the house to be transferred to my sister and I and then sold by us rather than being sold within the estate. I understand transferring to us would allow us to utilise two sets of £3k CGT allowances and benefit from the 18% band available to individuals for the gains within the basic Income Tax band (and then 24% on the excess). Conversely, if the property was sold within the estate, I understand there would only be one £3k allowance available and the CGT rate is a flat 24%. We are both unmarried so I don’t think a Deed of Variation could help us utilise extra CGT allowances. Is the above thinking correct? Is there any downside to transferring ownership to my sister and I before selling? Are incurred costs such as architect fees CGT deductible in both cases? Does it make any difference from a CGT perspective if the house is sold as one or separated? Keep up the great work! Thanks, Paul
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  • Listener Questions - Episode 26
    Some great questions this week about planning for the loss of the personal allowance, investing in GIAs, persuading an aunt to write a will, and much more besides! Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA26  01:11  Question 1 Dear Roger and Pete, I enjoy listening to your show driving to work. You are both down to earth and humble with your opinions. I read a lot on finance and have been investing in stocks and share ISA since 2004 and VCTs since 2017. I have built a healthy portfolio of nearly 300k in VCT, 400k in Stocks and share ISA. I also have a healthy DC pension of roughly 700k and DB pension worth around 10k per year from age 60. I am approaching 50th birthday this year and so decided to use up some of my cash savings which is in excess of my target investment of 20k in ISA and 50 k in VCT(as unable to go over 10k in pension (due to annual allowance threshold). I know I am fortunate and I also live frugally as that's my nature and don't have too many wants. The question is if I have roughly 80k in mortgage and I have the ability to clear it, should I invest that 80k in VCT on top of my regular VCT allocation of 50k and get the 30% tax benefit(as I am unable to get much tax benefit from my pension) or clear my mortgage as the mortgage is coming up for renewal and likely interest rate will be 4-4.5%. I am torn as I understand in my head that 80 k invested is better than clearing the mortgage over a 20-30 year time frame, but as I am going to be 50 and would like to clear the mortgage and have freedom to decide if I want to enter a life of FIRE or have the ability to FIRE if I get bored. However, I have kids in school and so unlikely I will FIRE until they go to university. Sorry about the long question. Thank you, Fred. 06:25  Question 2 Hello Pete / Roger, Great podcast! I hope karma holds true and all the good you give out back comes back to you both! Question: I am a higher rate taxpayer who maximises their pension, stocks & shares ISA and other best tax sheltered places so need to also build wealth in a taxable GIA. What is best strategy for a higher rate tax payer to do this... dividend / income generating stocks or accumulating (non dividend paying) investments and pay CGT at some stage (regularly)? Thanks, appreciated as ever and hope may help others Ivana  10:43  Question 3 Hi, Nick (who I assume will read this first), Pete and Roger, I'm not sure if this is a suitable question for the podcast but here goes. How can we persuade an aged aunt that she needs to write a will, as us knowing what her wishes are is not sufficient. I have an aunt who has no children but she has said she wants her estate split equally between her 8 nieces and nephews but she refuses to make a will. The problem is that if she dies intestate there is an estranged brother who would be a beneficiary as far as we understand  and so what she wants to happen won't happen. Richard J 15:50  Question 4 Hi Pete and Rog My husband and I have been MM diehards for many years. We think It’s a sad reflection of the state of nation when David Beckham gets considered for a gong before Pete does! I wanted to ask you about UK T-Bills because they are rarely (if ever) mentioned in your discussion of financial instruments. We are at retirement age I have a few DB pensions and a SIPP with Interactive Investor of approx. £300k. About ½ is sitting in Cash (including short term money market funds) because we want to draw out our 25% tax free allowance within the next 2 years and we want to minimise risk until that time arrives. I still want to diversify my low risk investments  as much as possible into bonds but my experience of bond funds is that they can also drop significantly with economic conditions whereas we want something to deliver us a (near as possible) guaranteed return. Our platform (ii) allows us to purchase bonds on the primary market however they are too long-term for us to see them through to maturity given our timescales. The platform has started to release UK T-Bills which seem typically much shorter term (3 or 6 months) and therefore appear to give us what we are looking for (guaranteed rate at a decent %) and very low risk. I know the % return is determined by the ‘auction’ but it currently looks to be around 4.5% on average (especially the 3-month ones). We plan to apply the bond ladder concept and buy these T-bills over the next few years on a rolling basis. As they are very short term, if rates drop we can change our strategy mid-plan so I think it also gives us a degree of flexibility too. Have we overlooked something obvious as it seems to fit our needs perfectly for the next couple of years? We are very hands-on on the platform so we don’t mind getting stuck into the action process (which looks straightforward). I’d be interested if you had any additional insight / comment on T-Bills being used for this or other strategies. Regards, Gilly 22:55  Question 5 Hi Pete, Roger, Thank you for the podcast, I always look fw to listening to it on my Wednesday commute. I'm trying to figure out when it makes sense to accept paying more income tax versus increasing my pension contributions? My total compensation this tax year is estimated to be £125k meaning I will lose all of my personal allowance with an effective 60% marginal tax rate on the last £25k of my earnings. Part of my compensation is made up of RSUs and very predictable quarterly bonuses. My base salary is approx £85,000.Last year, my total compensation was £105k, with a smaller base salary. My pension contributions kept my taxable income below £100k. I do not have any children, so the loss of funded childcare is not a concern. I've been contributing 15% for the last 5 or 6 years, starting when I was earning about half what I earn now. I chose that percentage to bring earnings under the 40% threshold at one point. At the start of this tax year, I increased my pension contributions to 20% because my income increased and I had no immediate need for the extra money. My employer only matches up to 5%. I am in my mid 30s and have roughly £140,000 split between my SIPP and my current workplace pension. Both invested in 100% equities in a global fund. I am considering increasing my salary sacrifice from 20% to around 30%, to keep my taxable income below 100k to avoid the loss of personal allowance. I'm hesitant because, playing around with the compound interest calculator, starting with a £140,000 balance, contributing £1,700 per month (20% salary sacrifice), and assuming a 7.5% return (which may be slightly optimistic), I would end up with a pension pot of about £1.5 million at age 55. Which might be too much. I have £80k in my stocks and shares isa, also in global equities and I'm on track contribute 20k this tax year.  I own a flat with a mortgage, fixed at less than 2% for a couple more years with no interest in over paying. I'm worried I might end up with too much money left when I (eventually!) die, I have no kids and I am not interested in leaving a legacy. Shall I just accept the tax bill and increase my lifestyle today given I'm already saving enough that I know I will be comfortable later in life. I read die with zero a year or so ago, and it resonated with me a lot. What else is there to consider? Thank you, Mark. 29:15  Question 6 Dear Pete & Roger, I have one question on my financial planning. This year I had received extra bonus which lead to my salary at the end of tax year of £123k. I have contributed £17k to my pension using employer contributions but remaining £6k is through my company stock which was vested and I got £3.1k income after paying 47% tax. My question is as my salary threshold for this tax year crossed £100k, for this additional £6k do I need to submit self assessment and if yes, do I need to declare this £6k full stock amount completely as a separate income even though I already paid tax on it, does this mean I am also liable to pay capital gains tax on this £3.1k? I look forward to hearing from you what are my options to submit to HMRC through my self assessment so I can calculate if I owe any additional tax or HMRC will refund me some money due to £17k pension contributions? Many thanks, Vai  
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  • Listener Questions - Episode 25
    It’s another packed and mixed bag of questions here on Meaningful Money. Today we deal with Seafarer’s pension contributions, tax-free cash on DB pension schemes and annual allowance calculations. Plus we give some thought to the evolution of the show… Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA25    01:10  Question 1 Hi Pete and Roger Many thanks for all that you do.  I am a long time podcast listener and happy client of Jacksons. I am currently playing catch up on the current series and have a couple of thoughts on points raised in two episodes. In episode 3 - there was a question on pensions and the answer included the point that when making contributions to a scheme they are generally paid net and the scheme reclaims basic rate tax from HMRC.  Just to say that this is not always the case.  My employer recently moved its scheme to an Aviva master trust.  I wanted to make a lump sum co tribute. Ahead of the tax year end.  However I found that the scheme could only accept gross contributions and I would have to reclaim the tax myself.  As it was quite a decent sum and I preferred not to wait for the tax I made the contribution into a different scheme. In episode 7 you had a question about moving abroad.  The point we made that you can’t continue to contribute to UK tax favoured schemes when abroad which is correct.  However there is another watch out in that ISAs in particular may be subject to income tax in the new country of residence - as they were when j lived in the US.  It is therefore critical to get advice so you can make the right choices when moving abroad All the best, Richard 05:06  Question 2 I have been listening to your podcast for the last 5 or 6 months. Like so many of your listeners, I have spent many hours catching up on your early episodes, no longer do I watch movies or drama series or wildlife programmes. I listen to Pete. Your advice has been priceless. However, I do have a question that I seemingly cannot find the answer to. Perhaps, I already know the answer, but am putting my head in the sand because I do not like it. I know that the pension tax free lump sum is limited to £268,275 and I believe that this applies to the total taken from multiple pensions. I retired from the police in 2013 as a chief inspector. I took the maximum lump sum available at the time which was £206,000. I started a new job with the NHS and am paying into the NHS 2015 scheme. My projection on retirement from the NHS at age 67 suggests that I can expect a lump sum that combined with my police pension lump sum will take me well beyond £268,275. I have seen some articles on line about lump sum protected allowances, but do not know if this is something I can access. Clearly, if all I can take from my NHS pension is £62,275 I will be paying 40% on a greater proportion of my pension in payment. I suspect there may be others like me that maxed our their lump sum when first retiring and have gone on to further employment and have built up a tidy pension that has the potential to pay out another handsome lump sum. Your advice is gratefully appreciated. Kind regards, John 11:25  Question 3 Hi Pete and Rog Always a delight when a new episode comes out – I hope Rog is getting fairly compensated for his efforts! I have been a keen listener for a number of years though until recently had lived outside of the UK, so while not everything was applicable (ISAs or pension contribution limits etc), the podcast has always been a valuable tool as I improve my personal finances I have a question I was hoping you could clarify for me which relates to questions you answered on previous podcast Q&A. Trying to keep it short but failing: On a couple of occasions when talking about pensions there seems to be an assumption that your income will fall in retirement and so income tax on the way out of the pension is less relevant. You recently had a question around moving money from a Lifetime ISA to a SIPP for a higher rate tax payer who was moving abroad and the calculation / discussion went something like: Invested 4k, got the extra 1k but have to take a 25% penalty when taking the money out so down to 3.75k. Then when investing that back into a SIPP you get tax relief so back up to 4.7k or even 6.25 with higher rate relief. Then the discussion seemed to suggest in such a case you might even be better off than if you had left it in the LISA. However, doesn’t this depend on what your tax rate is on retirement / withdrawal? Now on to my question: Similarly, you had someone who had maxed out their annual pension contribution limit and they were trying to decide whether to pay more in to their pension (foregoing the tax relief) or to put it in to a GIA. This is a situation I find myself in and the Q&A discussion seemed to suggest it doesn’t make much difference. There were comments that an ISA would be better than a GIA but assuming the ISA allowance was already fully used then there was little difference. This confused me and brings me to my question. If I overpay into a pension and so get no tax relief, don’t I still pay income tax when I withdraw the money from the pension? So for any contribution above the annual limit I receive no tax relief initially (ie I have effectively paid tax) but then future withdraws from a pension are taxable so I pay tax again when I retire. Is this the case or is there some way the pension knows what proportion of the pot received tax relief and what proportion didn’t? If no such split exists then surely a GIA is a far better option where I will only pay CGT on any growth in the investment (or income tax on dividends). Imagine a situation where there is no growth or dividends then in a GIA I take the initial money back out with no tax to pay, in the pension I still pay income tax on the withdrawal. What am I missing here? Kind regards, Matt 17:02  Question 4 Hi - love the podcast and really enjoying the Q&A series! Keep up the great work! I was hoping you can assist me. I have a pretty simple salary structure and lucky to earn annually (salary and bonus) around 190k. I’m looking at what I can add to my pension and very aware of the 60k limit and also the 200k income threshold. Is it as a simple as if my only income stream is from employment, that by definition in the above scenario I’m below the £200k. Or am I missing anything else that feeds into this as a consideration? Thanks, Steve 20:20  Question 5 Thank you Pete & Roger for an amazingly insightful informative podcast. This has given me a giant springboard to the next level of financial literacy. My question is: I am a seafarer and all of my income from it is subject to seafarers earnings deductions (SED). My annual salary is £79,000. How much can I pay into a SIPP claiming the full amount of tax relief given that all of my income is subjected to SED? Thanks very much for everything you do. Kind regards, Benjamin 24:00  Question 6 Absolutely love the podcast - always look forward to driving home on a Wednesday so I can listen to it. I'm 47 and my husband is 55 and we have 2 fabulous children aged 13 & 11. I am an additional rate taxpayer and have a good DB pension for the future (NHS consultant). My husband did the tougher job of being a full time Dad so only has a small SIPP at present worth about £50,000 which we add £2880 to each year. I am hoping to retire early so we are building our Stocks & Shares ISAs each year to bridge the gaps between my retirement and state pension etc although we don't use the full allowance at present although may do in the future as my pay increases. We just wanted advice about the best way to extract the money from my husbands SIPP. He works a few hours now making approximately £5000 per year so is a non-taxpayer (and all our emergency cash is in his name!). We had planned to start drawing down his pension in a few years once fully retired to try to get it all tax free before his state pension kicks in but we don't actually need the cash and thus it would be reinvested into his ISA. Is there any reason not just to start that process now so we put the money in the ISA gradually over the next few years (bearing in mind that we may be able to fill our ISAs in the future)? Can we still top up with £2880 each year one this process has started? Maybe this sounds like an obvious thing to do but just can't work out if its the correct path? Thanks so much, Ciara Mulligan   30:10  Podcast and Video plans.  
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  • Listener Questions - Episode 24
    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  
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About The Meaningful Money Personal Finance Podcast

Pete Matthew discusses and explains all aspects of your personal finances in simple, everyday language. Personal finance, investing, insurance, pensions and getting financial advice can all seem daunting, but with the right knowledge and easy-to-follow action steps, Pete will help you to get your money matters in order. Each show is in two segments: Firstly, everything you need to KNOW, and secondly, everything you need to DO to move forward on the subject of that episode. This podcast will appeal to listeners of MoneyBox Live, Wake Up To Money, Listen to Lucy, Which? Money and The Property Podcast. To leave feedback or ask a question, go to http://meaningfulmoney.tv/askpete Archived episodes can be found at http://meaningfulmoney.tv/mmpodcast
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