How much do I need to retire?
Everyone is different in terms of when they want to retire and how much they will want to spend. You may spend less on transport to work, upkeep of your children and you may have paid off your mortgage. However, you may want to spend more on holidays and your health. You can access an online budget planner from the MoneyHelper here. The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association has an excellent resource setting out retirement living standards here.
Can I get ill-health retirement?
It may be possible to retire early, if your scheme rules and trustee board allow this. You can contact us here, if you believe that you are eligible.
Can I postpone my pension?
You may be able to delay taking your pension. In some cases, it may result in an increase in your monthly payments.
Why is the quotation for my retirement pension/pension transfer delayed?
Isio have written to all members with outstanding requests (made prior to 14 November) in December. There are, however, a number of cases that still involve additional work from the actuary and a separate update will be provided to these members this month. Dedicated teams are managing the backlog alongside the “business as usual” administration team. We apologise for the continued delays and ask members for their continued understanding while this work is completed. We are aiming to be in a position to turn around new quote requests from members in a normal timescale within the next month or two.
Longer term we are developing a new RPF website that will allow members to request and receive quotes instantly online.
Why have the net assets of RPF fallen significantly in 2022?
A fall in RPF’s asset value could be concerning when viewed in isolation. However, RPF’s goal is to create an investment strategy which meets the pensions due (“liabilities”). So, we primarily focus on how the asset value compares to the measured liabilities whilst ensuring there is a sufficient level of highly liquid assets in the fund to meet ongoing cashflow requirements.
RPF uses a risk management strategy called “liability driven investment” or “LDI”, where the investment manager creates a portfolio of UK government bonds (known as “gilts”) and inflation-linked gilts which is designed to mirror the change in liabilities. This makes up a large portion of RPF’s assets. The fundamental purpose of these assets is to reduce volatility in the funding position. For example, if liabilities increase in value, we expect a corresponding increase in the value of the RPF’s LDI portfolio.
In the final quarter of 2022, we saw a significant increase in the yields of UK government bonds which reduced the value of RPF’s gilt holdings which was a primary reason for the fall in asset value. However, the rise in yields also lowered the value of the measured liabilities by a similar amount. As such, whilst there was a fall in asset value, the level of funding (assets relative to liabilities) changed only marginally. Therefore, despite the fall in the value of assets, RPF still remains in a strong position to meet the pensions it has promised to its members.
Further information on gilts can be found at United Kingdom Debt Management Office.Gov.UK: About Gilts.
The RPF Annual Report and Financial Statements for 2022 show one item as a ‘misallocation of funding’. What is this?
The ‘misallocation of funding’ refers to assets that had been incorrectly allocated to RPF instead of another Reuters pension scheme. The error was spotted during data cleansing work and had not been detected by our auditors. Unfortunately, the error went back over many years which accounts for the large amount. The error has been addressed and pensions paid to members were not affected.
