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British Pension

Morning,

I've been advised that when I'll be working in Colombia I'll be legally required to pay into a pension. Now this can either be into a Colombian pension or prove I am paying into one overseas, which in my case would be either a UK one or an offshore one.

At the moment, I've been told that should I leave Colombia I won't be able to repatriate the Col Pension until I retire therefore it would be advisable to pay into the overseas pension. My problem being as I've been a non-resident of the UK for 3 years now I can't open a UK one.

Do any of you Brit ex-pats have experience dealing with paying into a British pension from Colombia and what actually qualifies as a pension in terms of Col law?

By ConorC on Jul 20, 2009, 05:20 in Friendly Talkzone.

jimmymcc says on Jul 20, 2009, 07:29:

It depends on how long you have paid in, and your age, I worked in london for 25 years so whatever the amount I will collect when Im 66, I also have a royal mail final salary pension which is frozen until I am 60, but goes up each year with inflation or I can start drawing from the age of 50 at a reduced rate,
you can always contact the pension office on line and they will help you. make sure ou know your NI number,I dont have a Colombian pension as I cant be a,, standing in line outside the bank for hours once a month to collect my few pesos.

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ConorC says on Jul 20, 2009, 07:41:

Well my problem is I can't get a UK pension at the moment as I've been non-resident for 3 years and I didn't have one open when I left the UK and if I tried to open one it would be a false declaration.

My option at the moment is to set up an offshore pension in the Isle of Man but looks like it could prove fairly costly given the amount of money involved.

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jimmymcc says on Jul 20, 2009, 09:36:

most of these off shore accounts and pensions come back to haunt you, I know a lot of eople who were duped by the banks as tax free accounts, but all had to pay taxes and the banks got off without a fine, why dont you look around for a high intrest account, now that the banks are picking up again or the other option is buy some cheap flats and one day they will pay off, you could buy in any country, just keep an eye on the up and coming places, thats all I can say. Did you keep a UK account, it alway comes in handy.

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ConorC says on Jul 20, 2009, 10:49:

Yeah, that was my first thought but I've told the payment has to be made to a designated pension account and a standard savings account won't suffice. I'm loath to pay into a pension which would become a serious hassle to draw out of and otherwise it may just end up being dead money.

I'm still with HSBC at the moment and never had an issue with them so hopefuly I can continue to pay into that if they do let me do it that way.

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ConorC says on Jul 20, 2009, 12:35:

Christ some harsh words on there and a lot of ignorance surrounding offshore financial centres.

Anyways, cheers for the link.

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